I saw a thread this week about how there was not enough talk about @canva + @MelanieCanva...let's change that! Canva just announced they raised $200M (valued @ $40B)- a long way from starting w/no business experience + getting rejected by 100+ investors🧵

1/ Melanie Perkins was born in Perth, Australia & is one of the youngest CEOs of a $1B+ tech start-up. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was of Malaysian + Filipino + Sri Lankan descent! #asianpride

2/ 2007: Melanie used to tutor her college students on how to use design programs such as Photoshop & InDesign but most of them struggled. That's when she realized the need for online + collaborative + easy-to-use design platform.

3/ From her mom's living room, Melanie + partner (now hubby!) Cliff Obrecht hired freelancers to build a Flash website for their idea, Fusion Books, where students could collaborate in designing their yearbooks.

4/ 2011: Melanie spotted an opportunity for venture funding when Bill Tai, who had backed TweetDeck and Zoom, came to Perth for kitesurfing. They ambushed Tai with a pitch for what they called the "Canvas Chef" in a dinner that he hosted but left without any capital.