Tope Awotona (CEO & Founder of Calendly) and Blake Bartlett (Partner at OpenView Ventures) are this week’s guests on The SaaS Revolution Show. This is a session from SaaStock Remote 2021.
Last year, ⅓ of tech founders struggled to secure funding. In the early days of SaaS unicorn Calendly, raising money was also a big challenge for Tope Awotona. To get the company off the ground, he had to take a different path. This included investing his life savings, stretching every dollar and doubling-down on virality. Whilst a struggle, this ultimately benefited the business model, leading to the creation of a product that ‘sold itself’. In conversation with Blake Bartlett, Tope shares how he overcame these early challenges to drive the company's extraordinary growth. You'll learn the secrets behind one of the most successful product-led businesses in the world.
Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their
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🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
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🇺🇸 SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
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🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS
founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and
helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)
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