Olivia Nottebohm

As a veteran of several high-powered organizations — including McKinsey, Google, Dropbox — Notion advisor Olivia Nottebohm has learned the importance of respecting her teams’ personal journeys. She believes none of the 10 most important milestones in any person’s life will be career-related, and it’s important for leaders like her to strike a balance between accountability and empathy. “Before I need to have a tough conversation,” she says, “I try to put myself in their situation and think, ‘OK, how would I best receive something? ... [And] how is this person different from me?’” In this episode, Olivia and Joubin discuss immigrant assimilation, the joy of learning, college vs. startups, stepping away from work, growth vs. profits vs. product, steep learning curves, working through a restructuring, collaborative creativity, what CEOs care about, community-led growth, screening for Grit, finding focus, and the only things people will remember about us when we’re gone. In this episode, we cover: Olivia’s parents and how she became a grammar stickler (01:00) Small-town ice hockey and playing with the boys (03:54) Why her parents didn’t want Olivia to go to Harvard, and what she wants for her own kids (08:49) Choosing to go into business instead of science (15:32) What changed for Olivia when her brother passed away unexpectedly (18:42) “Grow Fast or Die Slow” (24:29) Who doesn’t believe in growth in 2022? (31:37) Leaving McKinsey after making partner (35:32) Six years at Google and one year at Dropbox — starting right before COVID (39:34) How Olivia got to Notion, the crowded “all-in-one” space, and its enormous addressable market (42:36) The evolution of go-to-market strategies (49:43) Accountability, empathy, and the biggest milestones in everyone’s life (58:36) Links: Connect with OliviaTwitter LinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Olivia Nottebohm

Chief Revenue Officer

Notion

Olivia Nottebohm is the Chief Revenue Officer @ Notion where she leads the Sales, Marketing, Customer Success and Customer Experience teams. Prior to Notion, Olivia was the COO @ Dropbox where she achieved the first 4 quarters of profitable growth. Before Dropbox Olivia spent over 5 years at Google including as VP Cloud GTM Operations and Global SMB Sales. Finally, before Google, Olivia spent a whopping 15 years at McKinsey & Company. In Today's Episode with Olivia Nottebohm You Will Learn: 1.) Origins: How Olivia made her way into the world of startups and tech? What are 1-2 big takeaways Olivia has from her 5+ years at Google? How have they shaped her operating mindset today? How does Olivia balance her love for analysis and data with speed and agility of decisions? 2.) Good vs Great Operations (Ops): What does great ops really mean to Olivia? What are the 1-2 things founders can implement today to improve their ops immediately? What are the core mistakes founders make when instilling ops for the first time? How does Olivia coordinate the global Notion team to be as effective as possible? What has worked? What has not worked? 3.) The Hiring Process: Why does Olivia believe all leaders will have to accept they will not have all the talent they need over the coming years? With that in mind, is it best to hire B players or always keep the bar high? If and when can the bar be lowered? How does Olivia construct the hiring process? What are the core questions she will always ask? What is the secret to great referencing? How does Olivia enable the other side to feel safe telling her everything they know about the candidate? 4.) Cross-Functional Communication: How does Olivia advise founders on the best way to get different functions working together? What works? What does not? What are some big mistakes Olivia sees over and over? At what point in company scaling does this comms begin to breakdown? Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Olivia Nottebohm Grow Fast or Die Slow: The role of profitability in sustainable growth

Olivia Nottebohm

Chief Revenue Officer

Notion

At the heart of product-led growth is the user. And in this podcast, Olivia Nottebohm, CRO of Notion ($10B valuation), will delve into the more complex aspects of product-led growth, and why they're essential for building a successful business that will thrive for years to come. Blog post and video: https://www.saastr.com/how-community-led-growth-drives-product-led-growth/ Sponsors: https://shortcut.com/saastr https://www.litmus.com/saastr https://www.ontheclock.com/

Olivia Nottebohm

Chief Revenue Officer

Notion