20VC: Notion's Founder on "Founder Mode": When it Works & When it Doesn't | Why The Way Startups Fundraise & Construct Boards is Broken | Raising at a $10BN Valuation in Peak Bubble Times and How Notion Has More Money Than Ever Before with Akshay Kothari

Akshay Kothari is Co-Founder at Notion, one of the fastest-growing companies of the last decade. Akshay has run every function in the company from sales, to marketing to finance and even led their fundraising efforts raising $340M+ from Sequoia, Index and Coatue with the latest round pricing them at $10BN. Before Notion, Akshay was VP Product at Linkedin for 5+ years, leading all of their content efforts. He joined LinkedIn when his previous company, Pulse, was acquired by LinkedIn in 2013. In Today's Episode with Akshay Kothari We Discuss: 1. Founder Mode, Veto Powers and Focus: • Does Akshay agree with "founder mode"? What are the biggest downsides to founder mode that not enough people are discussing? • Why does Akshay believe that the single greatest power of a founder is their "veto power"? • What is the biggest opportunity that Notion jumped on that they should not have done? • What is the biggest opportunity that Notion did not jump on that they should have jumped on? 2. Raising $50M @ $2BN Valuation: • Why did Ivan and Akshay decide to do this raise when they did not even need the money? • How did the fundraising process for this round go? Why did they choose Coatue and Index? • Why did Sequoia say no to this round? • With the benefit of hindsight, what does Akshay wish that they had done differently? 3. Raising $270M @ $10BN Valuation: • How did Sequoia come back into the frame with this round? Why did they say yes here when they did not before? • Why does Akshay believe that of all the investor brands, Sequoia is the most powerful? In what way does having Sequoia as an investor change the trajectory of the company? • Is Akshay concerned about how he will be able to scale into the $10BN valuation? • How does Akshay address the challenge of bringing new team members in with stock options priced at $10BN? How much of a blocker is that? 4. Boards and Social Media are F*******: • How is the way in which boards are constructed broken? • How does Akshay believe that boards should be constructed? • What roles should founders hire for in their board members? • Why is Akshay most concerned about the "Tiktokification of everything"? • Why does Akshay believe that social media has never been more concerning?