Welcome to The Growth Getter, a monthly newsletter with curated insights that will challenge your thinking as an aspiring creator, marketer or tech enthusiast.

Read time: 7-8 mins

Today at a Glance:

• 🤖Storytime: There are 2 types of people: Notion nerds and Notion Noobs.
  👏WHICH ONE ARE YOU?👏

• ⌚️Case Study: Notion- From a failing startup up to a $10B productivity powerhouse  

• ✨Self-development: 3 things I learned from ‘Essentialism’ to avoid burnout while achieving more.

Storytime: Are you a Notion Nerd or a Notion Noob? 🤔 

January is my favorite time of the year—people are excited about their vision boards, matcha lattes, and manifestations🌟 

As I settle into my new Growth role at HotDoc, Australia’s largest health tech company, Notion is already playing a big part in organizing my 2025 plans.

This year, I’m building my ‘Second Brain’ on Notion to get my life together.

If you want to retire your ADHD brain and finally feel in control, check out this Notion Habit Tracker template(not sponsored) :))

 🎯 Notion: From a failing startup up to a $10B productivity powerhouse

As of 2024, Notion has surpassed 100 million users globally, a significant jump from earlier numbers.

However, on a macro level, Notion didn’t reinvent the wheel per se. It is just a bunch of templates packaged aesthetically.

So how did Notion become a lifestyle? Aka part of a Genz Productivity Nerd package?

Let’s break it down—and find hacks for your journey along the way.

💣️ WTF is Notion?

Notion is the fun LEGO version of Microsoft and Google Docs.

While Microsoft and Google Docs are “software processors”, Notion adds human creativity to the mix, becoming a playground.

Notion ‘s Competitive Edge: Software x Aesthetics

🤔 What are the 3 building blocks of Notion that make it LEGO Like???

Block #1:Minimalist templates = Modular building blocks

• Templates act as foundational blocks to rapidly prototype ideas, workflows, and systems

• Think habit trackers, team workflows, or financial planners—all customizable

  

Block #2: Aesthetic customisation

• Whimsical design headers and emojis

• Customizable formatting options (10 colors and 3 fonts)

  

Block #3: Databases

• Allow multiple views e.g. tables, kanban boards, calendars, galleries, and lists.

• Users can create customized databases from their personalized favorite book collection to enterprise-level use cases.

💡The humble beginnings of Notion

Notion was not an overnight success. Very far from it actually…

Recently, I read the letter from Ivan Zhao (CEO and founder of Notion) and he mentioned the growing pains as feeling “rather lost for 4 years”

According to Ivan, Notion was built on the 70s’ vision that software can “augment human intellect”.

Notion‘s Seed Pitch Deck 🎇 

From 2013-2017, the team was navigating 4 rebuilds—including one with an “X-ray blocks” feature (fun idea, questionable execution).

They hit rock bottom -ran out of cash, moved from the noisy SF bubble to Kyoto and rewrote their entire tech stack.

But in 2018, Notion 2.0 hit Product Hunt, giving the world what it didn’t know it needed: a playground where non-programmers could build their dream tools.

After all, there is no such thing as overnight success. Period.

💡How did Notion Get Its First Customers?

Initial Traction: 

In 2018, Notion 2.0 was launched on Product Hunt - leveraging a community of founders and forward-looking tech peeps who fit the archetype of ‘early adopters’.

Notion‘s combination of user-first design, aesthetic appeal, and the ability to consolidate workflows into one app ecosystem made it popular.

It quickly gained a fanbase, earning the #1 Product of the Day, Week, and Month.

👊What is the evidence of PMF?

Sign of PMF: When people promote Notion without a $$$ incentive

From the ‘IT Girl’ aesthetic to the finance guru’s savvy budget tools, everyone shares Notion based on their perspective.

Notion’s success proves that creativity trumps efficiency in the digital age. Aesthetic tools that feel playful can outcompete purely functional ones.

 🤔 User Acquisition: Do you know 30-40% of Notion users come from UGC from Creators?

