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How Notion Built a $10B Brand with Community
Breaking Down the “Cult Product” Playbook
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Hey there,
You’ve seen the pattern before.
A new product drops. Founders hire a paid ads guy, burn money on Twitter threads, and hope the CAC math works out.
But what if you could grow to 30M+ users with barely any ad spend?
That’s exactly what Notion did.
They didn’t just build a note taking app. They built a cult. One that designs templates for free, makes YouTube videos for fun, and begs their friends to join.
Let’s break down how Notion pulled off one of the cleanest community led growth strategies of the decade, so you can steal it for your own project:
Step 1: Build a Product That’s “Blank” On Purpose
The less you say, the more people project.
Notion’s homepage didn’t say much.
“All-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases”
No bold promises. No fake urgency. Just white space.
Why it worked:
• It invited curiosity: people had to click around to “get it”
• It became a playground: early adopters could build whatever they wanted
• It gave users agency: the product adapted to them, not the other way around
Notion didn’t force users down a funnel. They handed you an empty canvas and said: Go wild.
This meant creators, developers, students, and startups all saw different versions of Notion.
The growth hack? Every user felt like it was made for them.
Lesson: If your product is flexible, don’t overdefine it. Let your users tell the story.
Step 2: Weaponize Templates as Growth Loops
Instead of chasing users, Notion let users create content that did the chasing.
In 2019, they opened up community template sharing. Suddenly, anyone could:
→ Build a habit tracker
→ Share a startup CRM
→ Sell a personal finance dashboard
Notion became a tool and a marketplace. Every template had:
• A shareable link
• A viral use case
• A built-in call to action (“Duplicate this to your workspace”)
Creators got clout. New users got value. Notion got free distribution.
It was a flywheel that looked like this:
Users → Templates → Shares → New Users → More Templates
Bonus: people paid for these templates. Notion was creating a new economy.
Steal This: Can your product be packaged into something bite sized and shareable? If so, make it dead simple to duplicate and distribute.
Step 3: Turn Power Users Into Evangelists
Notion didn’t have a sales team.
They had Notion Ambassadors.
These weren’t paid influencers. They were power users who genuinely loved the tool and wanted to help others master it.
Notion gave them:
• Private Slack groups
• Early access to features
• Bragging rights (and swag)
• Shoutouts on social and the website
In return, ambassadors:
→ Hosted Notion meetups in 60+ cities
→ Created 1000s of tutorials and YouTube videos
→ Answered support tickets before Notion could
This built a “cult” around the product, one that scaled without a huge support team or community budget.
And the kicker? Ambassadors recruited each other.
Takeaway: Don’t just build community. Give it structure. Make your biggest fans feel like insiders, and they’ll do the work for you.
Step 4: Nail the Vibes (Design as a Growth Channel)
Notion didn’t look like a startup tool.
It looked like an indie magazine.
Muted colors. Serif fonts. Hand drawn icons.
While every other SaaS was screaming “PRODUCTIVITY!!!” in bright orange CTAs, Notion whispered, “come build your second brain.”
Why this mattered:
• It felt personal, not corporate
• It stood out in a sea of boring UI
• It made people want to share screenshots
Design became distribution. People didn’t just use Notion, they showed it off.
If Airtable is Excel’s startup cousin, Notion is Moleskine’s.
Copywriting Hack: Your product’s aesthetic is part of the value. Make it so beautiful people want to share it, even if they don’t fully understand it yet.
Step 5: Say “No” to Ads, “Yes” to Fans
At a time when every SaaS startup was scaling with paid ads and SEO playbooks, Notion took a weird route:
No ad budget.
No outbound sales.
No performance marketing.
Instead, they went all in on:
• Word of mouth
• Viral templates
• Creator partnerships
• Community events
And guess what?
In 2020, they were valued at $2B with fewer than 50 employees.
They scaled their vibes.
And while everyone else was tweaking funnels, Notion was busy turning their users into believers.
Final Lesson: You don’t need a 30 person growth team. You need 30 people who care so much they bring in the next 3,000.
Key Takeaways from Notion’s Growth:
1. Prioritize pull over push. If it’s good, people will talk
2. Treat design like a growth lever, not an afterthought
3. Use shareable templates to create organic distribution
4. Keep your product flexible so users can define its value
5. Turn your most passionate users into community leaders
You don’t need a massive team to build a movement.
Just a good product, the right people, and a story they want to tell.
Until next time,
Omar Waseem