Name: 想創業嗎？她在 30 歲就建立了自己的獨角獸企業！ (She founded a unicorn by 30. Now she's taking on the tech giants | Make It International)
Uploaded: 2020-01-08T06:39:59.000Z
Duration: 7 min 20 s

Melanie Perkins has always been ambitious.

Melanie Perkins 一直都很雄心勃勃。

All the way from my Year 2 assignments, I've always been like, "I want to make this a good assignment."

從大二起，我對作業的要求都是「我要把這份作業做到最好。」

As a teen, the Australian entrepreneur and her boyfriend, Cliff Obrecht, dreamed of taking on the Microsofts and Adobes of the world.

作為年輕人，這位澳洲的創業家和她的男朋友 Cliff Obrecht 都曾夢想著加入世界企業微軟和 Adobes。

I guess our goal was to take the entire design ecosystem, integrate it into one page, and then make it accessible to the whole world.

我們的目標是把整個設計業的生態系統融合為一，希望對全世界來說是唾手可得的。

It's a vision that would see her travel to Silicon Valley and pitch over 100 investors, fake an interest in kitesurfing, and even – she says - stalk future employees.

她的願景把她帶往矽谷並招攬了超過 100 名投資者，還要假裝對風箏衝浪有興趣。她甚至表示會悄悄物色未來的員工。

I took his photos from his Facebook profile, and I created this hilarious fairytale that told him about the amazing adventure he was going to have if he was to join our company.

我從他的臉書帳戶拿到他的照片並編造了莫名奇妙的說法，想告訴他加入我們公司的話將可以讓他經歷一段驚喜不斷的奇遇。

Five years after starting the company in 2013,  it was valued at $1 billion, making her one of the world's youngest female tech unicorn founders at just 30.

2013 年起創立，公司市值於 5 年後已價值 11 億美元。讓她在年僅 30 歲時便成為全球最年輕的女性科技獨角獸企業創辦人。

Now aged 32, the company is worth $3.2 billion, and she says she's only just getting started.

她現在 32 歲，公司市值約 32 億美元。不過，她表示這才只是剛起步。

Melanie is the co-founder and CEO of Canva, a free-to-use online design platform, whose celebrity backers include Hollywood actors Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson.

Melanie 是 Canva 的共同創辦人兼執行長，這是一個網路免費使用的設計平台，好萊塢知名演員歐文．威爾森和伍迪．哈里森等亦曾出資贊助。

She and Cliff started the company here in Australia in 2013, in a bid to make design accessible to all, be it for logos, flyers or even presentations.

她和 Cliff 於 2013 年在澳洲創立公司，不論是要設計標誌、傳單甚至是簡報，他們希望設計可以變得更普及。

And in six short years, it's helped create close to 2 billion designs in 190 countries.

在短短六年間，有 190 個國家使用這平台並設計出 20 億件作品。

Today, the couple is worth close to $900 million.

時至今日，這對情侶身價近 9 億美元。

It was a market that hadn't been touched by new companies for a long time.

這個市場已經有很長一段時間沒有新公司來開發。

It was ruled by some big players like Adobe, and Melanie had this vision to take this market and change it.

市場都是由大企業如 Adobe 操控，而 Melanie 的願景是拿下這個市場並改變它。

The idea struck in 2006 while the couple was studying at university in Perth.

這對情侶於 2006 年在珀斯的大學唸書時突然有過這個念頭在他們的腦海裡閃過。

Melanie would spend her spare time teaching design programs to other students, but she grew frustrated with the unnecessarily complex process.

Melanie 平常會利用閒暇時間教學設計程式，但在過程中她逐漸對於很多不必要的繁複步驟感到挫敗。

People would have to spend an entire semester learning where the buttons were, and that seemed completely ridiculous.

大家都要花上一整個學期去熟悉按鈕的位置，這聽起來其實很荒謬。

I thought that in the future it was all going to be online and collaborative and much, much simpler than these really hard tools.

當時我想未來大家都會透過線上互相合作，而且也會比這些難用的工具在使用上來得簡單。

So, the couple, who were just 19 at the time, set to work creating a simple school yearbook design tool to test out their idea.

於是，當時這對只是 19 歲的情侶便著手開始設計學校的年刊以測試他們的想法是否可行。

My mum's living room became my office, and my boyfriend became my business partner.

我媽媽家的客廳變成我的辨公室，而我男朋友則成為我的生意搭擋。

We started enabling schools to create their yearbooks really, really simply.

我們的產品讓學校在設計年刊的過程變得更簡單。

So the whole school could collaborate and design their profile pages and articles.

