How a text from Cliff Obrecht sealed Canva's purchase of Sydney's MagicBrief
George Howes was at the airport en route to the UK when an unexpected WhatsApp appeared. Hours later he'd agreed to sell his startup.
Just four weeks ago, MagicBrief co-founder George Howes was at the airport on his way to the UK where he was planning to establish operations for his startup, when he received an unexpected WhatsApp message from Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht asking him to meet.
Obrecht and Howes had never met before, and what ensued was a made-for-TV moment.
"I was moving to the UK because we were going to set up a go-to-market operation on that side of the world," Howes said. "I was at the airport, had all my bags packed and was about to check my bag — and then I got a WhatsApp from Cliff."
"I just kind of stood there at the airport for a minute thinking, 'Oh, what do I do now?'”
