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For a video, transcripts, and a custom Notion x Harvey template, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/bgpz1oTo learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/td602rWelcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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 spoke with Gabe Pereyra, Co-founder and President of Harvey. Harvey is an AI platform built for large law firms and their clients, helping thousands of lawyers collaborate on complex matters with the power of generative AI. From a seed check from OpenAI to a valuation that has grown to $8 billion, Harvey's trajectory is one of the defining applied AI stories of the last few years. Chapters 00:00 — Intro 01:42 — Origins of Harvey 03:41 — Why Legal Made Sense 06:02 — Building a General Tool 08:50 — Accuracy in Enterprise 10:03 — Infrastructure Over Models 12:49 — Founder Lessons in AI 16:04 — Scaling the Company 17:50 — Building with Models 21:48 — The Tool Stack 23:01 — Advice Block

For a video, transcripts, and a custom Notion x Clara template, please visit: https://ntn.so/nz57mo To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/otm3he Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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, recorded live at Mexico Tech Week, we spoke with Gerry Giacomán Colyer, Co-founder and CEO of Clara. In just a few years, Clara has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas, reaching over 20,000 customers across three countries and raising $80 million along the way. Gerry shares the founding insight that came from watching a previous company struggle without proper financial tools, the near-end experience of their bank partner shutting down months after launch, and how they’re now deploying AI agents to transform finance operations across Latin America. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:42 The Starting Point 05:11 Early Milestones 08:47 Scaling Decisions 12:30 Staying Lean 15:56 Roadmap Across Markets 19:52 The Tool Stack 20:59 Advice Block

For a full video, transcripts, and custom Notion x Handshake templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/tgn78c To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/slpyk0 Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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 spoke with Garrett Lord, co-founder and CEO of Handshake. Handshake is the leading career platform connecting students and young professionals with employers, serving 17 million users and nearly 1 million companies. Garrett shares his journey from growing up in a working-class family in Michigan to building a company that democratizes access to career opportunities. He discusses his days living out of his car, the importance of talent density, and why this is the moment to go all in on your biggest bets. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:48 Founding the Spark 02:43 The Early Grind 06:42 Talent Matters Most 07:37 Scaling Through Leadership 13:17 Inside Handshake AI 18:04 Shaping the Future Workforce 19:38 Advice Block

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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 spoke with Jesse Zhang, Co-founder and CEO of Decagon. In just a year since coming out of stealth, Decagon has become a $1.5 billion AI unicorn, transforming customer service for companies with AI agents. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:40 Rethinking Customer Experience 02:45 Early Startup Lessons 05:18 Agent Operating Procedures 09:58 Building Enterprise Trust 14:04 Scaling Fast 15:53 Hiring Philosophy 19:12 The Tool Stack 20:12 Advice Block For a full video, transcripts, and custom Notion x Decagon templates, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/nfxioe⁠ To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/u28v7x

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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 spoke with Ant Wilson, Co-Founder and CTO of Supabase. Supabase is the Postgres development platform that has become one of the world’s fastest growing open source communities. Ant shares his journey about previous founder experiences, the power of solving your own problem, and why building authentic relationships with your community matters. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:56 Supabase Explained 07:04 The Positioning Shift 09:25 Memes & Marketing 13:08 Scaling the Community 15:09 Winning Enterprises 17:09 Remote-First Culture 22:49 AI in Action 26:10 Advice Block For video, transcripts, and custom Notion x Supabase templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/aow225 To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/cwep6x

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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 spoke with Fabian Hedin, Co-founder and CTO of Lovable. Lovable is a platform that lets you build apps and websites by chatting with AI. After launching in November 2024, they've scaled from $1M to $100M ARR in just eight months—one of the fastest growth trajectories in AI history.Fabian shares his journey from running Minecraft servers in high school to cofounding Lovable, the bold bet on democratizing software development, and why building for today's AI capabilities beats betting on tomorrow's. For video, transcripts, and custom Notion x Lovable templates, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/hz0tpb To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ntn.so/v53xj8 Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:38 Early Journey 05:57 Becoming Lovable 08:40 Launch Lessons 09:39 Scaling Fast 12:38 Building with AI 17:11 What's Production-Ready 19:39 Notion x Lovable 20:34 Future of Building 21:20 Advice Block

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world's leading companies tell us about the many "firsts" of their startup journeys. We explore the ups and downs that founders face as they build, and what they've learned along the way. In this episode, we spoke with Brendan Foody, Co-founder and CEO of Mercor. Mercor is an AI-powered recruiting platform that scaled from $1 million to $100 million in revenue run rate in just 11 months, making it one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley. Brendan shares his journey from selling donuts in eighth grade to building automated hiring solutions, the decision to drop out of college, and how he positioned himself perfectly for the AI talent revolution. For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Mercor templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/cbc8mp To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/271hmw Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:39 Mercor by the Numbers 05:36 Obsession Over Discipline 08:39 Fundraising as Input 10:59 Scaling Self & Culture 13:40 Automating Manual Processes 17:40 Finding the Right Market 21:08 Staying Long-Term Oriented 22:58 The Tool Stack 25:22 Advice Block

