Notion has hired seven salespeople, who will not be able to visit clients in person while social distancing is in effect. -Ivan Zhao. One of the biggest holes we fill is the information gap that emerges on teams that work across too many tools without visibility. Notion is also profitable. The key to healthy culture and productivity is over-communication and true understanding of what everyone is working on and why it’s important. While many start-ups grapple with the fallout from the pandemic, this San Francisco company raised more cash to survive. In its own words, Notion was built to bring together many of the tools/functionality we use at work to one place, reducing the number of … Ivan Zhao, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago ) To be honest we don't have a methodology. A note back then from Notion founder Ivan Zhao: “Notion wants to challenge this status quo of ‘software as silos.’ For the 1.0 release, we are bundling real-time documents, wiki-like organization, and lightweight tasks into a unified tool that can handle pretty much all your team's knowledge needs – … This is not surprising if you consider how these tools evolved. Founded by Chris Prucha, Ivan Zhao, Wai Lam, and Simon Last, Notion also hired former LinkedIn India head Akshay Kothari as COO last year. INFORMATION SHEET. For example, Zhao has always stressed the use of design permutations: for every user flow, Zhao constantly iterates on design elements until he was confident that he had fully optimized the design. Notion had previously been valued at $800 million. About this Episode Today, we chat with Ivan Zhao, the co-founder at Notion - a fast growing productivity software . Notion gives you a bird’s eye view of everything your team is working on and then lets you drill down into the smallest details if and when you want. Whitepages people search is the most trusted directory. We think the pendulum is swinging back to a bundled solution. Mr. Zhao started Notion after graduating from the University of British Columbia and working at Inkling, a document-sharing start-up in San Francisco. Notion addresses both by making communication in the product more about utility — allowing people to collaborate on the same pages at the same time, and to have very targeted asynchronous conversations about specific work (using comments and discussions). Zhao: Teams are increasingly tech-savvy, with things like shortcuts and working collaboratively becoming second nature. There’s been kind of a big unbundling where the old guard like Microsoft Office has been broken down into many separate apps for documents, spreadsheets, notes, etc. How to Listen to Spotify Offline on Mobile and Windows 10 3 Ways How Google Photos Will Count Against Google Drive Storage Zhao: In Notion, you can create multiple layers of tasks so that it’s possible for everyone to see everyone’s tasks team-wide at the top level, and then drill down into individuals’ tasks at the most granular level. It was started by Ivan Zhao, and is headquartered in San Francisco. It will be interesting to see how this new fight between Airtable, Notion, and Coda plays out. At MetaLab, a 140-person design agency in Vancouver, Notion has now replaced 12 different tools, including Google Slides and Trello, a list-making service. Last year, Notion expanded its service to larger corporate clients, who typically need armies of sales representatives and who negotiate complicated contracts. Notion’s office is devoid of the typical start-up tchotchkes and clutter. People eager to work there have gone to surprising lengths for attention — one recently sent a package of cupcakes decorated with his own face and the words “Hire me!”. San Francisco, CA. Mr. Kothari said Notion could have easily raised more than $50 million, but that amount gives the company at least 10 years of financing to operate. The best way to do this is to create a database of all tasks across your entire team and organization. Only those who can code, and sometimes not even them. Even as the company has grown stateside, though — at this point, CEO Ivan Zhao said, every week is Notion's biggest week of growth ever — it's boomed even faster internationally. Frey: What has changed in the nature of work that has created the need for a tool like Notion? Mr. Zhao said he was wary of bloat slowing the start-up down and degrading the quality of its product. People use Notion in place of note-taking apps, collaboration services or writing software, and they pay a monthly fee of $4 to $20 each for extra features like more security and storage. Your first encounter with Notion will be perplexing. By early last year, Notion had nearly one million users. View Ivan Zhao’s profile on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional community. And since everyone thinks and works differently, this means tools need to be very flexible. Notion had previously been valued at $800 million. The ambition of Zhao and his team at Notion can’t be contained in any single decade. Your email address will not be published. Its founders, Ivan Zhao and Simon Last, had built their app on a suboptimal tech stack, and it crashed constantly.Their angel investment money dwindling, they faced a brutal choice: Fire their fledgling team of 4 and start over, or run out of cash. One of the lucky ones is Notion, a workplace productivity start-up based in San Francisco, whose tools help people organize and track their work. Notionist: Your source for tips and education for this powerful productivity tool, Notion Made Simple: A “must” learning investment for success with this tool, How Valentin Perez amplifies his creativity with Notion, Notion