Community-led Growth: Notion $10Billion growth engine.

Notion is a note-taking, task management, and database tool that has exploded in popularity in recent years. It now has over 30 million users, including individuals, teams, and businesses of all sizes. It is currently valued at $10 billion with 95% organic traffic. That’s huge. Having this huge organic traffic is itself an achievement, but how exactly they have achieved it? In today’s newsletter, we will discuss the factors behind Notion’s most effective and successful growth engine: Community-led Growth—what it is, and when and how to pursue it.

What is Community-led Growth?
Community-led growth is a model that uses the power of community to acquire, retain, and engage customers. CLG companies focus on building and nurturing communities of users and customers who are passionate about their products and services. It has been gaining traction in recent years. This is due in part to the rise of social media and other online platforms, which have made it easier for businesses to connect with and build communities.

Sounds very easy, Right? But I think this is one of the most difficult growth models. Not many companies have cracked it, but Notion did.

How Notion Built Community
The reason for Notion’s vibrant community is due to two people: Camille Ricketts (Head of Marketing) and Ben Long (Head of Community).
For Notion, it all started very organic and natural.

Right now, there are multiple community channels for each segment.

Global groups

Location-based groups

Campus leader program

Ambassador program

Champions program

Interest-based groups

Starting from the Ambassadors program to Champions and then to Interest-based groups, Notion has tried to serve and include all their power users to at least view or be a part of one of the community channels.

It is important to note that Notion's community-led growth strategy is not a one-size-fits-all approach. The specific steps that Notion took to create its community may not be right for every company. However, Notion's success story shows that community-led growth can be a powerful way to grow a business.