Granola seeded its AI notepad with venture capitalists first
Granola, an AI notepad that transcribes meetings without a bot joining the call, spread mainly through venture capitalists and people who heard about it from them. Adoption took hold at firms such as Lightspeed, Sequoia, Benchmark and Accel. A newsletter author says Granola grew 10% week-over-week, but he credits the bot-free design rather than the VC seeding.
- Company
- Granola
- Year
- 2024-2025
- Outcome
- Mixed result
What they ran
Granola's own site describes an AI notepad that transcribes meetings in the background, so no bot joins the call. It preps a brief before external meetings and writes notes, action items and follow-ups afterward. Notes stay private unless the user chooses to send them. According to a newsletter breakdown of how Granola grows, anyone who started using Granola in the last year likely heard of it from a VC or from someone who heard of it from a VC.
What happened
Adoption spread inside firms including Lightspeed, Lux Capital, Benchmark, Sequoia, Accel, USV, Firstminute and Betaworks. The author started using Granola around summer 2024, when he describes it as a new app. He reports that Granola grew 10% week-over-week. Granola reportedly says more than half its users hold leadership roles.
What the account does not show
The 10% figure comes from a third-party newsletter with no stated period, baseline or source. The author ties that growth to the bot-free design, not to seeding VCs. The leadership share is Granola's own claim, and the author notes it is unverified. The source gives no user counts or team size, so the size of the VC effect is unknown.
Questions
How did Granola get its first users?
A newsletter author says most Granola users arrived through VCs or through people who heard about it from a VC. Adoption took hold at firms such as Lightspeed, Benchmark and Sequoia.
How fast did Granola grow?
A third-party newsletter says Granola grew 10% week-over-week. It gives no period or baseline, and it credits the bot-free design rather than the VC seeding.
What makes Granola different from other AI meeting note takers?
Granola transcribes in the background without a bot joining the meeting. Notes are private by default and the user decides when to share them.
Sources
- How Granola Grows, fishmanafnewsletter.com, 2025-07-01.
- Granola — The AI Notepad for back-to-back meetings, Granola.