因此，整個學校上下都可以合作並設計他們的封面和內容。

And then we would actually physically print them and deliver them to schools all around Australia.

隨後可以把這些列印出來並運送至澳洲各地的學校。

The business was a success — and remains active today — but they never lost sight of what Melanie calls her "crazy, big dream" for a one-stop-shop design site.

這門生意在當時可說是很成功，至今在市場上仍然非常活躍。不過，他們從未忘記 Melanie 的目標，她把一站式設計網站稱之為「瘋狂且巨大的夢想」。

There was an investor called Bill Tai, who was over from Silicon Valley in Perth, and I met him after a conference.

那時候有一名投資者叫 Bill Tai，他因參加會議從矽谷飛至珀斯，會後我和他碰了面。

I spoke to him for five minutes and he said if I went to San Francisco, he'd be happy to meet with me.

我跟他聊了五分鐘後他說如果我能去舊金山的話，他會很樂意和我見面。

So I jumped on a plane to San Francisco and, true to his word, he met with me.

於是我就買了機票飛往舊金山，而他也遵守承諾與我見面。

I had brought this paper pitch deck - I didn't realize that, you know, that wasn't cool – but I pulled out my paper pitch deck on the future of publishing.

我帶上了厚厚一疊的募資報告，我沒想過這可不是什麼好主意。不過，我還是把這份未來出版業的募資簡報拿出來講解。

At that point in time, I thought that he didn't really like what I had to say.

當時我覺得他不太喜歡我的內容。

He was on his phone, and I thought that meant he wasn't really engaged.

因為他在講電話，我以為他並沒有很投入聽我的講解。

But then I got home and realized that he was actually introducing me to a few people.

不過，我回家後發現其實當時他是在把我介紹給一些朋友。

因為這次的碰面推使這計劃開始運作。

The legendary venture capitalist invited Melanie to Mai Tai, his unique retreat for investors and kitesurfing enthusiasts.

這位傳奇的風險投資家邀請 Melanie 前往邁泰，這是他為投資者和風箏衝浪愛好者提供的獨特度假勝地。

I think the kind of person that's drawn to a start-up likes to believe that they can control the forces of nature.

我認為會被初創公司吸引的人都是因為他們相信自己控制大自然的力量。

Bill had hosted this kitesurfing and entrepreneurship conference.

Bill 曾主辦風箏衝浪的活動和創業相關的會議。

So every time he would say, "How was my business going?," he'd also be like, "How's your kitesurfing going?"

每次他問「我的生意怎麼樣？」其實也有「你的風箏衝浪玩得怎麼樣？」的意思。

So I kind of needed to learn to kitesurf.

所以我也有需要學習玩風箏衝浪。

And, to be honest, it's not something that I would normally, naturally try.

坦白說，照理來說這不是一項我會主動想嘗試的活動。

But yeah, decided to give it a go because when you don't have any connections, you don't have any network, you just kind of have to wedge your foot in the door and wiggle it all the way through.

不過還是決定嘗試，如果你們之間沒有聯結的話就代表沒有任何人脈，你必須要放手一博。

It wasn't long before the young couple was pitching to scores of Silicon Valley investors.

不久之後，這對年輕情侶就向眾多矽谷的投資者募資。

And even personalizing their decks to win over talent, like top tech engineers from Google.

甚至以個人性化來包裝以吸引人才，例如來自 Google 的頂尖技術工程師。

If you search 'bizarre pitch deck' on Google, we are the number one search result.

如果你在 Google 上打 bizarre pitch deck，會發現我們是搜尋的第一名。

But they still lacked one crucial ingredient: a technical co-founder.

可是他們還缺少了一個靈魂角色：技術聯合創辦人。

So Bill hooked them up with Lars Rasmussen, the co-founder of Google Maps, to lend them a helping hand.

Bill 便為 Melanie 與 Lars Rasmussen 牽線以為他們提供協助，而 Lars 是 Google Maps 的共同創辦人。

When I met with Lars, we had an incredible conversation and we talked about the future of publishing and the future of the world.

當我和 Lars 碰面討論的話題是未來的出版走向和世界發展，這個對話實在是無與倫比。

And he said he'd become our tech adviser.

接著他說答應要當我們的技術顧問。

But what that actually entailed was a year of him rejecting every single person that I brought him.

不過這當中有整整一年，只要每個帶給他看的人都被拒絕。

Sending him resumes, sending him LinkedIn profiles, bringing him physical people, and he was just like, "No, they're not up to scratch."

寄履歷表、LinkedIn 的資料或是把本人帶到面前，他都一律說「不行，他們還未達標。」

Which was incredibly frustrating at the time because I just wanted to get started!

