Why Dropping Commission Was Contra's Growth Engine

Founder Fridays · 8 May 2026

About this episode

Contra co-founder and CEO Ben Huffman explains to Notion's Nancy Chen why he gave up the most common revenue stream in marketplaces, how a creative-first brand carried the company through two years of product growing pains, and what outsider founders should know about breaking into tech without a pedigree.

About the show

Founder Fridays — Notion. Notion's founder series: builders in the trenches on product, design, fundraising and the lessons that never make it onto a slide.