# Ivan Zhao

> Ivan Zhao is the co-founder and CEO of Notion, the all-in-one workspace platform used by over 100 million people worldwide. Born in Ürümqi, China, he studied cognitive science and fine arts at the University of British Columbia before nearly going bankrupt building Notion, retreating to Kyoto for eight months to rebuild the entire codebase from scratch. Today Notion is valued at $11 billion with $600 million in annual revenue, and Zhao still owns roughly 30% of it — an unusually large stake that reflects his insistence on building deliberately, keeping the team small, and refusing to let investors dictate the product's direction.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-Founder at Notion
- **Organizations:** Notion Labs, Inc.
- **From:** Ürümqi, China
- **Nationality:** Chinese-Canadian
- **Education:** Cognitive Science (with art focus), University of British Columbia
- **Known for:** Co-founded Notion, used by 100+ million people globally, Built Notion to $600M annual revenue and $11B valuation, Retained ~30% ownership stake through disciplined, low-dilution fundraising

## Career timeline

- **early 2000s** — Participated in International Olympiad in Informatics; learned to code competitively
- **2008-2012** — Studied Cognitive Science and fine arts at University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- **2012** — Graduated UBC; began building websites and apps independently
- **2012-2013** — Worked at Inkling, a San Francisco ebook startup; studied history of computing
- **2013** — Co-founded Notion Labs with Simon Last; raised ~$2M from angel investors
- **2015** — Notion near-shutdown; Zhao and Last move to Kyoto, Japan; rebuild entire codebase from scratch over 8 months
- **2016** — Launched Notion 1.0 (March); funded partly by his mother's $150,000 loan
- **2018** — Launched Notion 2.0 with databases; added Akshay Kothari as COO
- **2020** — COVID-driven remote work boom massively accelerated Notion adoption
- **2021** — Raised Series C; company reaches unicorn status at $10B valuation
- **2025** — Notion reaches $600M annual revenue, 100M+ users, $11B valuation
- **2026** — Latest funding round; team at ~5,800 employees; deepening AI integration

## Achievements

- Co-founded Notion, used by 100+ million people globally
- Built Notion to $600M annual revenue and $11B valuation
- Retained ~30% ownership stake through disciplined, low-dilution fundraising
- Grew Notion to 50%+ Fortune 500 penetration
- Rebuilt entire Notion codebase from scratch in Kyoto after near-shutdown
- Built a profitable, lean company before scaling headcount aggressively
- Integrated AI meeting notes, enterprise search, and AI workspace features into Notion

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Notion completes latest funding round; total funding exceeds $615M
- **2025-12** — Notion valuation reaches $11 billion
- **2025-05** — Notion launches AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search features
- **2025** — Notion reaches $600M annual revenue and 100M+ global users

## Links

- Website: https://ivanhzhao.notion.site/
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanhzhao
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ivanhzhao
- GitHub: https://github.com/ivzhao

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ivan-zhao
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-18