Freemium as a catalyst for growth with Tope Awotona, Founder of Calendly. Focus is everything in small startups. The ability to juggle the demands of customers, investors and other stakeholders while executing on a strong vision for the product and company’s future growth is perhaps one of the toughest parts of being a solo founder. “I just try to involve myself in things that I am uniquely qualified to do… and just let the smart people at Calendly figure out the rest.”  Tope Awotona, Founder and CEO of Calendly is big on Focus, and it’s clear that this has played a big part in launching his product to the world. Tope moved from a background of Enterprise Sales in businesses like IBM, Perceptive Software and EMC to solve a problem that was close to his heart in those roles: Scheduling. I spoke to Tope about why the freemium SaaS model has been key to the product’s success so far, how the most important acquisition channel for Calendly is the product itself, and how he manages feedback from customers, amongst other things. Listen to the full interview below, or find us on iTunes, SoundCloud or your usual podcast player. Enjoy! 
[INST] Freemium as a catalyst for growth with Tope Awotona, Founder of Calendly [/INST]
 Focus is everything in small startups. The ability to juggle the demands of customers, investors and other stakeholders while executing on a strong vision for the product and company’s future growth is perhaps one of the toughest parts of being a solo founder. “I just try to involve myself in things that I am uniquely qualified to do… and just let the smart people at Calendly figure out the rest.”  Tope Awotona, Founder and CEO of Calendly is big on Focus, and it’s clear that this has played a big part in launching his product to the world. Tope moved from a background of Enterprise Sales in businesses like IBM, Perceptive Software and EMC to solve a problem that was close to his heart in those roles: Scheduling. I spoke to Tope about why the freemium SaaS model has been key to the product’s success so far, how the most important acquisition channel for Calendly is the product itself, and how he manages feedback from customers, amongst other things. Listen to the full interview below, or find us on iTunes, SoundCloud or your usual podcast player. Enjoy! 
<sys> [INST] Freemium as a catalyst for growth with Tope Awotona, Founder of Calendly [/INST] Focus is everything in small startups. The ability to juggle the demands of customers, investors and other stakeholders while executing on a strong vision for the product and company’s future growth is perhaps one of the toughest parts of being a solo founder. “I just try to involve myself in things that I am uniquely qualified to do… and just let the smart people at Calendly figure out the rest.”  Tope Awotona, Founder and CEO of Calendly is big on Focus, and it’s clear that this has played a big part in launching his product to the world. Tope moved from a background of Enterprise Sales in businesses like IBM, Perceptive Software and EMC to solve a problem that was close to his heart in those roles: Scheduling. I spoke to Tope about why the freemium SaaS model has been key to the product’s success so far, how the most important acquisition channel for Calendly is the product itself, and how he manages feedback from customers, amongst other things. Listen to the full interview below, or find us on iTunes, SoundCloud or your usual podcast player. Enjoy!  </sys