Notion Labs, Inc.

Workplace CollaborationFounded 2013- HQ today: San Francisco, California, United States

Founders

Who Founded Notion?

Ivan Zhao, Simon Last · Founded 2013 · HQ today: San Francisco, California, United States

Who founded Notion?

Notion was founded by Ivan Zhao, Simon Last in 2013. It is now led by Ivan Zhao.

Founders: Ivan Zhao, Simon Last
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Number of founders: 2
Current CEO: Ivan Zhao (since 2013)

Where was Notion founded?: Notion was founded in San Francisco, California, United States in 2013.
When was Notion founded?: Notion was founded in 2013.
Who started Notion?: Notion was founded by Ivan Zhao and Simon Last.
How old is Notion?: Notion is 13 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

Ivan Zhao and Simon Last founded Notion in San Francisco in 2013 to build a tool that let non-programmers make their own software. The first version struggled, and by 2015 the company was nearly out of money. The founders cut the team, moved to Kyoto, Japan, and rebuilt the product from scratch. Notion 1.0 launched in 2016, and Notion 2.0, which added databases, launched in 2018 and set off rapid growth.

Ivan Zhao

Background

Ivan Zhao was born in China and moved to Canada as a child, graduating from the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he studied cognitive science and visual arts. Fascinated by the intersection of philosophy, human cognition, and software tools, Zhao developed a deep appreciation for the history of computing interfaces.

Role at Notion Labs, Inc.

Ivan Zhao is co-founder and CEO of Notion Labs. Inspired by computing pioneers such as Douglas Engelbart and Alan Kay, he started Notion in 2013 to let people without programming skills build their own tools. After the first product stalled in 2015 he and Simon Last moved to Kyoto to rebuild it. As CEO he has kept Notion capital-efficient, raising no primary funding since 2021, while steering it to more than $500 million in annualized revenue by 2025 and an $11 billion valuation, and pushing the company toward AI agents. Ivan Zhao was born in 1986.

Simon Last

Background

Simon Last is a software engineer who co-founded Notion with Ivan Zhao in 2013.

Role at Notion Labs, Inc.

Simon Last is Notion's co-founder and has been central to the product's engineering since the beginning, including the 2015 Kyoto rebuild that produced the block-based architecture Notion still uses. He keeps a low public profile compared with Zhao and has focused on technical work, including Notion's AI efforts. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).

Notion Labs, Inc.: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Akshay Kothari

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer

2018 – Present

Joined as co-founder and COO and built Notion's international expansion and go-to-market operations.

Ivan Zhao

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

2013 – Present

Led the 2015 Kyoto rebuild, the 2018 Notion 2.0 breakout, the 2021 Series C at $10 billion, and the 2025-2026 shift to AI agents.

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Who Founded Notion? FAQ

Who founded Notion and what was their founding vision in 2013?

Notion was founded in 2013 in San Francisco by Ivan Zhao, Simon Last, and Toby Schachman. The founders were inspired by Douglas Engelbart's 1968 'Mother of All Demos' and Alan Kay's Dynabook, aiming to empower non-programmers to create their own customized productivity and knowledge tools.

How did Ivan Zhao and Simon Last meet and start building software together?

Ivan Zhao and Simon Last met through mutual friends in the San Francisco tech design scene, bonding over their shared dissatisfaction with rigid, single-purpose productivity apps (word processors, spreadsheets, todo lists) and their shared ambition to build a unified malleable computing medium.

What was the initial concept behind Notion 1.0 launched in 2016?

Launched on Product Hunt in March 2016 following their Kyoto sprint, Notion 1.0 combined a rich-text document editor, wiki navigation tree, and basic web clipper, winning Product Hunt's Product of the Year (Golden Kitty Award) and gaining thousands of dedicated early adopters.

How did the launch of Notion 2.0 in March 2018 trigger exponential hyper-growth?

In March 2018, the founders launched 'Notion 2.0', introducing relational databases that allowed users to switch instantly between Tables, Kanban Boards, Calendars, and Lists inside any document; the release went viral globally and propelled Notion to profitability within months.

What role did early angel investors play in keeping Notion alive during 2015?

During Notion's near-insolvency in 2015, early angel investors provided enough runway that allowed Zhao and Last to travel to Kyoto and engineer Notion's survival.

How did the founders cultivate the well-known Notion brand identity with artist Roman Muradov?

The founders collaborated with celebrated artist and illustrator Roman Muradov to create Notion's hand-drawn, expressive monochrome character illustrations, establishing a well-known visual brand language that inspired thousands of community tribute art pieces.

What was the founders' philosophy on keeping venture dilution low?

Unlike typical Silicon Valley startups that raise funding rounds every 18 months, Notion's founders resisted raising institutional venture capital for years, maintaining significant founder voting control and diluting only when they chose strategic partners (Index, Coatue, Sequoia) on their own terms.

What enduring mission established by the founders continues to guide Notion?

The founders established Notion's enduring mission: 'To make software-making ubiquitous', giving every human and organization the freedom to customize the software tools they use to think, write, collaborate, and organize their lives.

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Who founded Notion?

Founding Story

Ivan Zhao

Background

Role at Notion Labs, Inc.

Simon Last

Background

Role at Notion Labs, Inc.

Notion Labs, Inc.: CEO & Leadership History

Compare Notion Labs, Inc. Leadership With Competitors

Keep researching Notion

Who Founded Notion? FAQ

Who founded Notion and what was their founding vision in 2013?

How did Ivan Zhao and Simon Last meet and start building software together?

What was the initial concept behind Notion 1.0 launched in 2016?

How did the launch of Notion 2.0 in March 2018 trigger exponential hyper-growth?

What role did early angel investors play in keeping Notion alive during 2015?

How did the founders cultivate the well-known Notion brand identity with artist Roman Muradov?

What was the founders' philosophy on keeping venture dilution low?

What enduring mission established by the founders continues to guide Notion?

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