*How I joined Notion early (< 15 person team) with no job description* People often ask me how I started working at Notion early on. I love sharing this story. It’s a pretty unique path and a testament to how special the team is at Notion. In 2018, I came across Notion on Product Hunt. It looked like an interesting product, so I signed up. Over the next few weeks, I tried it out a few times. On the fourth try, it really clicked for me. I started moving all my notes and projects into Notion. For the first time, I felt as if I could visualize my brain with software. At this point, I felt like I had to tell the world about Notion. I tweeted a screenshot of my setup and started answering questions about the product. I asked others to share their setups for inspiration. I realized this could be a great resource for new users, so I started building this out as a side project. I bought notionpages.com, set up a Wordpress site, and started crowdsourcing screenshots of different setups. I launched on Product Hunt and started getting more traffic. This was before you could duplicate templates and no other galleries existed yet. I was hooked. I bought more domain names related to Notion, helped launch a Facebook group for Notion users, and hosted live onboarding sessions. While I was busy with my own work, I was spending a big chunk of my free time building this all out. The more I dove into it, the more bullish I was on Notion. A few months later, I decided to reach out to them team to see where things were going. I sent a cold email to the founder/CEO, Ivan, asking about the API. Given how excited I was about Notion’s potential, I put together some ideas in a doc and sent it over. Not long after Ivan connected me to Akshay, Notion’s COO and I told him I would be visiting San Francisco soon. To be honest, I had no plans to visit SF, but I figured worth a shot. A few weeks later, I visited Notion’s office (picture below). It felt like seeing Notion's software in real life. Akshay kindly showed me around and introduced me to Camille Ricketts, who had just come on board to lead marketing. I joined the team for lunch at a local restaurant nearby, at that point everyone could still fit at one large table. Not long after, I started working with Camille on Notion’s first template gallery. We started dreaming up an Ambassador program and explored what community events for Notion could look like. This eventually evolved into the first Community role at Notion, where we worked on community programs, user groups, templates, influencer marketing, user conferences, certifications, campus marketing, grew the team, and much more over the years. There’s more to the story, but as you’ll see there wasn’t much of a formal interview process or job application. I always tell people who are looking to get their foot in the door to try and find a creative/value-add way to stand out. I’ll be sharing more in my newsletter, subscribe: http://benlang.beehiiv.com
Joe Walker
3mo
Great story. Notion is the foundation of my business workflow. Also, why have I never seen notionpages.com???
Leta Lista
3mo
Just imagine what it would be like if after all that someone wouldn't hire you, Ben Lang
Shankar J.
3mo
Your journey with Notion is truly inspiring, Ben! ↳ a testament to the power of passion and initiative. Your story resonates with me as I too discovered Notion and found it to be a game-changer in organizing my research work and personal projects. It's fascinating how you leveraged your enthusiasm for the product to create a community and resources that added value for other users, eventually leading to a role within the company. This is a great reminder that sometimes the most impactful opportunities come from our genuine interests and the initiative we take to contribute.
Mark Coatney
3mo
I feel like the best hiring an early startup does is from its user group. I came to Tumblr very early because I knew and loved the product, started one for Newsweek and evangelized it everywhere I could
Tyler Denk 🐝
3mo
hopefully you think our editor is as enjoyable as Notion’s. welcome to beehiiv excited to follow along 🤝
Daniel Berk 🐝
3mo
Glad you joined the hiiv, Ben Lang!
Matt Lock
3mo
This is an awesome story and a good reminder that if you love the product, reach out. There's a human on the other side of that email
Kate Syuma
3mo
Wow, Ben Lang this is such an incredible story 👏 Joining the company early on is unforgettable — I still remember my first year at Miro in a cozy office where I knew everybody by name and face 🙏
William Nutt
3mo
I was following a path that often intersected yours. What an exciting journey. You’re inspiring. Looking forward to the newsletter.
Angel investing, early at Notion
3moHere's the doc I originally sent over to Ivan: https://benlang.notion.site/Notion-community-dbe1862d5d73405981e8088b35c094fc?pvs=4 And below is the first cold email I sent to Ivan: