Startup Origins Stories View More
How Shopify Started by Selling Snowboards Online
Shopify wasn’t built to sell snowboards. It was built because a snowboard shop needed better software — and the software turned out to be the real business.
How Discord Started as a Failed Gaming Startup
Discord didn’t start with a plan to build a communication platform. It started with a game that failed — and a chat feature nobody meant to turn into a company.
How Notion Almost Died Before Rebuilding in Japan
In 2015, Notion almost died. The team was gone, the money was nearly out, and the product didn’t work. What saved it was a cold house in Kyoto, eighteen-hour days, and two founders who weren’t ready to quit.
How Canva Started From a University Project in Perth
A teenage student in Perth noticed design software was too hard. That frustration became Canva — now used by 220 million people worldwide.
Founder Stories View More
Tobias Lütke: The Programmer Who Accidentally Built Shopify
Tobias Lütke never wanted to be a CEO — he wanted to fix bad software. That instinct built Shopify.
Jason Citron: The Founder Who Turned a Failed Game Into Discord
He sold his first company for $104 million at 26. His second one failed. From inside that failure, Jason Citron built Discord.
Ivan Zhao: The Founder Who Rebuilt Notion From Scratch
Ivan Zhao nearly lost Notion in 2015. He fired his team, moved to Kyoto with almost nothing, and rebuilt from scratch. This is his founder story.
Melanie Perkins: How a 19-Year-Old Built Canva From Perth
A 19-year-old in Perth noticed design software was failing ordinary people. What she did next took fifteen years and changed how the world creates.
Funding Stories View More
How Shopify Raised Funding Before Becoming a Global Commerce Platform
Bessemer’s Alex Ferrara flew to Ottawa three times before betting on Shopify. Here’s why he did — and what came after.
How Discord Raised Funding After Pivoting From a Failed Game
A failed game shouldn’t have raised another dollar. Discord raised nearly $1 billion. Here’s how the pivot won investors back.
How Notion Raised Funding and Became an $11 Billion Company
Notion raised $418 million total. But the real funding story starts in 2015 — nearly broke, two founders, a rented house in Kyoto, and a product being rebuilt from nothing.
How Canva Raised Funding After Nearly 100 Rejections
Melanie Perkins heard no nearly a hundred times. This is the story of what it actually took — and who it took — to finally hear yes.
Startup Lesson View More
What Shopify Teaches Every Startup Founder
Shopify didn’t get lucky. Every real lesson in its history came from a decision that could easily have gone the other way.
What Discord Teaches Every Startup Founder
Discord didn’t succeed because the plan worked. It succeeded because the founders kept reading the evidence honestly — even when it was expensive. Here are 10 lessons from how they did it.
7 Startup Lessons From Notion’s Success Story
By 2015, Notion was nearly bankrupt with a broken product and no team. By 2026, it’s worth $11 billion. Here are 7 real lessons hidden inside that turnaround.
What Canva Teaches Every Startup Founder
Canva’s success looks obvious from the outside. The decisions that created it were anything but. Here are the lessons hiding inside the journey.
Failed Startups
Why Yahoo Messenger Died After 20 Years on Top
Yahoo Messenger ruled online chat for 20 years — then vanished. Here’s why it really died.