How Canva become a graphic-design tool worth over $3.2B?

Back in 2006, when Melanie Perkins was 19-year-old commerce and communications student at the University of Western Australia, she got frustrated by how long it took to learn how to use the mainstream design software available at the time.

She turned that problem into a business opportunity. She set her mind on building an online design website that would be as easy as possible for people to use.

To test her idea, she created a company called Fusion Books, a website that allows high schools to design their yearbooks online.

Realizing that Fusion could be applied beyond yearbooks, Melanie flew to California in 2010 to pitch the idea for potential investors.

It took her three years before she got any investment from Silicon Valley.

But in 2013 Canva was launched, backed by $3m, and with former Google executive Cameron Adams joining Melanie and her boyfriend Cliff as a co-founder.

Canva grew a lot more since then. It’s now valuated at 3.2B$ and is one of the unicorn startups.

Lesson from this story:
Success hardly ever comes overnight. It takes hard work, sacrifices, and time. Be patient. Don’t give up.