👏 No paid ads can beat organic UGC. Period 👏 

When people rave about your product without sponsored deals or monetary incentive, that is true product evangelism.

That is the pivotal point when Notion transformed from a mere productivity tool to a MOVEMENT.

Strategy breakdown clearly outlines the chain reactions where organic user-generated content lead to a ripple effect - where people cannot help but be pulled into the Notion rabbit hole.

• YouTube channels dedicated to Notion tutorials and demos

• Branded Twitter accounts selling ready-to-use templates

• ‘Notion Certified’ consultants offering custom build-outs

• Facebook Groups to discuss the latest product updates

• Active Discord communities for sharing free templates

• Reddit dedicated to Notion

🚀Scaling Strategy: How did Notion scale its user base?

UGC —> Community 🚀 

If UGC sparked the first wave of free user acquisition, Notion transformed that momentum into a hydroelectric growth turbine by harnessing its community's power!

🚀 Community building through recruiting Notion Ambassadors 🚀 

One of Notion‘s early Notion evangelists was Ben Lang, a Product ‘Hunter’ who loved Notion so much that he started creating templates in his free time and sharing them online via Facebook groups.

His genuine love for Notion and his evangelism ultimately led him to become the Head of Community for Notion!

He began to form the Community Function using Notion‘s Ambassador Programme using 3 fundamental questions as frameworks (Source)

💛 Question 1: What motivates these people?

Made sure the Ambassador program was volunteers- driven to ensure authenticity and real passion

💛 Question 2: What inspires them?

Implemented a vetted application process to understand their motives of joining the Notion ‘s Ambassador‘s programme

💛 Question 3: How can we leverage them to grow?

Leveraged micro-influencers who had community-building experiences e.g. Youtube channel, and newsletters to leverage their audience.

TLDR:

Ben recruited truly passionate Notion ambassadors to spread their word through their channel.

Facebook Groups swelled in size; A few Ambassadors banded together to start r/Notion, the Notion Community’s formal subreddit, which has grown to 280K members.

Those Ambassadors still manage the subreddit today.

🤖How Is Notion embracing AI to step up its game?

Notion AI Solves a Common Painpoint: ‘Forgetting past knowledge’

Imagine summarizing your 2024 team strategy with just a few clicks, pulling insights from 12 months of scattered notes.

👋 Just say goodbye to brain farts and brain fogs 👋 

Here is where Notion AI comes in to save the day.

Using search function, Notion AI pulls insights from multiple knowledge databases and external sources, [which you have permission to ] and weaves insights; saving time, cost and money.

It is like having a SECOND BRAIN that scan the past and present - to shape your future intellect.

Software + human intellect = Superpower

With LLM's increased technological developments, I anticipate Notion AI evolving into a more powerful VA in the future.

✨Key Learnings from Essentialism - a fundamental book on achieving more by doing less.

Last year, after a few months of navigating personal burnout, I realized hard work is overrated.

Smart work aka doing the right things > hard work.

TBH being an essentialist in an attention economy is really hard. And it is so important to be INTENTIONAL…

Here are my Top 3 favourite insights from Essentialism

Classic signs of a non-essentialist lifestyle: Overworked and underutilized 😩 

1. Essentialism- pursue what matters ✅ 

   • Change ‘I have to’ —> ‘I choose to’

   • Change ‘I can do both’ —> ‘I can do anything but not everything’

   • Change ‘It is important’ —> ‘Only a few things matter’

2. Focus on mastery and focus, but also law of diminishing returns 📉 

   • The majority of us cannot do more than 4-5 hours of deep work

   • Subtraction —>Win by cutting losses

   • Sleep is correlated with peak performance. Don’t listen to hustle culture

3. Play, think, execute 🏓 

   • Inject explorative play that makes you feel alive

     e.g. Newtown discovered gravity when sitting under an apple tree

   • Focus on minimum viable progress

Refer Friends & Help Us Grow the Tribe🥳

Share The Grow Getter

Know friends or colleagues who would love cheeky, curated case studies? Feel free to share with your colleagues, peers and friends !