Discover the founding story of Notion and the journey from a programming tool to productivity software. Hear about the challenges of building a lean team, creating a global community, and scaling company culture. Explore the future of AI and get insights into the daily routines of co-founders Ivan and Simon.

This podcast episode delves into Adeyemi Ajao's journey as an entrepreneur, immigrant in Silicon Valley, and investor. Topics include co-founder relationships, building an authentic community, learning to be a CEO, the positivity of Silicon Valley, and the ultimate diversity. Ade shares insights on company growth, embracing diversity, and his daily routine and career philosophy.

Vlad Magdalin, Co-Founder and CEO of Webflow, discusses the early days of Webflow, sustainable growth, hiring principles, user feedback, the 'no-code' revolution, and more in this entertaining and informative podcast.

Daniela Amodei, Co-Founder & President at Anthropic, discusses building a strong team of founders, navigating role changes, and the importance of feedback in scaling a company. They also explore advancements in AI, the challenges of building a product in the AI space, responsible scaling, and the balance between work and personal life.

Mathilde Collin, Co-Founder & CEO of Front, discusses hiring first employees and the importance of radical transparency. They explore designing a better work email experience, self-confidence and gender disparity, gathering feedback for product iteration, building customer connections, and the significance of flexibility and transparency for startups.

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder & COO Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. In this episode, we have Christina Cacioppo, Co-Founder and CEO of Vanta, discussing her transition from VC to operator and how she has built Vanta into the leading trust management platform. For an audio-only podcast, transcripts, and custom Notion Vanta templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/TQf6LA To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/2f5lfV

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder & COO Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. In partnership with Index Ventures, this episode features Julianna Lamb, Co-Founder & CTO of Stytch. Stytch helps developers secure and scale their applications with authentication and fraud prevention. Akshay sits down with Julianna to discuss the founding story of Stytch, how her role as CTO has evolved over time, the early days of finding product-market-fit, building out their engineering team, and much more. For more episodes of the First Block series including custom Notion templates, video, and transcripts, please visit: https://ntn.so/pIvAbt For more startup resources and to learn more about the Notion for Startups program, please visit: https://ntn.so/AZhAX8

Parker Conrad, Co-Founder and CEO of Rippling, shares insights and challenges of starting companies. They discuss the motivation behind starting Rippling, the need for naivete in the startup world, building a compound product, a day in the life of the CEO, and reflecting on a career journey with highs and lows.

Michael Nielsen is a quantum physicist, science writer, computer programming researcher, and modern polymath working on tools to expand human capacity to think and create. He’s previously authored pioneering quantum computing books, propelled forward the open science movement, and published research on artificial intelligence. He now researches meta-science at the Astera Institute, while writing about his many interests online. See www.notion.so/blog/michael-nielsen for episode transcript. Hosted by Devon Zuegel Edited by Anson Yu Audio by The Land Films

Andy is a software engineer, designer, and researcher working on technologies that expand what people can think and do. In past lives he helped build iOS at Apple and led R&D at Khan Academy. Now as an independent researcher, his methods bridge the gap between academia and Silicon Valley.