boosts user productivity 20-30%, survey shows, 10 ways you can use Notion to be wickedly creative, Ivan Zhao reflects on the thinking behind Notion. It reinforces organizations to make sure all work being done by everyone rolls up to the same main objectives, and provides transparency for everyone into what’s going on and who is doing what at all times. The fund-raising was completed in 36 hours last week after the virus pushed Ivan Zhao, Notion’s founder and chief executive, and Akshay Kothari, Notion’s chief operating officer, to rethink their previous position of … Your email address will not be published. It will be better because it won’t have to serve the agenda of the great evil overlord Salesforce, it will serve you. It is also building new features into its software — like options for dictating who can access and edit documents — to satisfy larger companies’ legal, security and compliance requirements. Notion has intended to make the personal plan free since last year, said Ivan Zhao, Notion’s CEO. Bartender ... Ivan Zhao Founder at Notion. He initially raised $2 million, which he spent on developing a product over several years. We want Notion to be as light and simple as you want to be, with the power to do complex things only if and when you want to. “‘Moby Dick’ is written by one person,” he said. People can dive into notes from other people’s meetings, or search for past campaigns to understand how to create a new one, just to name a couple of examples. Right now very few of us can. There’s a short history of this (and how it influenced Notion) here. Frey: How does Notion help teams brainstorm and innovate better? Chuck Frey: If you had to summarize what Notion is and what it represents in 10 words or less, how would you describe it? Ivan's Twitter: follow him Notion: Get it here Learn Notion from Scratch: here On 6th May, we have Todoist CEO Amir ready to interview - stay tuned! More in Internet and Social. The company has stayed small, with 42 employees. We still write documents that mimic paper. Lastly, there’s a lot of transparency that comes from storing all your knowledge, information and work in one place that your entire team can see and access. The company claims to be an all-in-one workspace for note-taking , knowledge and data management, project and task management . Frey: How are the needs of work teams evolving, and how does Notion reflect that direction? 77 others named Ivan Zhao are on LinkedIn. — so you can easily build and stack them however you want to solve your problems your own way (made easier with drag and drop, etc.). View phone numbers, addresses, public records, background check reports and possible arrest records for Ivan Zhao. Frey: What’s the origin story of Notion? This is impossible for most teams to achieve because people are doing work in all kinds of places that aren’t connected, and people don’t think to share. Was that intentional? We wanted to create a space that was as distraction-free as humanly possible. In 2016, Mr. Zhao borrowed $150,000 from his mother to keep the start-up afloat. — Ivan Zhao, Co-founder of Notion. The app can be accessed via most web browsers. A designer by training, Ivan founded the company in 2016 to make it possible for everyone in the world to create the tools they need without knowing how to code. Ivan Zhao, over 4 years ago (edited over 4 years ago) To be honest we don't have a methodology. Notion does this in a couple of ways: 1) It brings all your work into one space so you can close all the many apps and tabs you’ve been using, and work alongside your team in the same spot, and. Also, the software that so many of us used every day couldn’t be modified at all. It serves as an all-in-one workspace for note-taking, task management, and project management. You’re not sure but it is definitely different. Before the most recent funding, Notion, which was founded in 2013, had raised $17 million. That allowed the start-up to garner new funding. Liked by Ivan Zhao. It seemed wrong that only a few people with the ability to code could build websites and other software tools. Different good or different bad? Frey: What’s your vision for how tools can help people to create and express their ideas better? Ivan Zhao is Co-founder and CEO of Notion, the all-in-one workspace for notes, documents, wikis, projects, and collaboration. Frey: Notion’s interface seems to do a great job of “getting out of the way” so users can focus on what they want to create. “Financing is a signal of stability, which is important for us,” said Akshay Kothari, Notion’s head of operations. Zhao: We believe more people should be able to modify the tools they use in their everyday lives and work. The more you can encourage people to share, and the more you can coax ideas and information out of their heads, the better off your team will be long-term. America's Richest Self-Made Women. Zhao: We think tools should mimic the way people’s brains work. Zhao: In college, I did freelance work for friends who wanted to build their own websites, and I saw a couple of things. And you can filter it to see just your tasks or a colleague’s tasks. Zhao: The all-in-one nature of Notion is very special. Ram Shriram, a venture capitalist who invested in Notion in 2013, said that at many businesses, “a lot of the products we use were designed in the 1990s.” There is room for new workplace tools that take advantage of the internet and other advances so people can collaborate and have the most up-to-date data while they work, he said. Notion is for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Special Guest: Ivan Zhao. The company declined to disclose its revenue, but said