125x

Part of Founder interviews · All guides

Melanie Perkins on Canva and crazy big goals: interview summary

She turned 100+ rejections into a giant company | Melanie Perkins

Lenny's Podcast · Nov 2, 2025 · about 66 min

Uploaded Nov 2, 2025 · 62.8K views (as of Oct 30, 2026)

Good value given

She was rejected by over 100 investors before raising Canva's first round.
Canva's vision stayed consistent, but how she explained it changed a lot.
Canva's two-step plan: build one of the world's most valuable companies and do the most good it can.
She keeps a 'crazy big goals' wall in her office with her vision for 2050.
A rewrite of the whole codebase took about 2 years instead of the 6 months they expected.

How did Melanie Perkins get past more than 100 investor rejections?

She kept pitching and kept iterating. The vision for Canva stayed the same, but each 'no' taught her how to explain it better, until investors finally understood. She says persistence alone isn't enough: you have to take the feedback and keep evolving the pitch.

Worth watching?Good value given. Warm, clear and full of practical habits for setting big goals. The story of 100+ investor rejections and how she kept refining her pitch is the best part.

ActionableLessons

Actionable

Write down your crazy big goal and put it where you'll see it daily.
After every rejection, change one thing in your pitch.
Double your time estimate for your next big project.
Ask your users which features they want most and close the loop with them.

Lessons

Big goals make you feel inadequate, which pushes you to work hard.
Feedback turns persistence into progress.
Big projects almost always take longer than planned.
Stepping back gives you perspective on what matters.

Quick answer

Melanie Perkins sat down with Lenny's Podcast for this interview, published Nov 2, 2025. Here's our summary in our own words: a verdict, the answer to the big question, 5 takeaways, Actionable and Lessons tabs, then the stories, frameworks and how to use them.

What 125x is: 125x is a web app at 125x.app. You connect your YouTube subscriptions, and it gives you a feed of the latest videos from the channels you follow, each with a summary: a verdict, the 5 key takeaways, and the spoiler, plus Actionable and Lessons tabs with more tips. You read that and decide what's actually worth opening.

Open 125x

Watch the interview

Watch on YouTube: She turned 100+ rejections into a giant company | Melanie Perkins

Channel: Lenny's Podcast. Published Nov 2, 2025. About 66 minutes.

Who is Melanie Perkins?

Melanie Perkins co-founded Canva in Australia with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams after an earlier yearbook design business.

Lenny Rachitsky interviewed her in November 2025.

Key stories from the interview

She tells how Canva grew out of a yearbook design business she started in college.
She describes the years of rejections while trying to raise money.
She explains the 2-year code rewrite where the team couldn't ship new features.
She says many of Canva's ideas come from its community, and they work to close the loop.

Frameworks and ideas

Crazy big goals.
Two-step plan: build value, then do good.
Iterate the pitch, keep the vision.

In their words (paraphrased)

A crazy big goal makes you feel completely inadequate, and you want to work hard to will it into existence.
Even a little step toward a truly important goal is worthwhile.
The vision stayed consistent, but the way they explained it changed greatly.

How to apply this

Write your 2050 vision on one page.
Track your pitch changes in a doc after each meeting.
Set one goal that feels a little too big.

A note on this summary

This page reports what was said in the interview, in our own words. Lines under 'In their words' are paraphrased from the transcript, so check the video for exact wording.

How 125x does this for your feed

This page is one sample of what 125x does for every video in your feed. 125x pulls in your YouTube subscriptions automatically, so there's nothing to set up. Each new video gets a watch, skim or skip verdict, 5 takeaways, the answer to the clickbait title, and Actionable and Lessons tabs.

View your YouTube feed at 125x speed. YouTube summaries of every video in your feed.

FAQ: questions people ask

How many times was Melanie Perkins rejected?

Over 100 investors turned her down before Canva's first round.

What is Canva's two-step plan?

Build one of the world's most valuable companies and do the most good it can.

Is this Melanie Perkins interview worth watching?

Good value given. It's inspiring and practical.