Page 76 - Forbes - USA (December 2019)

the phones cold-calling prospects. When schools as an advisor in March 2012, Adams would sign
asked to speak to a manager, Obrecht simply low- on as third cofounder the following June. Now
ered his voice. The business eventually reached that they had a technical leader, the founders
400 schools, with licensees as far off as France. It broke through: Canva raised $3 million in seed

was a start. But Perkins couldn’t go much farther funding in two tranches in 2012 and early 2013,
without venture funding, then virtually impossi- including a crucial matching grant from the Aus-
ble to find in Perth, a city built on mining and pet- tralian government.

rochemicals. The company launched in August 2013 to a
74 Perkins spotted—and seized—the narrowest couple of reviews on tech blogs and few users.
of opportunities in 2011 when a longtime Silicon Adams and Canva’s engineers, who stayed up late
Valley venture capitalist named Bill Tai came to in Sydney (the company relocated there in Feb-
S

N Perth to judge a startup competition. A skilled ruary 2012) to handle the expected influx of sign-
I
K kitesurfer who had backed TweetDeck and ups, went to sleep dejected. What no one knew
R
E Zoom, Tai was in town mainly to play in Perth’s yet was that Canva’s timing was perfect. The rise
P
of Instagram and Twit-
E
I ter were changing how
N
A businesses reached cus-
L
E tomers. From schools to
M sheriff’s offices, skating

— rinks to self-published

E
L authors, everyone sud-
I
F denly cared a lot about
O
R their online presence.
P

Canva was an affordable
way to look good. The
trickle of sign-ups grew
to 50,000 users in the

first month; by 2014,
when Canva raised an-
other $3 million from
killer waves. Perkins and Obrecht sniffed out a Destination: Design Thiel’s Founders Fund and Shasta Ventures,

dinner Tai was hosting and ambushed attendees Users have made 600,000 users had made 3.5 million designs.
2 billion designs in
with a pitch for something called Canvas Chef: a Canva to date, one In China, historically a fool’s-errand market
metaphorical pizza, with design elements as the billion in the past for Western software makers, Canva is a rare suc-
year alone. Up next:

toppings and document types—flyer, business Canva Apps, seen cess. Obrecht—a tall, amiable presence who, as
card, restaurant menu—as the dough. “It wasn’t here on Canva’s COO, often rallies the troops (or delivers bad
website, a new

the most stylish analogy,” says Rick Baker, an in- service that embeds news)—opened Canva’s first office outside of

publishing tools
vestor who saw the pitch that night. from popular apps Sydney, in Manila, in 2014, then hired the former

The founders left without any capital—but like Instagram and head of LinkedIn’s China unit to build an office
Pinterest into Canva.
with a newfound enthusiasm for extreme water in mainland China. Today, a local engineering

sports. They became fixtures at Tai’s subsequent team handles a China-first version of Canva built

kitesurfing gatherings, which featured prom- from the ground up with features like deep inte-

inent tech executives looking to invest in new grations with Chinese messaging apps and easy-
startups. In Maui, after a friend of Peter Thiel’s to-create QR codes, which are popular there. Mc-
told them they needed a single leader, Perkins Donald’s China is a customer, as is a nationwide
became sole CEO. real-estate brokerage that offers the software to

Perkins and Obrecht were having worse luck its 1,000 agents.
in their visits to Silicon Valley’s venture capital
gatekeepers on Sand Hill Road. Dozens of firms hen it comes to serving big

passed on the little-known, romantically linked W businesses, Canva is still a
cofounders from a startup dead zone. “I’m hon- rookie. Its October launch
estly, and unfortunately, not comfortable doing of Canva for Enterprise
a deal in Australia,” wrote one. “I am not sure it’s came at a private event in
going to make sense just yet,” another said. New York. Perkins addressed staffers from about

In the end, the wave-chasing connections paid 100 companies, including Equinox, JPMorgan

off. Through the group they met Cameron Ad- and HubSpot.
ams, 40, an ex-Googler who had founded a start- A slow start for Canva’s enterprise business
up based in Sydney. Expecting to meet with them won’t sink the company. This December, the

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