it had made money since 2018. India's Richest Its tools help office workers, now quarantined in their homes, work together more seamlessly. Ivan's Twitter: follow him Notion: Get it here Learn Notion from Scratch: here Thanks to Ivan for having me in the office to interview him. People think fast, so they should be able to capture and restructure their thoughts fast too. The 32-year-old founder of Notion says, all while regularly dropping mentions of computing legends Alan Kay and Douglas Engelbart as his inspiration. Product Hunt describes Notion as the new Quip. About this Episode On Monday, we'll be interviewing Ivan Zhao, co-founder at Notion all about his story and vision. Notion is definitively a huge contender to every state-of-the-art collaboration product out there. Today, we chat with Ivan Zhao, the co-founder at Notion - a fast growing productivity software INFORMATION SHEET Ivan's Twitter: follow him Notion: Get it here Learn Notion from Scratch: here Thanks to Ivan for having me in the office to interview him. In a moment of uncertainty, Mr. Kothari said, “financing is a signal of stability, which is important for us.”. But the company delayed it amid a surge in usage related to … I had sold my previous company and I … We also built in mechanisms like drag and drop so it’s easy and intuitive to rearrange your thoughts once they are “down on paper,” so to speak. Background Checks Join now to see all activity Experience. We’ve been able to eliminate a lot of meetings at Notion, for instance, because these discussions take place in a clear way inside the product right next to the work in question. In 2015, productivity tool Notion nearly died. The fund-raising was completed in 36 hours last week after the virus pushed Ivan Zhao, Notion’s founder and chief executive, and Akshay Kothari, Notion’s chief operating officer, to rethink their previous position of not relying too much on venture capital. With more people working remotely now and turning to such products, new customer sign-ups hit a new high for Notion in recent weeks. Ivan Zhao, the founder of Notion, has created a tool that is remarkably unique: It helps users gain clarity and be more productive in their work – yet each one can design a unique workspace that’s tailored to his or her needs. It's largely just learning via making – listening to what people want, and fitting the things we want around it. We want to give more people the ability to build the tools they actually want and need without having to code. That said, increasingly, teams need ways to work better together that don’t require a ton of time spent in in-person meetings (which slows everyone down), and a way to keep communication focused and action-oriented. That’s why all of Notion’s functionality fades to the back as soon as you start typing. Ivan Zhao reflects on the thinking behind Notion Chuck Frey April 20, 2019 Interviews No Comments Ivan Zhao, the founder of Notion, has created a tool that is remarkably unique: It helps users gain clarity and be more productive in their work – yet each one can design a unique workspace that’s tailored to his or her needs. How did it come to be? We started with Notion 1.0, which was all about docs and notes, and then introduced 2.0 with databases in the spring of 2018. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. “Adding another person doesn’t necessarily give you a higher-quality ‘Moby Dick.’ It doesn’t even necessarily make it faster.”. While many are cutting staff and slashing costs as they reel from the outbreak’s fallout, others have experienced a surge in demand. Notion started in 2012 as Canopy Technologies. Akshay Kothari: [Notion co-founders Ivan Zhao and Simon Last] started Notion six years ago and that’s when I invested. Notion was founded by Ivan Zhao. SAN FRANCISCO — The spread of the coronavirus has meant feast or famine for technology start-ups. MetaLab said it used Notion to present work to clients and to collect their feedback all in one place, among other tasks. You’re really left with a completely blank, fresh space designed to feel like a breath of fresh air and spacious opportunity to think deeply. Required fields are marked *. But really, there haven’t been many big changes to our essential work software in decades. Frey: How does Notion help individuals and teams to manage their tasks and projects better? Notion wants to challenge this status quo. In enterprise software alone, people use a whole portfolio of software tools, and most of them have very narrow use cases. Zhao is a designer and his philosophies has found its way into every nook and cranny of Notion. “A lot of people are moving from Evernote to Notion,” says Ivan Zhao, Notion’s co-founder and CEO. At one point, Notion ran dangerously low on cash and laid off four employees. It also introduced a new price-point of $4 per month aimed at personal users. We’re continuing to grow our functionality, and are excited about what’s ahead in 2019. Since last May, its users have organized more than 180 meet-ups in 21 countries and 52 cities. Also, as you use the product, you’ll notice that a lot of features only appear on hover, or that you only receive notifications when someone mentions you or something specific requires your attention. Tag them by department, assign them to specific people, even give them due dates if you want. People are used to working in shared documents and project spaces, and constantly communicating with their colleagues through various channels. That traction attracted venture capitalists and others who wanted to invest in Notion last year. The current Notion is actually 2+ years in the making. Growth of carbon emissions is becoming an ever-growing problem in this day and age. That has since quadrupled, Mr. Kothari said. INFORMATION SHEET. “When the world changed, they changed their mind,” she said. Notion was founded by Ivan Zhao. Notion, Maker of Collaboration Software, Raises $50 Million. China's Richest. Quip’s mission is to be your living document, the next logical step in the iteration o… “The killer feature is that it is what you make of it.”