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Subversive

How Notion’s Community Helped it Win in AI

Mar 6, 2025
Rachel Hepworth, former CMO at Notion and growth marketing expert from Slack and LinkedIn, shares her insights on how community engagement spurred Notion's success in AI. She reveals how the company pivoted towards AI Writer by leveraging user-generated content like templates and demos. She discusses the challenges of catering to both individual users and businesses while scaling internationally. Additionally, Rachel highlights the importance of community champions for advocacy and navigating feedback to enhance authenticity in brand perception.
53:45

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Notion pivoted its strategy to prioritize the rapid development of AI Writer, demonstrating agility in responding to emerging AI technologies.
  • The company leveraged its engaged community to drive awareness and education around AI Writer, using user-generated content like templates and demos.

Deep dives

Strategic Shift to AI Development

Notion responded to an urgent shift in focus by pivoting their strategy to prioritize the rapid development of AI Writer, following a company-wide directive to abandon prior roadmaps. This decision underscored the importance of agility in tech development, particularly in response to emerging AI capabilities like GPT-4, which Notion's founders recognized early on. The team set an ambitious timeline, demonstrating that speed in product development could lead to significant competitive advantages. By efficiently leveraging community feedback and pre-launch excitement, Notion managed to roll out this new feature quickly and effectively.

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