It was about "the future of publishing"
Melanie Perkins was just 22 years old when she tried to propose to a Silicon Valley multimillionaire to fund her innovative idea.
She had already dropped out of university when she traveled from Perth, Australia to California to meet investor Bill Tai. "I did not think he liked the idea because he kept talking on his phone," Perkins would say a few years later.
Melanie's idea was for the "future of publishing" through Canva, an online platform designed to allow anyone to easily design anything from greeting cards and posters to websites and calendars.
Although Tai did not really appreciate her idea, he recommended it to a group of more willing investors, engineers and developers.
Today, the value of Melanie's company, based in Sydney, Australia, is estimated at $ 1 billion.
It has 10 million users in 179 countries, and every second 10 designs are created through its website.