The morning headlines include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s intention to eliminate “insider trading” in Congress, testimony from a Meta whistleblower, and Canva’s new tool, which would have been advantageous for its founder.
Melanie Perkins, who co-founded Canva over a decade ago, did not have a technical background, but she did possess an idea for simplifying graphic design for those unfamiliar with Photoshop. She recognized that with the growth of social media, visual communication was becoming increasingly important.
The absence of a technical background contributed to more than 100 venture capitalists declining to support Perkins and her co-founder, Cliff Obrecht, who is now her husband, during their efforts to secure funding. Despite this, Sydney-based Canva has emerged as the highest-valued female-founded and led startup globally, generating $3 billion in annual revenue last year. Its latest product release aims to simplify the journey for future founders with visions but limited technical skills.
Canva recently introduced Canva Code, a generative AI coding platform that assists in prototyping apps and other products. Users can input prompts such as “build an interactive map of travel destinations” to receive the necessary code for their projects. Perkins has utilized this tool for creating apps for birthdays, as well as quizzes, tutorials, and games.
While AI-powered coding doesn’t provide coding education, Perkins hopes it will make coding less daunting and more accessible, aligning with the objectives of organizations like Girls Who Code. “It’ll be their entrée into coding,” Perkins explained, envisioning a future where users can view and edit generated code, thereby expanding their understanding of coding.
Perkins reflected on the early days of Canva, stating that having this tool would have changed everything. She now trusts it enough to build minor features for Canva. “It’s excellent for designing single-purpose ideas,” she noted, describing a recent scenario where she transformed an idea into a prototype and conducted user testing within an hour, a process she found remarkable.
In light of the AI era, and just prior to this product launch, Canva recently laid off 10 of its 12 technical writers, as reported by the Australian Financial Review. Perkins acknowledged the necessity for individuals to upskill for this new era.
In addition to the coding tool, Canva launched Canva Sheets, a competitor to Google Sheets. This new offering integrates visual elements and an AI studio, enabling users to generate and resize images by the thousands in a spreadsheet.
Perkins highlighted that Canva now serves 230 million people and is used by 95% of Fortune 500 companies. While an initial public offering (IPO) for Canva is still being considered, there is currently no news to report.
With each new product suite announcement, Canva claims it to be its largest launch yet. Recent product launches have focused on establishing Canva as essential enterprise software and integrating AI capabilities. This strategic move expands its competition beyond just companies like Microsoft and Adobe.
