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Lenny's Podcast / episode intelligence

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

2 Nov 2025 26 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Melanie PerkinsLenny Rachitsky

Claim mix

belief 8evaluation 5uncertainty 4preference 3recommendation 2commitment 2observation 1prediction 1

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Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

26 published records

06 / belief

I think there's this kind of belief sometimes that the world is created by other people, but we all have a very active hand in creating the world that we live in.

“I think there's this kind of belief sometimes that the world is created by other people, but we all have a very active hand in creating the world that we live in.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

08 / belief

I feel like there's a lot of opportunity to create global infrastructure that is truly empowering. And so as I look at my 2050 wall, I think there's a lot of things that are currently only exclusively available to a small number of people that should be available to everyone.

“I feel like there's a lot of opportunity to create global infrastructure that is truly empowering. And so as I look at my 2050 wall, I think there's a lot of things that are currently only exclusively available to a small number of people that should be available to everyone.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

10 / observation

Every idea starts in the chaos side, and then you have to work all the way to the other side, which is clarity. That very first step at the far end of chaos was quite an embarrassing step actually, because you don't have mastery at that point.

“Every idea starts in the chaos side, and then you have to work all the way to the other side, which is clarity. That very first step at the far end of chaos was quite an embarrassing step actually, because you don't have mastery at that point.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

12 / belief

I think the falling down, it was quite literal in my figure skating in days, and maybe it was a little more metaphorical in today, but it is constant.

“I think the falling down, it was quite literal in my figure skating in days, and maybe it was a little more metaphorical in today, but it is constant.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

13 / belief

The goal driven structure, I think the things that we were talking about before. So the mission, actually breaking that down into the mission pillars, breaking those mission pillars down into the goals that we're then pursuing and then celebrating those goals when we do achieve them, I think is a deeply underloved way of building a company.

“The goal driven structure, I think the things that we were talking about before. So the mission, actually breaking that down into the mission pillars, breaking those mission pillars down into the goals that we're then pursuing and then celebrating those goals when we do achieve them, I think is a deeply underloved way of building a company.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

17 / preference

" And I'd add a new page in my pitch deck that said how big the market I believe was. And then they'd say, "You're the same as some other company," coupled with rejection, and I would say, "Hey, now I've got a new slide in my pitch deck that shows all the players and the huge gap in the market that we believe we're going to fill.

“" And I'd add a new page in my pitch deck that said how big the market I believe was. And then they'd say, "You're the same as some other company," coupled with rejection, and I would say, "Hey, now I've got a new slide in my pitch deck that shows all the players and the huge gap in the market that we believe we're going to fill.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

18 / evaluation

I think a lot of people think of Canva as a design graphics for social media and marketing and things like that, but you also have spreadsheets, docs, whiteboards, charts, code, AI coding tool.

“I think a lot of people think of Canva as a design graphics for social media and marketing and things like that, but you also have spreadsheets, docs, whiteboards, charts, code, AI coding tool.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

19 / evaluation

That thing that seemed really hard, we've now achieved." And the mission is often each of the different mission pillars, they're obviously a long area of investment that's going to take a long time to get to, but being able to celebrate each of the rungs on that on the way there I think is extraordinarily important.

“That thing that seemed really hard, we've now achieved." And the mission is often each of the different mission pillars, they're obviously a long area of investment that's going to take a long time to get to, but being able to celebrate each of the rungs on that on the way there I think is extraordinarily important.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

20 / preference

I think being able to integrate it into the product where it actually helps people to get their work done where it genuinely helps them to achieve their goals, and then being really open to listening to your community and hearing what they're loving, what they're struggling with and refining from there I think is really, really important.

“I think being able to integrate it into the product where it actually helps people to get their work done where it genuinely helps them to achieve their goals, and then being really open to listening to your community and hearing what they're loving, what they're struggling with and refining from there I think is really, really important.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

21 / commitment

In the early days with our AI products, we didn't release them to teachers because we knew there was a lot of hesitancy for teachers using AI in the classroom.

“In the early days with our AI products, we didn't release them to teachers because we knew there was a lot of hesitancy for teachers using AI in the classroom.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

23 / evaluation

I won't go into specific examples, but so many times over. And I think that, I mean maybe that's probably, in answer your other question, we did things our way because that was the only way we knew.

“I won't go into specific examples, but so many times over. And I think that, I mean maybe that's probably, in answer your other question, we did things our way because that was the only way we knew.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

24 / evaluation

Yeah, I completely agree. And I think that's the thing is that that very first step at the very far end of chaos, it's very embarrassing because you're like, "I have this idea that is so big and so wild and how the hell would I do that?

“Yeah, I completely agree. And I think that's the thing is that that very first step at the very far end of chaos, it's very embarrassing because you're like, "I have this idea that is so big and so wild and how the hell would I do that?”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

25 / evaluation

It was critical for right to left. It was critical because we could only have five people working in our editor at any point in time because of the way the code base was structured and we thought it was going to take six months and then it took two years and it was two years of not shipping any product, two years of a product company not being able to ship product.

“It was critical for right to left. It was critical because we could only have five people working in our editor at any point in time because of the way the code base was structured and we thought it was going to take six months and then it took two years and it was two years of not shipping any product, two years of a product company not being able to ship product.”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

26 / prediction

I did feel like as humanity, we are on a bit of a freight train and that freight training is, I think if we take a lot of visions for a lot of different companies and a lot of things that are happening and you just fast-forward 50 years or you do 2050 and you say, "Are we in a safer world?

“I did feel like as humanity, we are on a bit of a freight train and that freight training is, I think if we take a lot of visions for a lot of different companies and a lot of things that are happening and you just fast-forward 50 years or you do 2050 and you say, "Are we in a safer world?”
Speaker
Melanie Perkins
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast
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