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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 spoke with Varun Anand, Co-founder of Clay, one of the most exciting companies at the intersection of GTM and AI that’s redefining what modern go-to-market looks like. Varun shares insights on the journey to finding product-market fit, how Clay went from horizontal spreadsheet tool to specialized go-to-market platform, and why following your curiosity matters more than traditional startup wisdom. For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Clay templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/7i8hzv To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/udg5vz Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:20 Finding PMF 07:48 Reverse Demo Strategy 10:50 Scaling with Intent 16:04 Reinventing Sales Roles 19:58 Hiring for Potential 21:48 Clay's Operating Culture 23:56 AI Pressure 25:37 Advice Block

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from 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 spoke with Michael Truell, Co-founder and CEO of Cursor, an AI code editor that has gone from side project to one of the fastest-growing AI tools in the developer world in under a year. Michael shares why they started with a solution in search of a problem, ignored conventional advice, and focused obsessively on product over everything else. From a 4-person founding team to hiring just one person every few months, their unorthodox path laid the foundation for breakout growth. For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Cursor templates, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/2yr1lw⁠ To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/9ipiek⁠ Timestamps 00:00: Intro 02:18: The original spark and false start in mechanical engineering 05:53: The pivot moment to developer tools 06:45: The decision to fork VS Code 08:45: Building AI-native coding tools and the balance between speed and control 12:24: Cursor's explosive growth trajectory 13:41: Early mistakes and lessons learned 14:16: Hiring philosophy and building the first team 17:08: Internal tools and operational philosophy 19:01: Maintaining focus in a hyper-fast environment 20:53: Advice for founders building in the AI era

Full video episode here: https://youtu.be/ZMrjvxCIPpY To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/rmCdsK First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder 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, Akshay sits down with Notion co-founders Ivan Zhao and Simon Last to talk about everything Notion — where we started, how we got where we are now, and where we’re headed. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:06 The Founding Story 04:55 The Early Days 11:43 Reaching Product-Market-Fit 17:53 Building a Lean Team 19:58 Building for All: The Tradeoffs 27:09 Creating a Global Community 30:19 Scaling Company Culture 37:13 The Future of AI 44:32 A Day in the Life of Ivan Zhao and Simon Last

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder 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. To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/tts9Uf In this episode, we have Adeyemi Ajao, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Base10 Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the automation of the real economy. In this episode, we delve into his early days as a serial entrepreneur, experiences as an immigrant in Silicon Valley, his transition to becoming an investor, and much more. For videos, transcripts, and custom Notion Base10 templates, please visit: ⁠⁠https://ntn.so/Hv0nRi⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:32 Becoming an Entrepreneur 05:13 Co-Founder Relationships 08:58 Growing the Team 13:53 Building an Authentic Community 19:57 Learning to Be a CEO 22:18 Being an Immigrant 25:09 The Positivity of Silicon Valley 28:06 The Life after Acquisition 32:04 Becoming an Investor 35:40 Base10 38:55 The Ultimate Diversity 41:48 A Day in the Life of Ade Ajao

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder 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. To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/56lXGm In this episode, we have Vlad Magdalin, Co-Founder and CEO of Webflow, the leading visual development platform for building powerful websites without writing code. In this episode, we do a deep-dive into the early days of Webflow and its journey to sustainable growth and financing, their hiring principles, the importance of user feedback, the "no-code" revolution, and much more. For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Webflow templates, please visit: ⁠⁠https://ntn.so/QFJPUA⁠⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 03:22 Co-Founder Complimentary Skillset 07:26 Early Attempts at Webflow 12:21 Perseverance Despite the Challenges 17:49 Reaching Product-Market Fit 21:49 Fundraising 25:21 Hiring Principles 29:42 Building in Public & User Feedback 33:39 First Enterprise Customer 39:44 No-Code Revolution 42:44 A Day in the Life of Vlad Magdalin 47:02 Notion for Startups Special Offer (https://ntn.so/n0Iy5d)

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 Daniela Amodei, Co-Founder & President at Anthropic. Anthropic is the AI safety and research company behind Claude — the frontier model used by millions of businesses and consumers for its emphasis on safety and performance. She discusses how to build a strong team of founders, how to navigate role changes, and how feedback is essential to scaling a company. For an audio-only podcast, transcripts, and custom Notion Anthropic templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/CHl2rT To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/HHuDPC

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 Mathilde Collin, Co-Founder & CEO of Front, a customer operations and communications platform. She discusses how to hire your first ten employees and the importance of radical transparency. For an audio-only podcast, transcripts, and custom Notion Front templates, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/TuLOgg To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/hvXpHh

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