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How Calendly Got Their First Thousand Users
Calendly's CEO, Tope, recognized the challenges of organizing external meetings and saw an opportunity for disruption in the scheduling solutions market. To build the first version of Calendly, he used his personal savings and hired an outside development firm. The first 10 users were customer success agents at a company that Tope contracted with the same firm. These agents used Calendly to schedule calls with parents in the education space, leading to parents and schools adopting the platform for various use cases. Calendly initially offered a free tier, which contributed to its growth. The combination of a viral loop, customer referrals, and being a free product were key factors in Calendly's journey from their first 1000 users to millions of users.