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made a website that allowed students to design their profile pages and articles, while Obrecht and Perkins printed and distributed the yearbooks to Australian schools. The couple secured an investor, and the Fusion Books application went live in 2008. Within five years, Fusion Books became Australia’s largest yearbook company. In 2010, Perkins received her big break when Silicon Valley investor Bill Tai visited Perth. Perkins, Obrecht, and Tai met briefly for dinner, and Tai invited Perkins to San Francisco to pitch her ideas. When Perkins met with Tai in California, she thought she blew the pitch. “I thought that he didn’t really like what I had to say,” she recalled. “He was
and Canva that easily, though. He encouraged her and Obrecht to take up kitesurfing and come to his unique retreat for investors and kitesurfing enthusiasts. At the retreat, Tai introduced the couple to their future tech advisor and co-founder of Google Maps, Lars Rasmussen. They also met an ex-Google employee named Cameron Adams, who would become a co-founder of Canva. With these new advisors, Canva secured $1.5 million from investors and another $1.5 million from the Australian government to keep the business in Australia.
Today, Canva is used by 125 million people every month, bringing in
on his phone, and I thought that meant he wasn’t really engaged in what I had to say about the future of publishing.” Tai was actually connecting Perkins with other investors and tech entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, Perkins’ pitches to Silicon Valley investors and executives proved fruitless. Many were concerned about a tech company starting in Australia and
over $1 billion annually in revenue. Perkins isn’t doing terribly, either. She’s worth over $6 billion and is still Canva’s CEO. Canva has continued to be at the frontline of graphic design programs, continually releasing new features and tools. With AI usage on the rise, they’re developing new ways to utilize it in Canva. Perkins’ journey proves that if you have a good idea, you should stick with it until it sells.
decided against funding it. Tai wouldn’t give up on Perkins
HAVE A Laugh
When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, dark ash drifted to Idaho, forcing temperatures down by as much as 15 degrees F. Residents experienced a fraction of the horrors back in 536 — a time Harvard University historian Michael McCormick once called “the worst year to be alive.” For decades, the year 536 was a historical mystery. Records showed that it was a terrible time, stricken by the triple threat of: 1. Unexplained, unending darkness 2. Unseasonably frigid weather 3. Crop failure and famine Those horrors ravaged the globe, and experts puzzled over the tipping point in 536. Then, in 2018, researchers discovered a Swiss glacier riddled with volcanic glass. Further study revealed enormous volcanic eruptions in 3 REASONS 536 WAS THE WORST YEAR IN HUMAN HISTORY
536 likely caused “The Dark Ages.” As we write this, volcanoes in Iceland and Alaska are the most likely candidates. We’ve already survived a pandemic
this century, so let’s hope both regions stay quiet for everyone’s sake!
3 CraigHansonCPA.com
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