Quiet Power Moves The loudest isn’t always the smartest.

In the early 2010s, Melanie Perkins was rejected by over 100 investors.

She was 19, living in Perth, and building a platform called Fusion Books......a tool for students to design their own yearbooks online. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t flashy. But it worked.

Melanie noticed something during those early days. Most people found design software intimidating. Tools like Photoshop had too many layers, too many steps, and too many barriers for the average user. She believed there had to be a simpler way .......one where anyone, regardless of skill, could design something beautiful.

So, she and co-founder Cliff Obrecht quietly kept iterating. They kept the business lean. They reinvested revenue. They didn’t make noise.

Years later, when they launched Canva, the platform didn’t arrive with a bang. There was no media frenzy. No high-profile endorsements. No hype.

Instead, it was a simple link passed between freelancers, marketers, teachers. A tool that did what it promised. People signed up, tried it, and stayed. That was it.

By the time most of the world “discovered” Canva, it was already deeply embedded in workflows ........ a quiet staple. Behind the scenes, the team had spent years building a backend that could support millions. They focused on product experience, built libraries of templates, and studied user behavior with obsession. There wasn’t much noise, but there was a lot of depth.

They weren’t trying to be everywhere. They were trying to be indispensable.

In 2021, Canva was valued at $40 billion.

No one can pinpoint the moment it exploded — because it didn’t. It grew the way strong businesses often do: through quiet, steady, cumulative action.

Years before that, Atlassian scaled to over a billion in revenue ...... without a single salesperson.

In fact, they were often overlooked in startup media. But while others were pitching, Atlassian was shipping. They made it easy for teams to sign up and collaborate without needing demos or meetings. They documented every feature. They listened to users and made adjustments before problems escalated. And they kept their culture internal ..... deliberate, but understated.

At one point, they even launched an IPO without ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. They just… got back to work.

In a very different space, Patagonia spent years rebuilding its supply chain. They restructured production to eliminate environmental harm, created a repair program that extended product life instead of selling replacements, and re-trained store staff to talk about values instead of just clothes.

None of this went viral. It didn’t need to. It was real work.

If you were to chart these companies’ growth, you wouldn’t see dramatic spikes or sudden takeoffs. You’d see something slower. More intentional. More stable.

Their moves weren’t loud. But they were powerful.

And they’re still compounding.

What about you?

What’s the move you’re making behind the scenes this quarter ..... the one no one knows about yet, but will make all the difference?

You don’t need to post it. But I’d love to hear it.

Reply to this newsletter or drop me a message. I’m listening ..... quietly.


1st July 2025