First Block: Interview with Brendan Foody, Co-Founder & CEO of Mercor

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world's leading companies tell us about the many "firsts" of their startup journeys. We explore the ups and downs that founders face as they build, and what they've learned along the way.In this episode, we spoke with Brendan Foody, Co-founder and CEO of Mercor. Mercor is an AI-powered recruiting platform that scaled from $1 million to $100 million in revenue run rate in just 11 months, making it one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley.Brendan shares his journey from selling donuts in eighth grade to building automated hiring solutions, the decision to drop out of college, and how he positioned himself perfectly for the AI talent revolution.For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Mercor templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/cbc8mpTo learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/271hmwTimestamps00:00 Intro03:39 Mercor by the Numbers05:36 Obsession Over Discipline08:39 Fundraising as Input10:59 Scaling Self & Culture13:40 Automating Manual Processes17:40 Finding the Right Market21:08 Staying Long-Term Oriented22:58 The Tool Stack25:22 Advice Block

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience.In this episode, we spoke with Varun Anand, Co-founder of Clay, one of the most exciting companies at the intersection of GTM and AI that’s redefining what modern go-to-market looks like.Varun shares insights on the journey to finding product-market fit, how Clay went from horizontal spreadsheet tool to specialized go-to-market platform, and why following your curiosity matters more than traditional startup wisdom.For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Clay templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/7i8hzvTo learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/udg5vzTimestamps00:00 Intro01:20 Finding PMF07:48 Reverse Demo Strategy10:50 Scaling with Intent16:04 Reinventing Sales Roles19:58 Hiring for Potential21:48 Clay's Operating Culture23:56 AI Pressure25:37 Advice Block

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience.In this episode, we spoke with Michael Truell, Co-founder and CEO of Cursor, an AI code editor that has gone from side project to one of the fastest-growing AI tools in the developer world in under a year. Michael shares why they started with a solution in search of a problem, ignored conventional advice, and focused obsessively on product over everything else. From a 4-person founding team to hiring just one person every few months, their unorthodox path laid the foundation for breakout growth.For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Cursor templates, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/2yr1lw⁠To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/9ipiek⁠Timestamps00:00: Intro02:18: The original spark and false start in mechanical engineering05:53: The pivot moment to developer tools06:45: The decision to fork VS Code08:45: Building AI-native coding tools and the balance between speed and control12:24: Cursor's explosive growth trajectory13:41: Early mistakes and lessons learned14:16: Hiring philosophy and building the first team17:08: Internal tools and operational philosophy19:01: Maintaining focus in a hyper-fast environment20:53: Advice for founders building in the AI era

Full video episode here: https://youtu.be/ZMrjvxCIPpY To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/rmCdsK First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. In this episode, Akshay sits down with Notion co-founders Ivan Zhao and Simon Last to talk about everything Notion — where we started, how we got where we are now, and where we’re headed. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:06 The Founding Story 04:55 The Early Days 11:43 Reaching Product-Market-Fit 17:53 Building a Lean Team 19:58 Building for All: The Tradeoffs 27:09 Creating a Global Community 30:19 Scaling Company Culture 37:13 The Future of AI 44:32 A Day in the Life of Ivan Zhao and Simon Last

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/tts9Uf In this episode, we have Adeyemi Ajao, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Base10 Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the automation of the real economy. In this episode, we delve into his early days as a serial entrepreneur, experiences as an immigrant in Silicon Valley, his transition to becoming an investor, and much more. For videos, transcripts, and custom Notion Base10 templates, please visit: ⁠⁠https://ntn.so/Hv0nRi⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:32 Becoming an Entrepreneur 05:13 Co-Founder Relationships 08:58 Growing the Team 13:53 Building an Authentic Community 19:57 Learning to Be a CEO 22:18 Being an Immigrant 25:09 The Positivity of Silicon Valley 28:06 The Life after Acquisition 32:04 Becoming an Investor 35:40 Base10 38:55 The Ultimate Diversity 41:48 A Day in the Life of Ade Ajao

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/56lXGm In this episode, we have Vlad Magdalin, Co-Founder and CEO of Webflow, the leading visual development platform for building powerful websites without writing code. In this episode, we do a deep-dive into the early days of Webflow and its journey to sustainable growth and financing, their hiring principles, the importance of user feedback, the "no-code" revolution, and much more. For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Webflow templates, please visit: ⁠⁠https://ntn.so/QFJPUA⁠⁠ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 03:22 Co-Founder Complimentary Skillset 07:26 Early Attempts at Webflow 12:21 Perseverance Despite the Challenges 17:49 Reaching Product-Market Fit 21:49 Fundraising 25:21 Hiring Principles 29:42 Building in Public & User Feedback 33:39 First Enterprise Customer 39:44 No-Code Revolution 42:44 A Day in the Life of Vlad Magdalin 47:02 Notion for Startups Special Offer (https://ntn.so/n0Iy5d)

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder & COO Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. In this episode, we have Daniela Amodei, Co-Founder & President at Anthropic. Anthropic is the AI safety and research company behind Claude — the frontier model used by millions of businesses and consumers for its emphasis on safety and performance. She discusses how to build a strong team of founders, how to navigate role changes, and how feedback is essential to scaling a company. For an audio-only podcast, transcripts, and custom Notion Anthropic templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/CHl2rT To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/HHuDPC

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder & COO Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. In this episode, we have Mathilde Collin, Co-Founder & CEO of Front, a customer operations and communications platform. She discusses how to hire your first ten employees and the importance of radical transparency. For an audio-only podcast, transcripts, and custom Notion Front templates, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/TuLOgg To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/hvXpHh

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder & COO Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. In this episode, we have Christina Cacioppo, Co-Founder and CEO of Vanta, discussing her transition from VC to operator and how she has built Vanta into the leading trust management platform. For an audio-only podcast, transcripts, and custom Notion Vanta templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/TQf6LA To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/2f5lfV

First Block, a Notion series - hosted by Notion's Co-Founder & COO Akshay Kothari - where founders and executives from some of the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience. In partnership with Index Ventures, this episode features Julianna Lamb, Co-Founder & CTO of Stytch. Stytch helps developers secure and scale their applications with authentication and fraud prevention. Akshay sits down with Julianna to discuss the founding story of Stytch, how her role as CTO has evolved over time, the early days of finding product-market-fit, building out their engineering team, and much more. For more episodes of the First Block series including custom Notion templates, video, and transcripts, please visit: https://ntn.so/pIvAbt For more startup resources and to learn more about the Notion for Startups program, please visit: https://ntn.so/AZhAX8