Notion CEO Ivan Zhao on Engelbart, Lego, and building tools with an artist's care
ivanhzhao · x · 2026-09-18
A widely shared profile of Notion co-founder and CEO Ivan Zhao traces his path from painting and Chinese calligraphy to building Notion as his medium. Inspired by Douglas Engelbart's 1962 vision of computers extending the mind, he draws lessons from Smalltalk, Lego, and IKEA on making tools and building a company, aiming to bring an artist's care to products millions use daily.
More from Companies & People
- Hard Fork signs off: Kevin Roose and Casey Newton launch Machine Gods with NPR — kevinroose · 2026-09-18
- Waymo Announces Its Second Asia City for Robotaxi Expansion — reed · 2026-09-18
- Can AI-native sales stacks disrupt Salesforce's $200B? Owning the sale, not the CRM — CCgong · 2026-09-18
- Mistral customer data leak sparks doubt over 'open models are private' myth — Afinetheorem · 2026-09-18
- Foresight's Vision Weekend to gather Neuralink, Science Corp, Paradromics on whole brain emulation — irinarish · 2026-09-18
- Savant Lab opens 10 desks to outside physical AI founders in San Francisco — TarlonKhoubyari · 2026-09-18