Substack is a subscription publishing platform that lets writers, podcasters, and video creators run paid newsletters and own the direct relationship with their readers. Founded in 2017, the company hosts thousands of paid publications, processes hundreds of millions in subscription revenue annually, and has become the default home for independent media on the internet.
Notion is a block-based all-in-one workspace that combines documents, wikis, relational databases, project management, AI, calendar, and email into a single tool used by over 100 million people worldwide. Founded in 2012 by Ivan Zhao and Simon Last in San Francisco, Notion grew from a near-shutdown side project into an $11 billion company by 2025, with 4 million paying customers and adoption across more than half of Fortune 500 companies. Its modular block architecture lets users build everything from personal habit trackers to enterprise knowledge bases without code.