How to Build a $40BN Business

"Learn Photoshop" has been on my bucket list for about ten years. When you have a self-improvement goal in mind but no desire to take a class, watch the YouTube videos, or sign up after the Adobe trial expires, that lack of resolve can lead to a nagging feeling. Luckily for me, a couple of entrepreneurs saw the high-learning curve to design tools like Photoshop as a business opportunity and launched Canva.

Canva is a drag and drop tool for designing good-looking resumes, presentations, marketing materials, and more. The company offers a variety of templates that are hip to the day's trends. Most of the templates and tools are free, but there are membership options for greater access to tools and templates. Check out Canva's metrics to see how sticky the product is:

This Twitter thread breaks down the trajectory of the business, from a nineteen-year-old selling design classes with her boyfriend to a yearbook design company that quickly became the largest in Australia. The duo took the tools they had created and rebranded as Canva, a company now worth $40BN. In a venture landscape riddled with outsized valuations, this company shows that starting small and solving a unique pain point is purely and simply good business.