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.