Hands on. Fast start.
What we offer
“Notion goes far beyond the engagement model of a typical Venture Capital firm”
Matt Welle
The Notion Platform
This is the operational, high impact, empathetic support we are known for, readily available to all our investments. We remain at your side from first investment to exit, connecting you to the expertise you need to fulfil your potential.
New investments receive proactive one to one advice and support, led by Stephen Millard, Operating Partner and Chief Platform Officer, for the first 12-24 months post investment.
Extensive talent, compensation, and team design is led by Michelle Cheng and Claire Walker runs our community programme, including our world class expert events and, of course, our annual retreat.
The Platform Collective
The Platform Collective is a mechanism for portfolio founders to pool contributions so that we can invest in and address common challenges, offering the ability to guide where investments are made and giving ever greater access to world-class retained advisors and dedicated hires.
A growing programme of workshops and training to help build functional expertise and support professional development of leaders and individual contributors.
Securing resources and capabilities necessary to address our portfolio companies most urgent needs as they grow.
Beyond Platform
We go far beyond typical venture platform offerings, building capabilities and driving change across our portfolio.
Executive level engagements, accelerating growth and performance led by Andy Leaver.
Top-line revenue and margin expansion through strategy and monetisation engagements led by Andreas Panayiotou. Commissioned research and capability building led by George Windsor.
From $1m - $100m revenue:
Start, Build, Scale.
People often think of the start-up journey as a continuum. It isn’t. Things change dramatically along the way, affecting every aspect of the business: how you think, what you prioritise, what you build, how you grow, who you hire.
Achieving $100m revenue in less than ten years is hard, and the probability low. Start, Build, Scale encapsulates our thinking on growth as a step function, helping companies buck the odds, improve their probability of success and avoid the mistakes so many make.
One stage, two phases:
- $0-$1m - building the MVP and establishing a product customers will buy and use
- $1-$3m - uncovering a GTM model and moving beyond founder-led sales.
Start
One stage, two phases:
- $0-$1m - building the MVP and establishing a product customers will buy and use
- $1-$3m - uncovering a GTM model and moving beyond founder-led sales.
The START stage of the business is best described as a period of creative discovery designed to answer one question: “Are we solving a problem worth solving and by solving this problem can we build a massive company.”
The team is small. Capital is constrained. Burn is low. The people are excellent generalists. The mistakes are common and avoidable. Achieving product market fit is the goal.
One stage, two phases:
- From $3-$10m the GTM model emerges, with specialists establishing repeatability across demand creation, sales conversions and revenue realisation.
- From $10m to $30m the GTM playbook is developed and hardened, with increasing predictability across the customer lifecycle, backed up by robust processes, systems and data and the business becomes “go to market fit”.
Build
One stage, two phases:
- From $3-$10m the GTM model emerges, with specialists establishing repeatability across demand creation, sales conversions and revenue realisation.
- From $10m to $30m the GTM playbook is developed and hardened, with increasing predictability across the customer lifecycle, backed up by robust processes, systems and data and the business becomes “go to market fit”.
The Build stage is the killing zone for European SaaS companies. We may romanticise the start phase and laud the centaurs, but this is the hard yards. Finding Go to Market Fit is the objective.
We shift gears from chaos to order. From pure discovery to creativity and repeatability. The team is growing, as is organisational complexity. The people move from generalists to specialists.
From $30m to $100m:
Complexity increases massively as the company masters “multi-market fit.”
Scale
From $30m to $100m:
Complexity increases massively as the company masters “multi-market fit.”
The startup becomes a machine, balancing the desire for growth with the need for productivity.
Complexity is increasing massively. So too are the numbers. Companies are obsessed with the pipeline and their TAM to maintain growth, making big strategic decisions on organic and inorganic growth.
People again are critical. Now the specialists give way to leaders and managers of managers.
What our portfolio has to say...
“The Notion Platform team is helpful and authentically engaged. They put in real effort and want to help brainstorm ideas, without being prescriptive or overbearing.”
Seth Phillips, Bound
“The Notion Platform team is helpful and authentically engaged. They put in real effort and want to help brainstorm ideas, without being prescriptive or overbearing.”
Seth Phillips, Bound
“Working with Notion's platform team offers a chance to step back and talk about what’s working and what’s not- just a big resource that is there when you need it without it being OTT."
Rich Counsell, Stable
“Working with Notion's platform team offers a chance to step back and talk about what’s working and what’s not- just a big resource that is there when you need it without it being OTT."
Rich Counsell, Stable
"The Notion Retreat is such a meaningful and inspiring event. I'm still buzzing from all the learnings, it is a best-in-class experience."
Lauren Berkemeyer, YuLife
"The Notion Retreat is such a meaningful and inspiring event. I'm still buzzing from all the learnings, it is a best-in-class experience."
Lauren Berkemeyer, YuLife
"The Notion platform team spends time with founders and their team to spot the mistakes they are making and the opportunities they are missing. Then to encourage them to think differently."
Nick Cheetham, Currencycloud
"The Notion platform team spends time with founders and their team to spot the mistakes they are making and the opportunities they are missing. Then to encourage them to think differently."
Nick Cheetham, Currencycloud
