Founder stories
$100K ARRin 8 years
4 milestones
Rebuilt the product 4 times, moved to Japan, now $567M ARR
Founder
Ivan Zhao
Co-Founders•Technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
ExperiencedProduct
All-in-one workspace for notes, docs, wikis, and project management.
Type
SaaSIndustry
ProductivityModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Ivan acquired customers
Primary Channel
Product Hunt
Also Used
Word of MouthCommunities
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Notion
ReactNode.jsPostgreSQLStripe
The Full Story
We rebuilt Notion 4 times before it worked. At one point, we moved to Japan to rewrite the entire tech stack. Now we're at $567M ARR with 30M+ users.
The Rebuilds
Most founders would quit after one rebuild. We did four. Each iteration taught us something critical.
Japan Retreat
We ran out of money and moved to Japan where costs were lower. We spent months rewriting everything from scratch.
Product Hunt Magic
We launched on Product Hunt three times and hit #1 each time. The community drove our early growth.
- Rebuilds: 4
- PH #1: 3 times
- Users: 30M+
- ARR: $567M
Key Takeaways
1
Rebuilding 4 times isn't failure - it's iteration
2
Word-of-mouth can drive massive growth with minimal marketing
3
Sometimes you need to go to extremes (Japan) to succeed
4
Product Hunt can work multiple times
Originally published onAakash Gupta Newsletter
Inspired by Ivan's journey? Generate a business idea in the Productivity space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Ivan achieved 4 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
1 year
Avg: 3 months
+1 year to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
2 years
Avg: 11 months
+1 year to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
3 years
Avg: 1 year
+5 years to next milestone
$100K ARR
$567,000,000
8 years
Avg: 3 years
8 years
Total journey time
4
Milestones achieved
Ivan's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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