Notion

Notion is the all-in-one workspace: documents, databases, kanban boards, wikis and lightweight project management in one block-based editor, with an API and a template economy that turned internal organization into shareable product.

Why founders use it: it is the operational memory of a small company. Company wiki, meeting notes, product specs, hiring pipeline and investor updates live in one searchable place that non-technical teammates actually enjoy editing. The database views, table, board, calendar, timeline, cover most lightweight process needs without a project-management purchase.

A realistic use: product spec to task board to release notes as connected databases, the API syncing customers from the product into a CRM-ish view, and a public page as the company handbook. Templates from the community solve the blank-page problem for standard operating procedures.

Trade-offs: it slows at large page counts, offline is unreliable, and the API's rate limits shape what integrations can promise. Compare with Obsidian for personal knowledge, Coda for doc-app hybrids, and Linear when the task board becomes the team's real interface.