From Failure to 100 Million Global Users in 2024:The Story of How Notion Became the Ultimate Gen Z Productivity Icon
Notion is not a tool, it is a lifestyle
Today at a Glance:
🤖Storytime: There are 2 types of people: Notion nerds and Notion Noobs.
👏WHICH ONE ARE YOU?👏⌚️Case Study: Notion- From a failing startup up to a $10B productivity powerhouse
✨Self-development: 3 things I learned from ‘Essentialism’ to avoid burnout while achieving more.
Storytime: Are you a Notion Nerd or a Notion Noob? 🤔
January is my favorite time of the year—people are excited about their vision boards, matcha lattes, and manifestations🌟
As I settle into my new Growth role at HotDoc, Australia’s largest health tech company, Notion is already playing a big part in organizing my 2025 plans.
This year, I’m building my ‘Second Brain’ on Notion to get my life together.
🎯 Notion: From a failing startup up to a $10B productivity powerhouse
Source: The rise in Notion as a movement
As of 2024, Notion has surpassed 100 million users globally, a significant jump from earlier numbers.
However, on a macro level, Notion didn’t reinvent the wheel per se. It is just a bunch of templates packaged aesthetically.
So how did Notion become a lifestyle? Aka part of a Genz Productivity Nerd package?
Let’s break it down—and find hacks for your journey along the way.
💣️ WTF is Notion?
Notion is the fun LEGO version of Microsoft and Google Docs.
While Microsoft and Google Docs are “software processors”, Notion adds human creativity to the mix, becoming a playground.
Notion ‘s Competitive Edge: Software x Aesthetics
🤔 What are the 3 building blocks of Notion that make it LEGO Like???
Block #1:Minimalist templates = Modular building blocks
Templates act as foundational blocks to rapidly prototype ideas, workflows, and systems
Think habit trackers, team workflows, or financial planners—all customizable
This makes it user-centered where non-programmers can "build their tools" without feeling constrained by traditional software boundaries.
Block #2: Aesthetic customisation
Whimsical design headers and emojis
Customizable formatting options (10 colors and 3 fonts)
Block #3: Databases
Allow multiple views e.g. tables, kanban boards, calendars, galleries, and lists.
Users can create customized databases from their personalized favorite book collection to enterprise-level use cases.
💡How did Notion Get Its First Customers?
Initial Traction:
In 2018, Notion 2.0 was launched on Product Hunt - leveraging a community of founders and forward-looking tech peeps who fit the archetype of ‘early adopters’.
Notion‘s combination of user-first design, aesthetic appeal, and the ability to consolidate workflows into one app ecosystem made it popular.
It quickly gained a fanbase, earning the #1 Product of the Day, Week, and Month.
👊What is the evidence of PMF?
Sign of PMF: When people promote Notion without a $$$ incentive
From the ‘IT Girl’ aesthetic to the finance guru’s savvy budget tools, everyone shares Notion based on their perspective.
Notion’s success proves that creativity trumps efficiency in the digital age. Aesthetic tools that feel playful can outcompete purely functional ones.
Classic UGC lever which led to the rise in Notion
🤔 User Acquisition: Do you know 30-40% of Notion users come from UGC from Creators?
User-generated content (UGC) is the OG growth lever.
COO explains the growth of Notion
👏 No paid ads can beat organic UGC. Period 👏
When people rave about your product without sponsored deals or monetary incentive, that is true product evangelism.
That is the pivotal point when Notion transformed from a mere productivity tool to a MOVEMENT.
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✨Key Learnings from Essentialism - a fundamental book on achieving more by doing less.
Last year, after a few months of navigating personal burnout, I realized hard work is overrated.
Smart work aka doing the right things > hard work.
TBH being an essentialist in an attention economy is really hard. And it is so important to be INTENTIONAL…
Here are my Top 3 favourite insights from Essentialism
Classic signs of a non-essentialist lifestyle: Overworked and underutilized 😩
Essentialism- pursue what matters ✅
Change ‘I have to’ —> ‘I choose to’
Change ‘I can do both’ —> ‘I can do anything but not everything’
Change ‘It is important’ —> ‘Only a few things matter’
Focus on mastery and focus, but also law of diminishing returns 📉
The majority of us cannot do more than 4-5 hours of deep work
Subtraction —>Win by cutting losses
Sleep is correlated with peak performance. Don’t listen to hustle culture
Play, think, execute 🏓
Inject explorative play that makes you feel alive
e.g. Newtown discovered gravity when sitting under an apple tree
Focus on minimum viable progress
Food for thought: What are your 2025 Essential goals? I wanna hear your thoughts so that I know I am not speaking to a zombie 😄
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Personal Growth moment: When I realized the simple joys of watching sunsets over the Kanimbla Valley with family >
We have evolved
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