Many of the top successful founders all share something in common: sacrifice. Whether it’s sacrificing time, energy, or something else.
For Calendly Founder and CEO Tope Awotona, he put his earnings on the line. As previously shared by AFROTECH™, Awotona drained his bank account and 401(k) to build his scheduling company from the ground up. What’s more, he faced countless rejections along the way when seeking venture capital but kept pushing ahead.
“Being a foreigner really helped,” the Lagos, Nigeria, native said, according to Inc. “I grew up in a country where 99 percent of the people looked like me, so race wasn’t something I consciously thought about. It’s good to have that mentality. You can dwell on all the reasons you shouldn’t do something or why it’s harder for you. Or you can just go out and do it.”
The hustle and grind led to multi-million-dollar investments, which transformed Calendly into a billion-dollar company.
For founders seeking to reach success like Awotona’s story, he advises them to “be really, really good at one thing” because “people will always ask you to do more.”
“Today we have some customers who are paying us close to $1 million, but it started with one individual in that company who fell in love with the product,” Awotona shared in conversation with Blavity Inc. Co-Founder and COO Jeff Nelson during the 2023 AFROTECH™ Conference. “We solved the initial job that we were hired for with that individual person, and then we got more and more jobs. And so that’s one of the biggest pieces of advice I’ll offer. It’s whatever that first entry point is, whatever that first problem that you’re looking to solve, solve it really, really well, and you’ll get a chance to solve additional problems.”
Making scheduling simple for over 20 million customers has made Calendly a force. However, Awotona shared that “the work isn’t done.” He envisions the platform being able to take a step past just scheduling and also be able to assist professionals with tasks such as keeping track of previous conversations and sending out clear meeting agendas.
“So that is really what we are looking to do next, is go beyond just scheduling to really helping our customers across what we call the meeting lifecycle,” Awotona said. “Preparation, follow-up, being present in the meeting — you don’t have to take notes. There’s an AI system that’s taking the notes for you so you can be truly engaged in the conversation. So that’s what we’re excited to bring to the world.”
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