. And we want to do this in a way that will help people think more clearly and collaborate with each other better. This reality is not only expensive for businesses, but it has all of their employees jumping and context switching between many apps and tabs all day long just to complete single projects. It's largely just learning via making – listening to what people want, and fitting the things we want around it. Notion a singular tool that handles all your work outside email and Slack. So that’s one thing. Zhao: Yes, absolutely. Notion is for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. Listen to Tools They Use episodes free, on demand. The current Notion is actually 2+ years in the making. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Kothari had previously sold Pulse News to the professional social network company for $90 million in 2013. Notion started off in 2016 with Ivan Zhao. Frey: What holes does Notion fill that existing productivity, information management and collaboration tools weren’t addressing? Notion’s stark black-and-white product offers “templates” of checklists and projects for, say, bringing on new hires, tracking product development, or managing editorial calendars for marketers. Ivan has 2 jobs listed on their profile. See you next week for the Todoist CEO, Amir. Notion is a note-taking and collaboration application for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. Zhao: There are so many apps these days. In this way, you get to see how what you’re working on fits into the greater whole. The start-up is now in a tricky stage of building on its growth with more established customers. Notion has users in countries including Russia, Japan and Germany. On Wednesday, Notion said it raised $50 million from Index Ventures and other investors that valued it at $2 billion. Notion is a collaboration platform with modified markdown support that integrates kanban boards, tasks, wikis, and databases. The tide turned that same year when Mr. Zhao released Notion’s software product. The app blends everyday work apps into one. In this way, Notion lets you capitalize on all of your institutional history and knowledge to keep doing new, exciting things. This is how the notion was pitched. It serves as an all-in-one workspace for note-taking, task management, and project management. If you would have been part of the tech community you would have definitely run into Notion at one point or the other. Zhao: We’ve heard from a number of people that Notion’s very minimalist, lightweight feel encourages people to write more — even if it’s just jotting down ideas. The app blends everyday work apps into one. Notion is emblematic of the kind of technology start-up that may be in a position to survive the shakeout in Silicon Valley. [8] 2) it breaks traditional productivity software into blocks — text, lists, tasks, databases, images, etc. Not only does this make all of your team’s work easier to find, access, and dig into every day, it also increases transparency and the flow of information throughout teams. You can view this kind of database as a Kanban board if that helps you visualize tasks better. The app can be accessed via most web browsers. Investors spent months banging on the door of Notion's San Francisco office, and when the company took $50 million in funding in April, it valued Notion at $2 billion. Ivan Zhao started Notion, a productivity software start-up that has made money since 2018, in 2013. We recently interviewed him to learn the origin story of Notion, and to get his take on the evolving nature of work today and how his modular masterpiece enables it. In June 2018, almost exactly a year after the beta of Notion’s iOS app went live, Notion unveiled its long-awaited Android app. Founded by Chris Prucha, Ivan Zhao, Jessica Lam, and Simon Last in 2016, Notion is backed by investors that include Elad Gil, Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Thibaud Elziere and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. And we still store them in file cabinets — only now it’s all digital. 1,502 Followers, 1,039 Following, 170 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Ivan Zhao (@ivanhzhao) We try to give people a blank canvas that lets them arrange their thoughts in ways that are most helpful to them. This made Notion significantly more affordable than Evernote, which at that time cost $70 per year. More in Internet and Social. Ivan Zhao started Notion, a productivity software start-up that has made money since 2018, in 2013. It quickly caught on among techies and early adopters at companies like Samsung and Hearst. Notion vs Trel­lo: Which Project Man­age­ment Tool Is Bet­ter For You. After you sign up on Notion with your Google account you are brought to a pre-configured workspace and it’s immediately clear this is not Quip; it’s different. When people have all their essential work tools in one place and are able to work there seamlessly together with their team, they get more done, they save a huge amount of time, their thinking is more clear and consistent, and project work flows more smoothly. A lot of our functionality has been designed in service to that. 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