Notion Labs, Inc.

San Francisco, CaliforniaFounded 2013

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Notion provides an all-in-one workspace that integrates notes, tasks, wikis, databases, and AI-powered productivity tools to help teams and individuals organize their work and augment human intellect.

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Founding Story

Ivan Zhao founded Notion to solve a personal problem: he frequently built one-page portfolio websites for creative friends and wanted to create a tool that allowed non-programmers to build their own self-expressive websites and apps. He teamed up with Toby Schachman to pursue the goal of democratizing programming through a visual programming language. The founders were inspired by 1970s computing pioneers like Alan Kay, Doug Engelbart, and Ted Nelson, who envisioned computers as tools to amplify imagination and augment intellect. They felt that modern tools like Google Docs and Dropbox were merely digital versions of Industrial Revolution inventions. The company was founded in 2013 in San Francisco as a startup.

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Leadership

Founders

Ivan Zhao

Ivan Zhao studied cognitive science and fine arts. He worked at Inkling (a software company) before founding Notion. He developed an interest in coding during childhood and was inspired by 1970s computing pioneers like Alan Kay, Doug Engelbart, and Ted Nelson. Currently serves as CEO of Notion.

Simon Last

Simon Last is a designer and engineer based in San Francisco. He has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland. Previously worked at Space Telescope Science Institute and Nebula Inc. Co-founded Notion in 2013.

Akshay Kothari

Akshay Kothari has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (2003-2007) and MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University (2008-2010). He co-founded Pulse (news curation app) which was acquired by LinkedIn. Served as VP Product at LinkedIn and Head of LinkedIn India (2013-2018) before joining Notion as COO in 2018. Early angel investor in Notion in 2013.

Chris Prucha

Chris Prucha previously built Sugarbox, an SDK that made any website collaborative with a single line of code. Joined the Notion team around 2013 to work on the early version of the app. Former Co-Founder.

Jessica Lam

Jessica Lam previously built Sugarbox, an SDK that made any website collaborative with a single line of code. Joined the Notion team around 2013 to work on the early version of the app. Former Co-Founder.

Toby Schachman

Toby Schachman completed a Master's at NYU where he wrote a thesis on visual programming. He was an early partner to Ivan Zhao and worked on the initial prototype called Concept. Left the company after the Concept prototype was released. Later worked at Dynamicland.

Executive Team

Ivan Zhao

Co-Founder and CEO

Studied cognitive science and fine arts. Worked at Inkling before founding Notion. Visionary entrepreneur inspired by 1970s computing pioneers. Leading the company since 2013.

Akshay Kothari

Co-Founder and COO

BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, MS from Stanford. Co-founded Pulse (acquired by LinkedIn). VP Product at LinkedIn. Joined Notion as COO in 2018. Oversees support, sales, marketing, and finance.

Business Model

Revenue Model

SaaS subscription model with freemium tier. Revenue from paid subscriptions (Plus, Business, Enterprise plans) and AI add-ons charged per user. API usage and integrations.

Pricing Tiers

Free

For individuals. Includes basic Notion features for personal use.

Plus

$10 per seat/month (billed annually)

For small teams. Includes unlimited file uploads and blocks. Free for students and educators.

Business

$20 per seat/month (billed annually)

For companies. Includes SAML SSO, advanced permissions, database row-level permissions, audit logs, and priority support. Notion AI available as add-on starting at $18/month.

Enterprise

Custom pricing

For large organizations. Includes advanced security (SAML SSO, SCIM), dedicated Customer Success Manager, custom contract terms, priority support, zero data retention for AI, user provisioning, and security integrations (SIEM/DLP).

Notion AI Add-on

Approximately 10% of revenue spent on AI providers

AI features available as add-on to paid plans. Includes AI Agents, enterprise search, meeting notes, and research mode.

Private company. Considering IPO as early as late 2026. Company is conducting secondary share sales and tender offers as preparation for potential public offering. No IPO decision has been finalized.