Atlanta unicorn Calendly has appointed John McCauley as its chief financial officer, according to a June 14 press release.
McCauley is the latest addition to the scheduling software startup’s executive team. Over the past year, it appointed Chief Revenue Officer Kate Ahlering, Chief Marketing Officer Patrick Moran, Chief Information Security Officer Frank Russo and Chief Customer Officer Tina Dobie.
Calendly's executive hires corresponds with a year of rapid growth for the startup, which was founded in 2013 in the Atlanta Tech Village incubator. In January 2021, Calendly surpassed a $3 billion valuation after a $350 million raise from Boston-based OpenView Venture Partners and San Francisco-based Iconiq Capital. Before that, the startup had raised virtually no outside capital.
Five years after its launch, Calendly saw a 100% growth rate with over 30 million people using the software. The company doubled its subscription revenue to $70 million during 2020.
Last July, the company ditched its Atlanta office in favor of an all-remote model. The company had added 200 employees during the pandemic and staff productivity seemed to increase as they worked from home, Moran told Atlanta Business Chronicle.
While Atlanta remains the center of Calendly’s engineering team, the remote strategy allows the startup to recruit talent globally. Last July, Moran said the startup had expected to add over 500 employees within a year.
Calendly did not immediately respond to request for comment on the hire. It is unclear whether Calendly has hit its growth projections, considering the economic downturn that caused mass layoffs at fellow Atlanta unicorn OneTrust.
Russell Lester previously served as Calendly chief financial officer from March 2020 to December 2021, according to LinkedIn. He is now a vice president at Canadian financial technology company VersaPay Corp.
Prior to joining the meeting scheduling software startup, McCauley held various leadership roles at financial companies based in California. He was vice president of sales at real estate software company Agentology Inc. and CFO at sales enablement platform Seismic.
McCauley said in the release that Calendly caught his attention because of its business model that combined product and sales growth. He also added that the trajectory of Calendly is impressive, considering the $20 billion addressable global market for scheduling automation.
McCauley also held senior financial strategy positions at biotechnology company Illumina, Inc. and ServiceNow, Inc. where he helped orchestrate an initial public offering in 2012. He received his bachelor's degree in accountancy from the University of San Diego and a master's in accountancy from San Diego State University, according to his LinkedIn.
