“If a goal doesn’t make me feel small and inadequate before it, it isn’t big enough.” That single quote captures the mindset that has propelled Melanie Perkins from her mother’s lounge in Perth to the helm of one of the world’s most valuable tech companies.

As co-founder and CEO of Canva, Perkins has consistently favoured ambition over ease—most notably when she made the bold decision to pause Canva’s rapid expansion in order to rebuild its architecture from the ground up. She likened the move to “building the foundations of a city”, a long-term play underscoring her strategic foresight and commitment to scale with integrity.

From those early foundations, Canva has grown into a global design platform used by more than 220 million people across 190 countries. Under Perkins’ stewardship, the company has combined profitability with purpose, growth with culture, and product innovation with social impact. Her journey offers a compelling blueprint for modern leadership—one that balances vision, resilience and a steadfast people-first philosophy.

Perkins’ entrepreneurial instincts emerged early. At 14, she was selling handmade scarves at local markets—a modest but telling start. Years later, while teaching graphic design at university, she noticed that even her students struggled with the complexity of traditional design tools. This insight sparked the idea for a simpler, more accessible platform.

In 2008, she co-founded Fusion Books from her mother’s home in Perth with her partner Cliff Obrecht. The tool helped students design their own yearbooks and quickly became Australia’s largest publisher in that niche. But it was only the beginning.

Transparency, ownership, and inclusivity

Perkins had a bigger vision: to democratise design at a global scale. Turning that vision into reality, however, was anything but easy. With no Silicon Valley connections and little experience in tech, she began pitching to investors—and was met with more than 100 rejections. Instead of backing down, she adapted. 

She joined a kitesurfing group to connect with venture capitalist Bill Tai, using her own hobby as a creative route to build trust. That bold move led to the introduction of Cameron Adams, a former Google designer who would later become Canva’s third co-founder.

In 2013, Canva launched after securing its first €3 million in funding. Within 12 months, the platform had attracted over 600,000 users. That growth has continued at scale. Today, Canva is valued at more than $40 billion and supports a product ecosystem that goes far beyond graphic design—offering tools for documents, presentations, videos, websites, and more. It’s used across 6 million organisations worldwide, including companies like Zoom.

What stands out about Perkins’ leadership is how deliberately she has paced Canva’s growth. She chose not to take on large amounts of early capital, giving the team room to iterate and stay close to users. 

Feedback loops became part of the company’s DNA—through a model known internally as “close the loop,” every complaint or feature request became a driver of product development. When the original system architecture showed signs of strain, she made the tough call to pause expansion and rebuild—sacrificing short-term momentum for long-term scalability.

As the product matured, so did the culture. Canva’s internal philosophy centres around transparency, ownership, and inclusivity. Amy Schultz, Canva’s Global Head of Talent Acquisition, notes: “I think many are attracted to Canva because of our two-step plan. And as Mel, our amazing CEO, says to us, ‘We have a simple two-step plan: to be one of the most valuable companies in the world but also to do the most good we can do’.”

Resilient by Design

That sense of mission is more than lip service. Perkins has implemented gender-neutral hiring practices, resulting in 41% of Canva’s workforce identifying as women—compared to 28% across the broader tech industry. She’s also an advocate for creating psychological safety, where all employees feel empowered to contribute ideas and challenge assumptions. The company’s regular “Season Openers” are used to align teams with strategic goals while energising them with purpose and direction.

Even during the recent tech downturn—when many companies announced mass layoffs—Canva held steady. Perkins attributes this resilience to product diversity, user loyalty, and a focus on building sustainably rather than at breakneck speed. Despite a 44% drop in market valuation during the correction, Canva emerged with its culture and talent intact.

But perhaps the most defining element of Perkins’ leadership is how deeply her values influence business decisions. She’s not interested in wealth accumulation for its own sake. In 2021, she and Obrecht pledged to donate over 80% of their Canva stake to charitable causes via the Canva Foundation, following the philanthropic models of Warren Buffett and the Gates Foundation. As she’s said, “If it were all about building wealth, it would be the most boring thing I could imagine.”

And she’s far from finished. Perkins often reminds her team, “We’ve done 1% of what’s possible.” That ethos continues to power new innovations, from AI-driven design tools like Magic Write to advanced data visualisation capabilities and deeper integrations for enterprise customers. Her leadership is marked by celebration and symbolism as much as strategy—on one occasion, her team even released doves from the rooftop to mark a key milestone.

Melanie Perkins offers a powerful example of what modern leadership can look like: ambitious, adaptable, and anchored in values. Her story is a masterclass in aligning commercial success with human-centric culture, and in demonstrating that long-term impact is best achieved not by compromising between purpose and performance—but by bringing them together.

This profile of a leadership journey is part of a July special about leaders who have made strides in their leadership approach or become known for embodying certain leadership qualities. Read others here:
Culture, Failure, Growth
A portrait of self-aware leadership