Back

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳. He almost went 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭, moved to 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧, lived on ramen, and coded 𝟏𝟖 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲 Now, 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 is worth $𝟏𝟎𝐁+ and used by millions, and his strategy stunned 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭, 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞,and 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. Here’s how he 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗲 Zhao wasn’t your typical founder. Born in 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚, raised in 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚, he studied 𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐲 —not computer science. His obsession? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤. That led to 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, a tool to 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲. In 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑, with $𝟐𝐌 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, he launched Notion—an all-in-one workspace. But the first version 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝. It was 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 —users wanted 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. By 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓, 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝. Zhao had to 𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 and shut down the office. Most founders would have quit. 𝐙𝐡𝐚𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲: 𝗔 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 Instead of shutting down, he 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐲𝐨𝐭𝐨, 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧, to cut costs and rebuild 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡. •𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧. •𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟖 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲. •𝐍𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦. 𝐍𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐍𝐨 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬. For 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, he worked in isolation. Then in 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖, everything changed. He 𝐩𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 Notion into a 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞—exactly what users wanted. It 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐍𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐬. 𝐍𝐨 𝐕𝐂 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝-𝐨𝐟-𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁, 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 & 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 By 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎, 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐚 $𝟐𝐁 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐭—𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭. Zhao refused. Instead of taking 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐕𝐂 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬, he raised a 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, keeping full control. Then 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐡𝐢𝐭, and Notion became an 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥 for remote teams, startups, and creators. By 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑, 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 $𝟏𝟎𝐁+. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 Unlike other startups, Notion didn’t 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐬. Instead, it grew through 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 & 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬. 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝-𝐨𝐟-𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. Notion became 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧? 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐕𝐂 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐬. You just need a 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭- and the patience to keep going when everyone else quits. That’s how 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐧. I hope you've found this post helpful. Follow me Vishu Bheda for more posts on business and startups. Like the post below if you can.