{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"320. Calendly: the $3bn non-technical founder success story","description":"Tope Awotona had no co-founder, no coding ability, and three failed startups behind him. None of that stopped him \u2014 today, Calendly is worth $3 billion, used by over 20 million people in 230+ countries, and adopted by 86% of the Fortune 500. In this episode, I break down exactly how a non-technical founder built one of the most capital-efficient startup success stories of the last decade \u2014 and what you can actually steal from his playbook. What you'll learn:  How he chose the idea that finally worked, after&amp;nbsp;two failures&amp;nbsp; How he built a $3 billion company completely alone, with no co-founder, ever How to tell if a development team actually believes in your product, not just your budget How running out of money by accident became Calendly's biggest growth engine  Want to build a tech venture as a non-technical founder? Our  Non-Technical Founders' Product Accelerator program is for you.&amp;nbsp; People have used it to build apps and platforms, raise funding and completely change their careers.&amp;nbsp; Timestamps:  00:00 \u2013 How Calendly's founder ran out of money by accident 02:23 \u2013 Listener shoutout and podcast review 03:04 \u2013 Meet Tope Awotona, Calendly's non-technical founder 04:43 \u2013 Calendly's $3 billion growth story 07:05 \u2013 Why sales, not coding, built Calendly 09:21 \u2013 The 3 failed startups before Calendly 11:39 \u2013 Why Calendly had no technical co-founder 14:06 \u2013 Paying $200K to outsourced developers 16:29 \u2013 How Calendly went viral by accident 21:18 \u2013 Fundraising only after proving traction 25:26 \u2013 6 lessons for non-technical founders  Follow and Review: We\u2019d love for you to follow us if you haven\u2019t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We\u2019d love it even more if you could drop an honest review on&amp;nbsp;Apple Podcasts. Simply select \u201cRatings and Reviews\u201d and \u201cWrite a Review\u201d then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.  Listen to our podcast on:   Apple   Spotify   YouTube  Audible  Pandora  Transcript: https:\/\/www.techfornontechies.co\/blog\/320-calendly-the-$3bn-non-technical-founder-success-story ","author_name":"Tech for Non-Techies \u2014 Product Thinking &amp; Innovation for Business Leaders","author_url":"https:\/\/www.techfornontechies.co\/","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/42842285\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/content\/206110370"}