Ivan Zhao Says AI Makes Companies Flatter, Not Hierarchy-Free
Notion founder and CEO Ivan Zhao argues that AI will not make companies hierarchy-free, but can reduce the amount of human routing that makes hierarchy slow. In a conversation with Brian Halligan, Zhao describes Notion’s answer as “jazz mode”: a deliberately decentralized company that still has structure, but relies on high-agency people, ex-founders and model-enabled teams to improvise as product and market conditions change. His broader case is that AI-era leaders have to refound around the technology itself, not just bolt it onto the old SaaS operating model.
Sequoia Capital·May 21, 2026·21 min read
