Who is Tope Awontona, might you ask? Might I ask as well, because I have never heard of Calendly or him, up until now.
But this man name is very searchable and he is worth passed 60 million dollars. So, how did this man make his fortune?
His success to date has exceeded most entrepreneurs’ dreams, and it all started in one of the fastest growing cities on earth. Tope’s Founder story begins in Lagos, Nigeria.
He bootstrapped Calendly for years before taking on a $350 million investment in 2021 that valued the firm at $3 billion.
Who is the owner of Calendly? Tope Awotona is the founder and CEO of Calendly, a simple and beautiful scheduling tool that helps you schedule meetings without all the back-and-forth emails. Tope grew up in Nigeria and moved to the US when he was a teenager. After graduating from the University of Georgia, he landed a job at IBM as a sales rep.
According to financial media giant Forbes:
- Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Awotona immigrated to the United States as a teenager.
- Before founding Calendly, he had started a few other businesses, including one that sold projectors and another that sold garden tools, that flopped.
If that doesn’t convince me and you enough about this extraordinary man. Then we need to go back to the drawing board of life’s worth.
Moreover, Forbes has Tope at #2076 on the list of Top Billionaires. I think I need to go back to school or even Africa.
Tope lives in Atlanta, married, and is 41 years old; has made himself rich in software applications.
Tidbits:
To build its first product, Awotona hired a Ukrainian firm for programming help and was in Kyiv during anti-government protests eight years ago.
“In my life, I’ve benefited from not taking the conventional wisdom. It’s benefited me personally, and I think it has benefited the business.” Tope Awotona
This remarkable African-American man is showing that you can be successful at any angle. In addition to technology, you have to start where the blueprint guides you.
Source:
https://www.forbes.com/profile/tope-awotona/?sh=62426e7339c4