Calendly
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{short description|Calendar scheduling software}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Calendly
| logo = Calendly_company_logo.png
| type = Private
| foundation = 2013
| founder = Tope Awotona
| key_people = Tope Awotona (CEO)
| industry = Software
| products = Meeting scheduling software
| revenue =
| num_employees = 424 (April 2022)
| parent =
| homepage = {{URL|calendly.com}}
}}
Calendly is a software company that develops a business communication platform used for teams to schedule, prepare and follow up on external meetings. The company was founded in Atlanta, Georgia by Nigerian-born entrepreneur Tope Awotona, but discontinued its physical offices in July 2021.
As of January 2021, Calendly was valued at $3 billion, making it a tech unicorn.{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2022/04/06/nigeria-born-tope-awotona-poured-his-life-savings-into-calendly-now-hes-one-of-americas-wealthiest-immigrants/|title=Nigeria-Born Tope Awotona Poured His Life Savings Into Calendly. Now He’s One Of America’s Wealthiest Immigrants |website=Forbes |date=April 6, 2022 |access-date=April 15, 2022}}
History
Calendly was founded in Atlanta in 2013 by Tope Awotona, a former EMC (now Dell EMC) salesperson who was frustrated with the difficulty of scheduling sales calls.{{cite news|url=https://fortune.com/2020/11/19/calendly-founder-tope-awotona-startup-unicorn/|title=Meet the unicorn founder that braved war zones and missed meetings to make his mark on the startup world |website=Fortune|date=November 19, 2020|access-date=April 15, 2022}} He founded the company with his savings and by taking out a small-business loan, while working at the co-working incubator Atlanta Tech Village. He hired the Kyiv, Ukraine-based company Railsware to help develop the software. In late 2013, seed investors provided a $550,000 investment.
The software began as a freemium version for individual users when the company launched. In late 2014, the company added a premium version.
In January 2021, Calendly raised $350 million from investment firms OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq, at a reported $3 billion valuation.{{cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/26/how-atlantas-calendly-turned-a-scheduling-nightmare-into-a-3b-startup/|title=How Atlanta’s Calendly turned a scheduling nightmare into a $3B startup |website=TechCrunch |date=January 26, 2021 |access-date=April 15, 2022}} In July 2021, during the COVID-19 outbreak, Awotona closed the company's Atlanta headquarters and took the company remote.{{cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2021/07/01/calendly-remote-workfoce.html|title=Atlanta unicorn Calendly scraps its office, shifts to all-remote workforce |website=Atlanta Business Chronicle |date=July 1, 2021 |access-date=April 15, 2022}}
In January 2022, the company received attention on Twitter, when a Silicon Valley entrepreneur criticized the etiquette behind sending a Calendly link, and others defended the process. The company reported a large spike in sign-ups after the social media attention. In a February article about Google's calendar application, Wired reported that Calendly's was a market leader.{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/story/calendly-google-calendar-appointment-schedule/|title=Google Calendar's ‘Appointment Schedule’ Is Good, Not Great |website=Wired |date=February 5, 2022 |access-date=April 20, 2022}}
Products
File:Calendly_scheduling_application_screenshot.png
Calendly develops a software as a service scheduling automation platform to help schedule external meetings and make them more productive. Users share open time slots in their calendars to book meetings by sending a scheduling link, or through embedded times in an email or text message. Recipients of Calendly invitations select an available time before it is automatically added to Google and Microsoft Outlook calendars.
The company offers a freemium version for individuals, and premium versions for individuals, teams and enterprises.{{cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/07/what-is-calendly-.html |title=Calendly is a way to tell people when you’re free for a meeting — but some techies hate it |website=CNBC |date=February 7, 2022 |access-date=April 15, 2022}} The premium version offers additional features such as additional calendars, team scheduling features and integration with video conferencing and payment services.{{cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/22/how-calendly-is-building-a-platform-by-turning-scheduling-into-a-center-stage-event/|title=How Calendly is building a platform by turning scheduling into a center-stage event |website=TechCrunch |date=September 22, 2021 |access-date=April 15, 2022}}
The software has been recognized for its viral nature, since recipients of invites could be encouraged to try the software themselves.
Operations
Founder
Calendly founder and CEO Tope Awotona was born in Lagos, Nigeria. When he was 12, he saw his father shot and killed during a carjacking. His family moved to Atlanta in 1996 when he was 15. He studied computer science and business management information systems at the University of Georgia and became a software salesman, selling for tech companies including Perceptive Software, Vertafore, IBM, and EMC (later Dell EMC). In an Inc. magazine profile in September 2019, when the company was earning $30 million a year, Awotona recounted the difficulty he faced with fundraising as a black immigrant when launching Calendly.{{cite news|url=https://www.inc.com/magazine/201908/cameron-albert-deitch/tope-awotona-calendly-online-scheduling-venture-capital-nigeria-immigrant.html|first=Cameron|last=Albert Deitch|title=This Atlanta Founder's Secret Weapon in Building His $30 Million Company: Growing Up in Nigeria |website=Inc. |date=July 1, 2019 |access-date=April 20, 2022}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.calendly.com Official website]