₦airaland Forum

Nigerialabalaba:
u no dey house wen dem dey share sense. olodo, na inferior complex dey worry u. All dat yeye bloated software coy valuations na hin u dey compare with coys wey get real money and systemspec wey dey move billions daily.
I don see say u be one of d native people like u wey neva achieve anytin for life go dey share chart upandan. Shiorr.

Nigerialabalaba:
E try o but still na money wey no reach wetin same Nigerians dey make for Naija. Remita by systemspecs alone go buy am.

Tope Awotona company Calendly is now valued at $3bn.

That means Awotona’s majority stake is worth at least $1.4 billion

Tope Awotona & David Steward are the ONLY two Black tech billionaires in the United States

Calendly currently has 10 million users

“Tope could be the most successful African-American tech entrepreneur of his generation,” says David Cummings

Nigeria-Born Tope Awotona Poured His Life Savings Into Calendly. Now He’s One Of America’s Wealthiest Immigrants

Tope Awotona, the 40-year-old founder and chief executive of Calendly, leans back in his chair and lets loose a loud guffaw.

“You call it on message, I call it the truth,” he says, slapping his hands on the table. The truth, as Awotona has it, is that everyone needs Calendly, his scheduling software, to lead better, more productive, happier work lives.

Nine years ago, Awotona started Calendly, pouring his life savings of $200,000 into it and later quitting his job selling software for EMC. Today, the company has 10 million users and counts Lyft, Ancestry.com, Indiana University and La-Z-Boy among its customers. Revenue last year passed $100 million, double what it booked the previous year. It could double again this year.

The company, which was founded in Atlanta but no longer has any physical offices, has been profitable since 2016. Last year it raised $350 million in funding from OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq Capital at a price that values the business at $3 billion. That means Awotona’s majority stake is worth at least $1.4 billion, after the 10% discount that Forbes applies to shares of all private companies. Awotona is one of just two Black tech billionaires in the United States, along with David Steward, the 70-year-old founder of Missouri-based IT provider World Wide Technology. “Tope could be the most successful African-American tech entrepreneur of his generation,” says David Cummings, founder of Atlanta Ventures, which led a $550,000 seed investment in Calendly seven years ago.

Calendly doesn’t have the scheduling business to itself. Square, Microsoft and Zurich-based Doodle offer competing products. But Calendly has gained traction with its sleek, consumer-friendly design and its freemium model that lets it gain paying customers with no marketing.

“In my life, I’ve benefited from not taking the conventional wisdom,” Awotona says. “It’s benefited me personally, and I think it has benefited the business.”

Awotona was born in Lagos, Nigeria, into a middle-class family. His father was a microbiologist and entrepreneur; his mother worked at the central bank. Lagos, a city of 15 million, is economically vibrant but dangerous. When Awotona was 12 he witnessed his father get shot and killed in a carjacking. “There was a part of me, from a very early age, that wanted to redeem him,” he once said.

In 1996, when he was 15, he moved with his family to Atlanta. He studied computer science at the University of Georgia, then switched to business and management information. “I loved coding, but it was too monotonous,” he says. “I’m probably too extroverted to be a coder.”

Rastaramsey:
That nigga is as desperate as hell
Niggars aren't behind his back at all
I hope he fails

felixotalu1:
nigerians beware of does that show you love only when election is around the coner.terrible things have been happening in nigeria were have the likes of tinubu been.

“We are aware of your aspiration to be president of this country, we look forward to further engagement so that we can progress that aspiration.

Frigga13:
Nigerians are never slave to yoruba people .. Northernera are not slave to yoruba

Get that clear

Tinubu enslave Yoruba people .. who is inturn enslave by the North

He Must Contest to clear all this your noise and questions

sarrki:
Akanbi olodo ide ride on

We saw how you developed Lagos

That most of your enemies turns to refugee camp when their regions and state are not suitable due to corruption and mismanagement

You are the next president God willing

jaxxy:
Do cuppy and otedola donated N5billion we should make them president and vice in 2023 also.

rickyrex:
make ameachi declare him interest on Saturday we go know weather your oga blood pressure no go rise

Laggafin:
Hell rufai is good at deception.. Tinubu should go and ask Obasanjo .. Atiku and the rest how he lied on the ground rolling in fake pseudo respect/show manship for them in time past but turned round to sting them . Who no fear the midget is doing so @ his own peril

SarkinYarki:
You don't know Elrufai then .this means nothing to him.

Ofodirinwa:
look at the stupid, idea free way they do politics in nigeria. Nobody will tell you what they plan on doing or believe in. But you will know who bowed to who, who took who's seat, who visited who, who is eating roadside corn. And young men will actually fight each other in the name of this.

LordIsaac:
Jonathan was wet for the North; Buhari married the North; and now, Tinubu is flirting with same North.... May God deliver us from the backward influence of the North!

SarkinYarki:
You are a clown .. someone creating illegal local govts is what you applauding ...what did that change