Notion, de 0 à 100 MILLIONS d'utilisateurs en 10 ans

🇫🇷 : Une version audio française de l'épisode, est disponible sur toutes les plateformes de podcast. Retrouvez-la ici : https://www.gdiy.fr/podcast/ivan-zhao-vf/ Aussi, les sous-titres en français sont disponibles. Activez d'abord les sous-titres automatiques, puis rendez-vous dans les paramètres pour activer la traduction. 🇬🇧 : #514 - VO - Ivan Zhao - Notion - The software toolkit that beats them all "We try to be not innovative." That's how Ivan Zhao built one of the most innovative products of this decade. @Notion isn't a spreadsheet. It's not project management. It's not a CRM. Ivan calls it "the LEGO for software". Born in rural Xinjiang, China, where electricity arrived when he was 8 Ivan now runs a $10 billion company used by more than 100 million people. At 17, Ivan left China for Vancouver. At university, three worlds collided: art, philosophy, and computing. That last one led him down a rabbit hole, he dove into the history of the web, then the history of computing itself. There, he discovered a forgotten vision that would become Notion. But Notion's origin story isn't about disruption. It's about bringing back that vision: computing should be as universal as reading and writing. While most startups chase feature lists, Ivan spent 5 years chasing that bigger idea. This path nearly killed the company. Ivan rebuilt Notion from scratch three times. Today, Notion consolidates several tools for companies like Qonto, L'Oréal, and Toyota, saving them time and money. But the real revolution is happening under the hood. Notion now spends most of its time building infrastructure that works with every AI model to unlock their full power for all customers. In this episode, Ivan reveals: - The mistake that inspired Notion's entire philosophy - The "sugar-coated broccoli" strategy: how to hide computing power inside familiar tools - Why Notion's UI took 5 years to become "simple" - Why Notion doesn't build AI models but uses them all - How 300 Notion programmers do the work of 3,000 Ivan's path proves that the best products come from understanding history, not just chasing trends. A masterclass in building products with philosophical depth. ▶️ Find everything we talked about on the episode's show notes : https://www.gdiy.fr/podcast/ivan-zhao-vo/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Un grand merci à Qonto, qui soutient Génération Do It Yourself depuis plus de 5 ans maintenant. Adoptez Qonto pour créer votre entreprise, croyez-moi ça va vous changer la vie (ça a changé la mienne). Rendez-vous sur : https://qonto.com/fr/creation Collaboration commerciale. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The episodes are released on YouTube but also on audio platforms, so feel free to subscribe to Generation Do It Yourself on : - Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/show/6jCObFeQTf0VARXdMv9iE4?si=737e8c89a9864212 - Apple Podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ration-do-it-yourself/id1209142994 - Deezer : https://www.deezer.com/fr/show/53644 - YouTube Music : https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWT7hkKacBMKEQlMyOMt6qSzKHTGguP9I --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIMELINE : 00:00:00 : The LEGO software that replaces them all 00:07:56 : The culture shock: from "work to work" to "live to work" 00:26:47 : How art shaped Notion's design 00:39:20 : Computing should be as universal as reading and writing 00:51:57 : The forgotten pioneers of computing 01:00:16 : Great products' secret is rebuilding from scratch 01:09:16 : The central brain for your entire company 01:20:56 : Is it possible to run an entire company with Notion? 01:30:16 : The AI dilemma, which model to choose? 01:39:33 : AI agents are revolutionizing software development 01:48:58 : Everyone can build their own tools with Notion --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE TEAM : Host: Matthieu Stefani Editorial Director & Producer: Clémence Lepic Executive Producer: Matéo Dos Santos Video Editor: Axel Thoreux In charge of prod : Clément Socchi Executive assistant : Manon Labrousse SOCIAL MEDIA : ▶️ TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@mattintouch ▶️ Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/gdiypodcast ▶️ Twitter : https://twitter.com/gdiypodcast ▶️ Website : https://www.gdiy.fr ▶️ Newsletter : https://www.gdiy.fr/mail