Fundraising

The woman behind Canva shares how she built a $42B company from nothing | Melanie Perkins

The woman behind Canva shares how she built a $42B company from nothing | Melanie Perkins

Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Canva, shares the core philosophies that propelled the company to a $42 billion valuation. She details her 'Column B' thinking—building towards a dream future rather than from existing constraints—and explains how setting 'crazy big goals' and systematically learning from over 100 investor rejections were crucial. Perkins also discusses surviving a two-year technical rewrite without shipping features and Canva's foundational 'two-step plan' to build a valuable company and use its wealth to do the most good possible.

Numeral: Building the Global Tax Platform

Numeral: Building the Global Tax Platform

Co-founder Sam Ross discusses Numeral's journey from a personal e-commerce pain point to a venture-backed global tax platform. He covers the market opportunity created by outdated incumbents, the 'do things that don't scale' approach to finding product-market fit, lessons from fundraising, and how Numeral leverages AI to automate complex compliance workflows, shifting from a tool to a full-service solution.

Recall.ai: Unlocking the World’s Conversations

Recall.ai: Unlocking the World’s Conversations

Co-founder David shares Recall.ai's journey from a YC hackathon project to the essential data infrastructure for over 1,000 AI companies. He covers their strategic pivot to an API, the fundraising grind, and the lessons learned in building a lean, high-agency team that powers the future of AI with conversation data.

The AI Engineer’s Guide to Raising VC — Dani Grant (Jam), Chelcie Taylor (Notable)

The AI Engineer’s Guide to Raising VC — Dani Grant (Jam), Chelcie Taylor (Notable)

VCs Dani Grant and Chelcie Taylor provide a tactical playbook for AI engineers on raising their first round of funding. They cover when to raise, how to write effective cold emails, what to focus on in a pitch (vision over tech), how to answer key questions about competitors and go-to-market, and the dynamics of a successful investor meeting.