Asana vs Notion: Founders, CEOs and History
Asana was founded in 2008 by Dustin Moskovitz, Justin Rosenstein and is led by Dan Rogers. Notion was founded in 2013 by Ivan Zhao, Simon Last and is led by Ivan Zhao.
Company facts
Founders
Asana
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz is a US entrepreneur, a co-founder of Facebook, and the co-founder of Asana, which he ran as chief executive officer from 2008 until July 2025.
Justin Rosenstein
Justin Rosenstein is a US software engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Asana with Dustin Moskovitz.
Notion
Ivan Zhao
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.
Simon Last
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.
CEOs and their tenures
Asana
- Dustin Moskovitz2008–2025
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Ran Asana for its first 17 years, from incorporation in December 2008 to a platform with more than 180,000 paying customers, and retains a majority of the company's voting power through its dual-class structure.
Source - Dan Rogers2025–present
Chief Executive Officer
Second chief executive in Asana's history, brought in to restart growth by rebuilding the platform around AI agents while holding the margin gains that produced non-GAAP operating income of $56.7 million in fiscal 2026.
Source
Notion
- Ivan Zhao2013–present
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
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.
Source - Akshay Kothari2018–present
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Joined as co-founder and COO and built Notion's international expansion and go-to-market operations.
Source
Timeline: Asana and Notion side by side
2008Asana
Asana incorporated in Delaware: Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein left Facebook and incorporated the company in Delaware on December 16, 2008, initially as Smiley Abstractions, Inc., renamed Asan…
2009Asana
$9 million Series A from Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz: Asana raised a $9 million Series A round in November 2009 led by Benchmark, with Andreessen Horowitz participating and Benchmark's Matt Cohl…
2011Asana
Product opens to the public for free: After about three years of building a custom web framework called Luna and the Work Graph data model behind it, Asana opened its platform to the public at no char…
2012Asana
Paid plans and a public API: Asana began charging for the platform in April 2012 and released its API to third-party developers the same month, with Twitter and LinkedIn among the early companies runn…
2012Asana
$28 million raised to expand the team: Asana raised $28 million in July 2012 to build out engineering, support and sales as paid usage started to grow.
2013Notion
Notion Labs Founded in San Francisco
Ivan Zhao and Simon Last founded Notion in San Francisco, inspired by computing pioneer Douglas Engelbart.
2015Notion
Near-Collapse & The Kyoto Rebuild Sprint
Facing imminent bankruptcy, Ivan Zhao and Simon Last moved to Kyoto, Japan, rebuilding Notion from scratch.
2016Asana
$50 million Series C led by Sam Altman: Asana raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Sam Altman, then president of Y Combinator, at a valuation of about $600 million.
2016Notion
Launch of Notion 1.0 Block-Based Canvas
Released Notion 1.0 publicly, introducing the modular block-based document and wiki interface to wide acclaim.
2018Asana
Portfolios and the Asana Business tier: Asana launched Portfolios alongside a new Business plan in November 2018, giving executives a single view of progress and resourcing across many projects and pu…
2018Asana
$125 million raised at a $1.5 billion valuation: Asana raised $75 million in Series D funding led by Generation Investment Management and a further $50 million in November 2018 that valued the company…
2018Notion
Launch of Notion 2.0 with Relational Databases
Unveiled Notion 2.0, introducing multi-view databases (Kanban, calendar, table), igniting rapid viral growth.
2019Asana
Workload capacity planning ships: Asana released Workload in August 2019, letting managers see how individual team members were staffed across projects and rebalance assignments without leaving the pl…
2019Notion
Achieved Operating Profitability on $10M Seed Capital
Reached operational profitability with under 20 employees and $10M in total funding, a rarity in SaaS.
2020Asana
Asana Goals links execution to strategy: Asana released Goals on July 15, 2020, a goal-tracking layer that connects company objectives to the projects and tasks underneath them so progress updates aut…
2020Asana
Direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange: Asana went public on September 30, 2020 through a direct listing rather than an IPO.
2020Notion
$50M Investment Led by Index Ventures at $2.0B Valuation
Raised $50 million led by Index Ventures, achieving unicorn status as global remote work adoption surged.
2021Notion
$275M Series C at $10.0B Valuation Led by Coatue and Sequoia
Raised $275 million led by Coatue and Sequoia at a $10 billion valuation; also acquired Automate.io.
2022Asana
Workforce cut by 9%: In November 2022 Asana cut about 9% of its global workforce in a restructuring aimed at operating costs after two years of rapid hiring during the remote-work boom.
2022Notion
Acquisition of Cron & International Expansion to Japan
Acquired calendar app Cron and opened an official Tokyo office to serve its devoted Japanese community.
2023Asana
Asana Intelligence brings generative AI into the Work Graph: Asana announced its first generative AI features in June 2023 and packaged them as Asana Intelligence on October 3, 2023, covering smart st…
2023Notion
Public Launch of Notion AI Q&A Across All Workspaces
Debuted Notion AI Q&A, allowing users to query enterprise knowledge bases using conversational AI.
2024Asana
AI Studio opens agent building to non-developers: Asana launched AI Studio in October 2024, a no-code builder that lets teams embed AI agents in a workflow and deploy them inside Asana.
2025Asana
Dan Rogers succeeds Dustin Moskovitz as chief executive: Moskovitz announced his retirement as chief executive in March 2025.
2026Asana
StackAI acquired for $75 million: Asana completed its acquisition of StackAI, a no-code AI workflow platform, on May 28, 2026 for $75 million.
2026Asana
Repositioned as an operating system for human-agent teams: At its Work Innovation Summit in June 2026 Asana unveiled a product suite built so employees and AI agents work from the same plan, context a…
2026Asana
Dan Rogers named board chair: Effective September 25, 2026 Rogers added board chair to the chief executive role, Dustin Moskovitz moved to director, and Jerry Ting and Tom Berquist joined the board.
2026Notion
Surpasses $500M Annualized Revenue and Launches AI Agents
Notion told CNBC in September 2025 that annualized revenue had passed $500 million as it launched Notion AI agents.
Acquisitions
Questions about Asana vs Notion
Who is the CEO of Asana, Inc. and Notion Labs, Inc.?
Asana, Inc. is led by Dan Rogers and Notion Labs, Inc. is led by Ivan Zhao. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Asana, Inc. founded vs Notion Labs, Inc.?
Asana, Inc. was founded in 2008 — 5 years before Notion Labs, Inc., which was founded in 2013. Asana, Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Notion Labs, Inc..
How many employees does Asana, Inc. have compared to Notion Labs, Inc.?
Asana, Inc. employs approximately 1,767 people, while Notion Labs, Inc. employs approximately 1,000. Asana, Inc. has the larger workforce at 1,767 employees, compared to Notion Labs, Inc.'s 1,000. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Asana, Inc. and Notion Labs, Inc. headquartered?
Both Asana, Inc. and Notion Labs, Inc. are headquartered in United States, meaning they operate under the same primary regulatory and tax environment.
Who founded Asana, Inc. and Notion Labs, Inc.?
Asana, Inc. was founded by Dustin Moskovitz, Justin Rosenstein. Notion Labs, Inc. was founded by Ivan Zhao, Simon Last.
Which company has a longer operating history — Asana, Inc. or Notion Labs, Inc.?
Asana, Inc. has been operating for approximately 18 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Notion Labs, Inc. has been in operation for around 13 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Asana vs Notion overview