![]() ![]() ![]() The driving forces behind Calendly's PLG motion include: As of 2022, Calendly holds a commanding 53% share of the US scheduling market and a 21% share in the global market.Ĭalendly's meteoric rise can be largely attributed to its strategic deployment and execution of product-led growth (PLG), initiated once a solid product-market fit (PMF) was established. The expression "Send Me Your Calendly" swiftly became synonymous with scheduling meetings. ![]() For instance, while free plan users could only connect one calendar and set up a single event type, the paid plan offered the ability to connect multiple calendars, customize meeting pages, establish workflows, access analytics, assign meetings in a round-robin style, and integrate with popular apps.Īs word spread about Calendly's efficiency and simplicity, its adoption surged. This led them to concentrate on six user segments: sales, marketing, customer success, recruiting, IT, and education.Ĭalendly was successful in upselling paid plans to users on its free tier, which included all core features but came with usage restrictions. The company had a core product philosophy of quality over quantity, choosing to build for a specific user set rather than casting a wide net. By 2015, the premium plan was enhanced with more features, propelling Calendly's ARR to hit the $1M mark. This plan provided users with benefits like removing watermarks and timely reminders. ![]() The team settled on this price point after much experimentation. It was not until late 2014 that Calendly made its first attempt at monetization, introducing a $10 premium plan as an experiment. Despite this early success, the company allowed free usage of its product for more than a year. The first six months following the launch saw Calendly's user base reach a thousand customers. Intrigued by a conversation with Awotona about his product, members of the Bay Area company became the first users of Calendly's MVP. The company's first client, a data and analytics platform used by schools and colleges called BrightBytes, came on board even before the official product launch. To curb costs, he outsourced the building of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to a Ukrainian development agency. As a result, most people continued to schedule meetings through back-and-forth emails.Ĭalendly's inception dates back to early 2013 when founder Awotona emptied his entire savings to initiate its development. Moreover, because these tools required payment, few professionals or companies were willing to spend money on such software back then. However, they didn't catch on because they lacked a simple UX and integrations. Simultaneously, he found the time to launch three startups - an e-commerce store for projectors, a dating website, and a platform dedicated to home equipment sales - none of which took off.īefore Calendly came along, other scheduling services like Booking Live and Acuity Scheduling existed. Awotona cut his teeth in enterprise software sales for seven years, working with biggies like IBM and Dell EMC. The US-headquartered company today boasts over 20 million users and helps over 100,000 businesses plan meetings. That mission, which began with Awotona's six-month research journey to simplify scheduling, is worth $3B+ today. When Tope Awotona found himself in a situation like this a decade back, he found the spark for Calendly - a user-friendly scheduling tool that simplifies appointment bookings.Ĭalendly was born out of Awotona's efforts to save one of the most vital resources for professionals and enterprises - time. What you thought would be a simple attempt to schedule a meeting with a prospective customer quickly descends into a flurry of back-and-forth emails, embarrassing double bookings, and time zone confusions. Picture this: You're a sales executive for a global SaaS company. ![]()
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