First Block with Notion Co-Founders Ivan Zhao and Simon Last

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Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders and executives from the world's leading companies tell us about the many “firsts” of their startup journeys. Hosted by our Co-founder Akshay Kothari, this series explores the many ups and downs that founders face as they build their companies, and what they've learned along the way.

For our final episode of First Block Season 1, Akshay sits down with Notion co-founders Ivan Zhao and Simon Last to talk about everything Notion — where we started, how we got where we are now, and where we’re headed.

What’s in this episode

• 00:00 Intro

• 01:06 The Founding Story

• 04:55 The Early Days

• 11:43 Reaching Product-Market-Fit

• 17:53 Building a Lean Team

• 19:58 Building for All: The Tradeoffs

• 27:09 Creating a Global Community

• 30:19 Scaling Company Culture

• 37:13 The Future of AI

• 44:32 A Day in the Life of Ivan Zhao and Simon Last