HomeStrategiesFrom Rags to Riches: How Nigerian-Born Tope Awotona Became One of America's...

From Rags to Riches: How Nigerian-Born Tope Awotona Became One of America’s Richest and Most Savvy Immigrants with a 1.4B Networth

Published on

From Rags to Riches: How Nigerian-Born Tope Awotona Became One of America’s Richest and Most Savvy Immigrants with a 1.4B Networth

Calendly, a scheduling platform for the modern man, has solved the logistical nightmare that setting up a meeting can be.

The Calendly website advertises it as something that takes, “the busywork of scheduling off your to-do list so you can get more done. Thousands of teams across the globe use Calendly to make millions of 1-click meetings every week. Coordinate, connect, and nurture relationships all in one meeting lifecycle platform.” But, essentially, Calendly is the perfect virtual assistant. Need reminder emails or thank you notes? Calendly has them prepped and ready to go.

Today, the company has a $3B net worth and hosts a whopping 10 million user interface. Included in its customer base are countless household names like Lyft, La-Z-Boy, and Ancestry.com. Nevertheless, this multimillionaire dollar platform like all great enterprises started off as an idea, and the man who thought of it was then 28-year old Tope Awotona.

Awotona, now worth $1.4B, had a modest upbringing.

He was born into a middle-class family in Lagos, Nigeria. His father was a microbiologist and entrepreneur, and his mother worked at the central bank. Despite being one of Nigeria’s smallest states, Lagos has one of the highest urban populations (27.4% of the national estimate). And in such a densely populated city, his family came across a few unsavory types, one of which ended up taking Awotona’s father away from him at the young age of 12. “There was a part of me, from a very early age, that wanted to redeem him,” he said.

Moving to the states, helped him do just that. In 1996, at the age of 15, he and his family moved to Atlanta. After graduating high school, he began studying Business and Management Information at the University of Georgia and later stepped into the professional world of entrepreneurship.

His burgeoning potential as a businessman was shown throughout his ventures selling software for tech companies, like Perceptive Software, Vertafore, and EMC (since acquired by Dell). He also built a few enterprises of his own, including his own version of Match.com and one company that sold projectors, and another that sold garden tools. And while those three ultimately failed, they brought him closer to his moneyball.

Calendly was born out of Tope Awotona’s own frustrations as a salesman trying to set up multiple meetings for buyers—a task that involved numerous setbacks and countless hours of back and forth. His feelings on the matter were clear, “The obvious idea to me was that scheduling is broken,” and in response, In 2013, he launched Calendly from Atlanta Tech Village, a coworking space for entrepreneurs.

To fund it, he poured his life savings of $200,000 and maxed out his credit cards. “It could’ve gone really badly,” he says. “With my previous businesses, I hedged my bets a little bit and gave myself a way out. With Calendly I flew into a war zone and put in every cent I had. If you’re going to do something, you have to go all in.”

However, despite overcoming one hurdle, he was not out of the woods yet. By 2013, after receiving programming help from the Ukrainian firm Railsware, he had no more cash to burn to keep the Calendly train running. David Cummings, founder of Atlanta Ventures, came to Tope Awotona’s rescue and led a $550,000 seed investment in his company.

In the world of business scheduling, Calendly is not alone. Square, Microsoft, and Zurich-based Doodle offer competing products. But Calendly has made itself unique with its user-friendly design and its freemium pricing strategy that attracts paying customers with no marketing, and its growth internationally.

Now, amid the war (which has been popularly dubbed WW3), Calendly has helped relocate its 10 Ukraine-based contract developers at Railsware and has also financially supported them and their families.

Tope Awotona is also moving towards international expansion beyond the war, recognizing that the struggle of scheduling is experienced across all countries and cultures, “The opportunity to make each meeting efficient and achieve its stated purpose is what we’re about,” says Awotona, who confesses to spending 25 hours in meetings in an average week. “We see scheduling as an opportunity to set the meeting up for success—how you schedule the meeting, simplified preparation and follow-up. That is our grand vision.”

Source

Latest articles

10 Best Loans for Students

10 Best Loans for Students Loans for students are a necessary evil. Student debt is at an all-time high with this year's debt reaching 1.75 trillion. While, at the same time, the nation-wide average for unemployment has skyrocketed with 6.3 million experiencing joblessness. Thus, finding promising loans with affordable interest rates is more important than ever. Sofi Fixed APR: 2.49%-7.59% Variable APR: 1.74-7.24% Maximum Loan Amount: 100% cost of attendance With a shockingly low fixed rate of 2.49% -7.59%, Sofi is the number one lender at BlogWallet. [...]

