TOPE AWOTONA IS ONE OF THE RICHEST IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES AFTER FOUNDING THE CALENDLY APP, WHICH IS WORTH $3 BILLION.
Budget: $30 – $250 USD
Tope Awotona, a Nigerian entrepreneur, is the creator and CEO of Calendly, a scheduling software that helps people organize their work lives, appointments, and meetings. After bursting in Silicon Valley, his software is now worth $3 billion, making him one of the wealthiest foreigners in the country with a net worth of $1.4 billion, according to Forbes.
Calendly was founded in Atlanta in 2013 by Awotona, who wasted his $200,000 life savings, cashing out his 401(k), and maxing out credit cards while working at Dell EMC.
Awotona went on to realize his ambition, and the platform now has over 10 million users, including companies like Lyft, Ancestry.com, Indiana University, and La-Z-Boy. The software company's business is thriving, with sales more than doubling from the previous year, to $100 million, and predictions for this year to be even better.
The Louisiana House passes a bill exempting police mugshots from prosecution unless they are proven guilty.
While there are other rivals in the market, Calendly outperforms Square, Microsoft, and Doodle owing to its user-friendly design and the fact that its premium edition has no advertising.
"Tope might be the most successful African-American digital entrepreneur of his generation," said David Cummings, the founder of Atlanta Ventures, who put in $550,000 in venture money in 2015.
"I've profited from not following conventional wisdom in my life," Awotona stated. "It's helped me personally, and I believe it's helped the company."
Calendly, on the other hand, wasn't Awotona's first foray into entrepreneurship; he tried his hand at three different businesses before landing his big break, including a dating website, projector sales, and garden equipment sales.
But there was something odd about this scheduling software. He stated, "The obvious concept to me was that scheduling is flawed." "I hedged my bets a little bit with my past firms and gave myself a way out."
I flew into a battle zone with Calendly and threw everything I had into it."
Awotona now plans to add new features to Calendly that will set them apart from the competition, such as improved analytics, international growth, and the ability to connect candidates' resumes and cover letters to recruiters' calendars.
Calendly was founded in Atlanta in 2013 by Awotona, who wasted his $200,000 life savings, cashing out his 401(k), and maxing out credit cards while working at Dell EMC.
Awotona went on to realize his ambition, and the platform now has over 10 million users, including companies like Lyft, Ancestry.com, Indiana University, and La-Z-Boy. The software company's business is thriving, with sales more than doubling from the previous year, to $100 million, and predictions for this year to be even better.
The Louisiana House passes a bill exempting police mugshots from prosecution unless they are proven guilty.
While there are other rivals in the market, Calendly outperforms Square, Microsoft, and Doodle owing to its user-friendly design and the fact that its premium edition has no advertising.
"Tope might be the most successful African-American digital entrepreneur of his generation," said David Cummings, the founder of Atlanta Ventures, who put in $550,000 in venture money in 2015.
"I've profited from not following conventional wisdom in my life," Awotona stated. "It's helped me personally, and I believe it's helped the company."
Calendly, on the other hand, wasn't Awotona's first foray into entrepreneurship; he tried his hand at three different businesses before landing his big break, including a dating website, projector sales, and garden equipment sales.
But there was something odd about this scheduling software. He stated, "The obvious concept to me was that scheduling is flawed." "I hedged my bets a little bit with my past firms and gave myself a way out."
I flew into a battle zone with Calendly and threw everything I had into it."
Awotona now plans to add new features to Calendly that will set them apart from the competition, such as improved analytics, international growth, and the ability to connect candidates' resumes and cover letters to recruiters' calendars.