Minted Grew From a Stationery Brand to a Global Design Platform. Here's How.By listening to her community and reacting quickly, Mariam Naficy built a business bigger than her wildest visions.

When Mariam Naficy launched Minted in 2008, she wanted to create anichebusiness, one that would crowdsource stationery designs from independent artists, askconsumersto vote for their favorites, produce and sell the best-performing creations and share a portion of revenue with the original designers.

But Naficy underestimated consumers' interest in what she was building, and she soon found herself at the helm of a massiveventure-backeddesign platform that was growing far beyond her original vision. So she rolled with it -- adapting right alongside her company.