How Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Built a $42B Company with a Customer-Centric Approach

Melanie Perkins built Canva into a $42B company by listening to customer feedback, obsessing over product improvement, and setting audacious goals fast.

Melanie Perkins turned a simple idea into Canva, a $42 billion company, by putting customers first. In a recent appearance on Lenny's Podcast, Perkins described how continual customer feedback and relentless product improvement created a design tool that people love and want to share.

A customer-centric approach was core to Canva’s growth. Instead of guessing what users needed, the team actively listened — collecting feedback, testing features, and iterating quickly. That cycle of listening and improving helped the product become more intuitive and powerful. As Perkins said on the podcast, "Everything good was once imagined." Her point: imagining a better experience only matters if you make it real by responding to users.

Product improvements also fueled organic sharing. As Canva’s features became easier and more delightful, users recommended the tool to friends and colleagues. Word-of-mouth is a powerful growth engine for startups, and Canva harnessed it by making product quality the primary marketing channel. The company’s photo and design tools moved from a neat idea into daily habits for millions because each update made the experience more useful and shareable.

Perkins also credits audacious goal-setting for keeping momentum high. She’s spoken about setting “crazy big goals” that make you feel inadequate at first — a feeling that drives hard work and creativity. In 2012 she imagined design tools anyone could use to create beautiful visuals in seconds. That vision pushed the team to build features even beginners could master, which broadened Canva’s appeal and accelerated adoption.

What can founders learn from Canva’s playbook? Start with the customer: gather feedback, prioritize the most useful improvements, and ship often. Aim high with ambitious goals that inspire sustained effort. And treat product quality as a growth lever — when a tool genuinely solves problems, users will tell others.

Melanie Perkins’s journey from a bold idea to a $42B valuation shows how combining customer focus, product obsession, and audacious goals creates momentum. For startups and product teams, Canva’s story is a reminder that listening and iterating can turn imagination into impact.

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