Background

Granola launched into one of the most crowded markets – meeting notes – and still found a way to stand out. Founded in 2024 with a team of 4, it scaled to a $1.5 billion valuation with around 50 people.

What's behind an exceptional product experience?

1. Have a thoughtful vision for what humans do vs what AI does. Granola's vision was a contextually aware workspace that augments memory rather than replacing thinking. AI handles recall; people retain judgement.
2. Choose a narrow use case to feel magical. Granola chose to build for VCs first, then founders. Narrow scope let the team cater to reliability and edge cases.
3. Protect the feeling of the product. Prior to launch, the team cut 50% of features. Great products feel like they have an essence, not a collection of requests.
4. Stay in private beta to launch a more polished product. 150 users for about a year. Granola found PMF nearly instantly when it launched.
5. Track whether users genuinely need the product. A dot plot chart measuring day-to-day dependence, not just usage.