The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 35 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Melanie Perkins: No publishing market leader has ever survived an era transition
“And what you'll see, dear investor, is that no industry player has actually ever been able to go from one industry to the next and actually still maintain being the market leader. And so every single time there was a new era, a new market leader emerged.”
Perkins says knowing the startup hardships in advance would have been intimidating
“I think one of the wonderful things about this whole experience is that I didn't know a lot going into it, and I think that learning every single day as you go has actually been one of the most critical parts, because I think if I knew all of the lessons that …”
Perkins placed answers to the hardest investor objections at the deck's front
“Every time we got a really hard question, that would go right to the front of the pitch deck. So the hardest questions were answered right at the front.”
Perkins predicted publishing and design tools would converge into one online platform
“One of them was that over time, industries would converge. So rather than having the print industry being over here, having to use different software to create a website, and different software to create a presentation, and different software to create marketi…”
Perkins: Early-stage VCs will not commit until they see others commit first
“Further talking more about this and waiting to see who else is going to invest before we invest is, was the general feeling. So you had to get enough people who are interested to invest before anyone would invest.”
Perkins: Asking VCs for advice rather than money prevents immediate rejections
“So we had a bit of a strategy where rather than asking if people wanted to invest, we'd ask people for their advice, and you can go back and you can say, hey, do you want to give me some advice? I'd love to show you my pitch deck, and then they'd give us some …”
Perkins believed desktop-based graphic design software was destined to become archaic
“It seemed very apparent that this whole desktop-based thing would be completely archaic and outdated in the future.”
Perkins pitched VCs that no publishing incumbent survives new technological eras
“And what you'll see, dear investor, is that no industry player has actually ever been able to go from one industry to the next and actually still maintain being the market leader. And so every single time there was a new era, a new market leader emerged.”
Perkins: Founders should solve a small niche problem before expanding wide
“Just like starting at that really small thing, starting niche and then going wide, I think is really important.”
Melanie Perkins: Desktop-based design software was destined to become archaic
“It seemed very apparent that this whole desktop-based thing would be completely archaic and outdated in the future.”
Perkins: People fear design because they are conditioned to think they lack creativity
“People were scared of designing, because people are conditioned for their whole lives, thinking they're not creative or can't design things.”
Melanie Perkins: All design and publishing tools will converge into one platform
“One of them was that over time, industries would converge. So rather than having the print industry being over here, having to use different software to create a website, and different software to create a presentation, and different software to create marketi…”
Melanie Perkins: Canva is fully profitable on its freemium graphic design model
“And we're actually profitable, so actually that business model's been working out alright for us.”
Canva amassed a 50,000-person waiting list before its 2013 public launch
“Well, we're fortunate that because we had some high-profile investors in that first round when we landed that first round of investment, we made, we announced it we got some TechCrunch coverage, and we were pretty stoked about that, and we ended up with a wait…”
VC Bill Tai offered to back Canva if Perkins found technical cofounders
“And, but very fortunately, when I went home, I had an email from him, and he said if I could find a tech team, he'd be happy to invest.”
The Australian government matched Canva's venture capital dollar-for-dollar up to $2M
“And then the government in Australia had this matching funding thing where they would match every dollar that we got from investors up to two million.”
Canva closed a $1.6M seed round paired with a $1.4M government grant
“So we want to raise 1.5. I think we left San Francisco and we'd raised seven 50. But then over the coming months, we ended up filling out that round of about 1.6. I think it got to, we're totally oversubscribed. And then the Australian government gave us 1.4.”
Advisor Lars Rasmussen rejected every Canva technical candidate for a full year
“Lars said he'd be happy to be an advisor but what that ended up entailing was him rejecting everyone for a full year.”
Perkins received over a hundred investor rejections during Canva's early fundraising
“That year period, it would, over a hundred people, more. I didn't count, but I was going through my rejections the other day, I was looking at some of the emails, and there was quite a damn few.”
Perkins: Canva users rapidly pivoted from physical prints to digital assets
“So they're creating less event invitations, they're creating less business cards, they're creating less flyers all of the things that sort of really resonate with the physical world. And what they are creating way more of is things like Zoom backgrounds and pr…”
Canva committed to paying all contractors throughout the 2020 COVID recession
“We made a statement early on that We're going to ensure all of our contractors will continue to be paid throughout this recession throughout, throughout this time.”
Perkins: 30 million people worldwide rely on Canva
“We've got thirty million people around the world that are relying on Canva to help with their social media, to help with their marketing, to help with their education.”
Perkins: Canva avoided pandemic layoffs due to profitability and rapid growth
“No, we've been in a fortunate position that you know, we're a profitable company. We had, you know, strong cash reserves and cannabis continued to grow rapidly throughout this time.”
Canva saw 20 designs created per second by 10 million users
“According to company statistics from mid-two 1018, the online design and publishing tool is now used by over ten million people across the world, and new designs are created on the site at a rate of 20 per second.”
VC Bill Tai conditioned his Canva investment on finding a tech team
“When I went home, I had an email from him, and he said, if I could find a tech team, he'd be happy to invest.”
Perkins pitched over 100 investors during early Canva fundraising
“It was, I don't know, between the, like, the first year and, I don't know, that year period, it would... Over a hundred people, more. I didn't count, but I was going through my rejections the other day, I was looking at some of the emails, and there was quite …”
Google Maps co-creator Lars Rasmussen rejected Canva tech candidates for a year
“Yeah, that's exactly right, and Lars said he'd be happy to be an advisor but what that ended up entailing was him rejecting everyone for a full year.”
Canva accumulated a 50,000-person waiting list before officially launching in 2013
“We ended up with a waiting list of 50,000 people before we launched.”
Perkins: Australian government matched Canva investor funding up to $2M
“And then the government in Australia had this matching funding thing where they would match every dollar that we got from investors up to two million.”
Perkins' first three-month San Francisco trip yielded zero tech hires or investors
“By the end of the three months I didn't have a tech team, and I left feeling like the biggest failure. Because I had not landed a tech team, which meant that I hadn't landed investors, which meant that all I'd done, in my view at that point in time, was like, …”
Perkins recruited Canva's CTO with a pitch deck of his Facebook photos
“What I did was I went To his Facebook page, and I took lots of the photos from his Facebook page, and I put together a pitch deck and said why it would be such an amazing adventure to come and join and recreate the future of publishing and change the face of t…”
A publication broke Canva's launch embargo with a scathing product review
“An article came out, and they, their article said that we had a not very good product, and that we had cheesy photography, and that it wasn't very easy to use, and I felt at that point in time, like, the last, I don't know, six years of my life was crushed.”
Perkins: Canva reached 900 employees and millions of users by mid-2020
“I think if I was dropped into a 900 person company with millions of people around the world using our product, that would be quite scary.”
Melanie Perkins recruited Canva's CTO using a deck of his Facebook photos
“What I did was I went To his Facebook page, and I took lots of the photos from his Facebook page, and I put together a pitch deck and said why it would be such an amazing adventure to come and join and recreate the future of publishing and change the face of t…”