Rappers Myron Rainey and Christian Sanders Shot Dead in Ohio (Video)

https://www.theindustry.biz/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screenshot_372.pngOver the weekend, a tragic shooting occurred in Shaker Heights, a wealthier neighborhood in...

Who is Kevin O’Leary?

Discover Kevin O'Leary, the renowned Shark Tank investor and business mogul. Learn about his entrepreneurial journey, success strategies, and impact on the business world.

Ex Radio Jock, Stephon Ferguson, Makes Living Imitating Dr. Martin Luther King around the World

KUDOS to a former radio jock for using his radio leverage to create an amazing opportunity for himself. Stephon Ferguson, 48, discovered his amazing ability to emulate one of the greatest leaders of our time Dr. Martin Luther King by chance in the late 90s. Ferguson was mixing a vinyl recording of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech on Motown records with a beat and he was overheard by a friend who came into the room asking if that was him.” Ferguson told ABC News. [...]

How Skillshare Democratized Learning and Created a Global Community of Creators

Discover how Skillshare revolutionized online learning, empowering millions to explore their creativity and learn new skills in a vibrant global community of creators.

The Birth of Native Instruments: How They Changed the Landscape of Digital Music Production

Native Instruments revolutionized digital music production with innovative software and hardware. Discover how this tech pioneer transformed the industry landscape.

Chicago Budget Passes Amid Migrant Spending Chaos (Vidoe)

In a tumultuous session held at Chicago City Hall, the Chicago City Council narrowly...

Entrepreneur Mistakes: Unimportant Interruptions

Do not allow anyone to throw your day off. Nothing like  unimportant interruptions For some odd reason, many people think that black entrepreneurs do nothing but sit around and twiddle our thumbs and wait for money to come in. I guess this is why we get unimportant interruptions during the day? They are really under the impression that because we do what we love we're not working. And part of that is correct, we're not working. But we're always busy and we never sleep. [...]

10 Tips on How to Improve and Make More Money with Your Business

One of the greatest complaints and challenges in business is almost always money. We...

How to Manage Your Business Calendar Automatically with Tech

Discover smart ways to streamline Business Calendar Management using automation tools and tech solutions. Save time and boost productivity with these essential tips.

More like this

Downtown Establishes $200M Fund to Support Independent Artists and Entrepreneurial Business Owners With Financing From Bank of America

Downtown Music Holdings (Downtown℠), the world’s leading music services provider, announced today that it has established a fund to invest over $200 Million to support independent artists and entrepreneurial business owners. The fund, supported by a new credit facility with Bank of America, will be utilized across Downtown’s distribution, publishing administration and artist and label services operations.  “Empowering artists has been Downtown’s core mission from the very inception of the company,” said Andrew Bergman, CEO of Downtown Music Holdings. [...]

Want Motivation? Attend Events in Your Field, Accept Invitiations

This past weekend I attended the Living Legends event in Los Angeles. I made...

Audiomack x Groover offer ‘guaranteed feedback’ for indie artists

Audiomack, the leading music streaming service in 17 African countries with artists across the...

Breakthrough Bloggers’ Tips: Blogging While Black Published by Outskirts Press

Dallas, TX, November 28, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Outskirts Press, Inc. has published Blogging While...

About Mila Kunis: the Entrepreneur

Discover Mila Kunis's entrepreneurial ventures beyond acting. From tech investments to production, explore how this versatile star is making her mark in business.

Virgin Music Group Acquires Outdustry to Expand in High-Growth Markets

Virgin Music Group, the world’s leading partner to independent artists, labels and entrepreneurs, announced...

The End of Generational Trauma: How Remote Work Is Helping Black Entrepreneurs Overcome Inherited Trauma

Generational trauma, also called intergenerational trauma, is a concept used to explain the transmission of challenges within families. It has become a hot topic in recent years due to the focus on redefining mental health and due to the need for accessible and adequate mental health services. However, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic or the 'new normal,' it seems as if the cycle of passed down trauma has finally broken. According to a 2021 Future of Work Abroad survey, Americans who live and work abroad are happier. [...]

How Zia Records Grew from Local Store to Beloved Indie Record Shop

Discover how Zia Records evolved from a local Phoenix store to a beloved indie music destination, supporting artists and vinyl enthusiasts across the Southwest.

United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Links Students with Leading Mentors, Tools, and Prizes via New Startup Competition "USASBE Launch!"

Whitewater, CA, September 30, 2013 --(PR.com)-- United States Association for Small Business...