SXSW Sydney returned for 2024 with thinkers, dreamers and do-ers descending on Sydney to begin a week of inspiration and positivity. What better way to kickstart the feeling of inspiration than to hear from the co-founder of one of Australia’s most successful tech unicorns, Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva.
Canva’s journey from idea to startup to world leader
In this interview with Mary Meeker from Bond Capital, Perkins shared insights into how she and her co-founders took Canva from idea to startup to world leader. In the guided conversation that was neatly presented as a “presentation interview” format using a Canva presentation, Perkins walked the audience through the key stages of her career from humble beginnings as a high school entrepreneur selling handmade scarves “on a word that I [Perkins] learned—consignment—so they got paid, I got paid, which was pretty cool”, through to the launch of her first venture, Fusion Books, with future co-founder (and later husband) Cliff Obrecht.
Canva’s Melanie Perkins with Mary Meeker at SXSW
But while the Canva we know today is boasting over 180 million monthly active users, Perkins shared the significant hurdles that she faced in the early days raising funds for Canva, pitching the idea to over 100 investors before securing seed funding via a ‘party round’ from more than 100 individual investors and a $2 million grant from the Australian governments ‘Commercialisation Australia’ program (a non-repayable grant which kept the business headquartered in Australia and a theme that I will pick back up on later on).
Since then, Canva’s rapid global scaling is founded on its guiding principle of listening to customer feedback, a “generous freemium” product, user-friendly design, accessibility features and an ingenious ‘Canva for Education’ program which is creating customers for life.
Now, with AI heavily integrated into its product, Canva is continuously enhancing productivity and creativity across its broad global user base. Canva’s mission reflects Perkins’ two-step plan: to create one of the world’s most valuable companies and to drive social impact globally, such as supporting education and reducing poverty. This focus on empowerment and sustainable growth defines Perkins’ leadership with the idea that “if we can make something complex easy, we can make a huge impact on the world.”
Q&A on Meta’s open-source AI model, Llama
After that hard-to-beat session of the day, it was time to hear from Meta’s VP of AI, Manohar Paluri in conversation with Ryan Patel in an audience-driven Q&A on Meta’s open-source AI model, Llama.
Paluri highlighted Meta’s efforts to foster an open, inclusive ecosystem in the AI domain where Meta believes “the intelligence layer should be open, and Llama wants to be the open ecosystem for AI”. Open-source AI, according to Paluri, not only accelerates innovation but empowers various regions to tailor AI solutions for local languages and industries, as seen in applications across Asia-Pacific.
In a discussion that included a show-off of Meta’s Rayban Wayfarer sunglasses, Paluri also gave the audience a demonstration of Meta’s new ‘Movie Gen’ technology through a short video where everything was fully AI-generated based on a text prompt, showcasing a high-definition video with realistic sound and editing capabilities.
Paluri explained that this technology lets creators generate and edit videos quickly, reducing tasks that typically take VFX teams hours or days down to minutes. It highlighted the power and potential of generative AI to make creative production more accessible and efficient. Whether this is a step in the right direction, only time will tell…
As someone who’s had the fortune of experiencing SXSW in both Austin and now Sydney, one of my favourite aspects of the conference is the freedom to wander, often stumbling upon fascinating discussions that are different from your day-to-day.
In an intriguing fireside chat between Rohan Silva (former UK Senior Policy Advisor) and Hon Paul Fletcher MP (Shadow Minister for Government Services & the Digital Economy), hosted by Ben Grabiner (General Partner, Side Stage Ventures), they examined the trajectory and challenges of Australia’s tech ecoyststem, comparing it with the UK’s growth model. Grabiner, reflecting on his experience in the UK, pointed to London’s emergence as a tech hub in the early 2010s, driven by supportive government policies leading to a strong startup culture.
Despite Australia’s economic stability potentially reducing urgency for tech expansion, Paul Fletcher emphasised that policies encouraging both local and international investment in startups could spur incremental GDP growth (Canva being the obvious example of this!). The panel concluded that by leveraging Australia’s unique cultural appeal and fostering innovation-friendly policies, the nation could further position itself as a global tech destination.
Day 1 of SXSW Sydney has already ignited my creativity and positivity. I’m looking forward to another day filled with inspiration and, Sydney weather permitting, even more exploration on Day 2 of SXSW Sydney 2024.