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Tech billionaire Tope Awotona, founder of scheduling software company Calendly, is preparing to settle in Buckhead in his new West Paces Ferry Road mansion.
Awotona, who did not respond to requests for an interview, is one of several billionaires in the neighborhood, including Spanx clothing founder Sara Blakely and Mailchimp creator Ben Chestnut.
Awotona made Forbes magazine’s Billionaires list at the age of 40 this year. Calendly’s estimated worth is $3 billion, less than a decade after Buckhead launched with the help of Atlanta Tech Village.
According to his Inc.com profile, he was born in Lagos, Nigeria into a family of entrepreneurs. His grandmother ran a textile business, his mother and aunt co-owned a pharmacy, and his father quit his corporate job to start several businesses. According to Forbes, his father was shot dead in a carjacking when he was 12 years old. The family moved to Marietta in 1996 when he was 15 years old.
Awotona was precocious, graduating from high school two years ago and enrolled in college at the age of 15, but her mother disallowed her at the time. He graduated from the University of Georgia and started selling software.
But driven by a startup urge, he launched a string of failed businesses. Such as a dating site and his e-commerce site for projectors and garden equipment.
In 2012, when Awotona was trying to schedule a meeting, they realized they didn’t have the right product to do it smoothly and quickly. That got him brainstorming for Calendly, which he launched in September 2013 and soon after his incubator on Piedmont Road, the startup he brought to Tech Village, helped secure funding.
Today, the business is still based in Atlanta but has no physical office and as of last year everyone is working remotely.Forbes has 10 million users in its rapidly growing base I’m assuming there are. Awotona remains the majority owner and CEO.
Calendly’s remarkable success has made Awotona wealthy, but she is one of only two black tech billionaires in the United States, according to Forbes numbers.
“Your background is what you make of it. It can be an asset or an excuse,” he told Tech Village in a 2018 interview. “I have never accepted lowering standards. Where I grew up, everyone looked like me. All of our leaders were black, so color limits my dreams.” But I learned that growing up as a black person in America is very different. Unfortunately, it can limit people and prevent them from thinking they can do whatever they want.”
According to Calendly and various media profiles, Awotona also has a residence in New York City where she enjoys stand-up comedy, CrossFit exercises, and meditation.
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