當時我們真的感到很沮喪，因為我只想要開始運作了。

一切的毅力與耐心都是值得的。

They eventually discovered a co-founder in Cameron Adams and a tech developer in Dave Hearnden, who were both from Google.

他們最終找到同樣來自 Google 的 Cameron Adams 擔任共同創辦人和技術開發的 Dave Hearnden。

Months later, at the close of their first funding round, the company was oversubscribed.

幾個月後，經過了第一輪融資該公司被超額認購。

That initial $1.5 million investment was even matched by the Australian government in a bid to keep the company on Australian shores.

最初的 150 萬美元投資甚至得到了澳洲政府的配合，目的是讓公司保留在澳洲。

I'm Rick Baker, I'm one of the partners at Blackbird Ventures.

我是 Rick Baker，是 Blackbird Ventures 的合夥人人一。

We're a venture fund here in Australia and one of the first investors in Canva.

我們是澳洲的風險投資基金，也是 Canva 的第一批投資者。

We invested in it when it was just an idea and now the largest investor in Canva.

當這個還在構想階段我們就選擇投資了，現在我們已經是 Canva 的最大投資者。

I think, really, what attracted us to the founders was this very clear vision of what Canva was going to be.

我認為吸引我們投資的原因是創辦人對於 Canva 的目標願景非常清晰。

Six years on, the company is now a darling of Australia's start-up scene.

六年過去了，該公司現已成為澳洲初創企業的新寵兒。

In October 2019, an $85 million funding round led by Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker gave the company a valuation of $3.2 billion.

2019 年 10 月，有一名由矽谷投資者 Mary Meeker 帶領投資 8500 萬美元，該次融資公司的估值達 32 億美元。

Valuation, as an investor, is of course important.

估值，這對於投資者來說相當重要。

It means that our investment is growing very nicely.

這代表我們的投資增長速度理想。

But I think, more importantly, it's a recognition by investors who really look into the company closely and an indication of how the company's going.

不過更重要的一點是，這是對投資者的一種認可，因為他們都仔細研究了公司，並標明了公司的發展狀況。

What is amazing, really, is the growing usage of Canva.

令人意想不到的是 Canva 的用戶持續增長。

Their business is a wonderful, profitable business, and that's quite a rare thing.

這門生意很奇妙，而且也很賺錢，這是蠻難得的。

If you look at a lot of the big tech companies, the venture-backed SAAS companies in the U.S., a lot of them are burning millions of dollars a month to drive their growth.

你看看有許多大型科技公司如美國風投支持的 SAAS 公司，其中有許多公司每個月都在燃燒數百萬美元以推動發展。

And the amazing thing Canva's been able to do is to do that in a really profitable way.

Canva 能夠做的令人驚奇的事情是以真正能賺錢的方法去達成。

The milestone also makes it one of the world's most valuable female-led tech start-ups.

這個里程卑使她成為全球最有價值的科技新創企業的女性領導。

Today, less than a third of tech and healthcare start-ups have at least one female founder.

現今，不到三分之一的科技與醫療照護產業的新創公司裡頭會有一位女性創辦人。

I know Melanie doesn't like to play the female angle, but it really is an inspiration to women.

我知道 Melanie 其實不太喜歡扮演這樣的女性角色，不過這的確對女性來說是個啟發。

And it isn't a responsibility Melanie is taking on lightly.

She says she'll use the funding to continue to prove her leadership prowess, expand her team of 700 across Sydney, Beijing and Manila, and build out new revenue streams with the company's paid services, Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise.

她表示會好好利用資金繼續向大眾證明她卓越的領導能力，並會把團隊擴增至 700 人，將遍布雪梨、北京和馬尼拉。再者，會建設一組針對收費用戶使用的 Canva Pro 和 Canva for Enterprise，希望可為公司帶來盈利。

That strategy will bring Melanie the  closest she's come yet to competing with the professional design tools of top tech giants like Microsoft and Adobe.

這項策略將使 Melanie 與微軟和 Adobe 等頂尖科技巨頭的專業設計工具上的競爭拉近距離。

But with 85% of Fortune 500 companies already using the platform, the young founder says she's up for the challenge.

全美最大的 500 家公司中有 85% 已使用該設計平台，這位年輕的創辦人表示她已經準備好迎接挑戰。

I think I've always put a lot of pressure on myself.

我想我都會自己給自己很多壓力。

And I think that sort of internal locus of control has been pretty strong.

而且我認為自己內在的控制慾非常強大。

So while the expectations around our company and what we're expected to do is sort of increasing, that's nothing on what I've got on myself!

儘管我對公司的期望以及我們期望做的事情不斷地增加，但這與我對自己的期望無關！