The woman behind Canva shares how she built a $42B company from nothing | Melanie Perkins

In this episode of the Lenny's Podcast, Lenny interviews Melanie Perkins, the CEO and co-founder of Canva, about her journey building the company and her approach to leadership and vision. Melanie shares insights into Canva's early struggles, including facing rejections from over 100 investors and a challenging two-year codebase rewrite. She introduces the concept of "column B thinking," which involves envisioning a desired future and working backward to achieve it, and emphasizes the importance of setting "crazy big goals" and operationalizing them through mission pillars and visual communication. Melanie also discusses Canva's unique company values, its approach to product development driven by community feedback, and its two-step plan to build a valuable company and do good in the world through philanthropy and accessible education. She touches on the integration of AI into Canva's product suite and shares her personal strategies for maintaining work-life balance and fostering a positive company culture.