Today’s Notable Young Entrepreneur is Mudit Rawat, who founded Urbery when he recognized a disconnect between consumers’ online shopping habits and how grocery retailers were catering to that trend. We caught up with him to find out how his company is changing the food and alcohol retail landscape and what advice he would share with other young professionals…
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Describe what you do in less than 140 characters. Go.
I’m the Founder & CEO of Urbery. Urbery is a personalized and on-demand grocery and alcohol shopping and delivery service based in Toronto.
What was the inspiration for your career route?
I started working in typical corporate roles, which involved working long hours, making hundreds of PowerPoint presentations, and analyzing thousands of excel sheets. Somewhere in 2014, I realized I wasn’t content with what I was doing. I was hungry to do something on my own. After some market research, the idea of merging food and technology became very exciting to me.
I saw an opportunity where consumers were shifting their habits and moving their spend online, but the grocery retailers weren’t committing to this consumer mindset shift. That’s when I decided to build Urbery and fundamentally change the way people get their everyday grocery and alcohol essentials delivered right to their doorstep.
What is the most memorable milestone in your career so far?
Being scared to bits to launch our Urbery platform! This stress was quickly alleviated when I started to see people use the service. I found myself amazed at the power of word-of-mouth and felt gratified to see just how useful this service is for time-starved people and families in Toronto.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?
I can’t predict the future, but every day I’m working towards long-terms goals. I see myself continuing to be involved in entrepreneurship; be it running Urbery, supporting and mentoring other startup founders/teams, or building new technology companies to showcase how amazing the Canadian startup scene is.
Do you have any advice for other young professionals?
Take risks and don’t be afraid to fail. You always need to try in order to see what the outcome will be. And please, be kind and humble. This will help endlessly when working in teams or even closing important business deals.
Do you support any charities? If so, which one(s) and why is it (or they) important to you?
I’m a huge animal lover and try to get out to support as many local animal foundation events as I can, like Paws In The Park coming up this August.
What is one major challenge that you’ve had to overcome in your career? How did you overcome it?
The decision to become a full-time entrepreneur and quitting a stable corporate job was one of the toughest challenges I’ve had to overcome. Making the decision was the easy part, but actually going ahead and doing it was probably the toughest. In hindsight, I probably waited a couple of months longer than I should have. I was able to overcome this hurdle with amazing support from my family and wife, who kept pushing me to take the leap, along with talking to my mentors and advisors who made me realize that this was a risk worth taking. I’m so glad that I did.
What does the word notable mean to you?
The word notable to me means something that’s worth having a conversation about.
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Where is your favourite place to wine/ dine in your city and why?
One of my favourite places to wine and dine is Jules Bistro. I also love Eat My Martini (that’s where my wife and I went on our first date on Victoria Day Long weekend in 2013). I also like the new spot DW Alexander.
What’s the most visited website on your Internet browser? The most played song on your phone?
You mean outside Urbery and Notable? I do like to visit bluebirdbanter, betaKit, Canadian Grocer, TechCrunch, Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.
In the last year, I’ve started spending more time listening to podcasts. I loved Serial, and I’m now addicted to the StartUp Podcast. I’ve really been enjoying Memory Palace, and Home of the Brave is fascinating. There are also some really great food and wine podcasts that I’m constantly catching up with too. Lately, I’ve been into America’s Test Kitchen.
Who’s one person you think everyone should be following on social media?
Mark Suster, GaryVee, and DJ Khaled on Snapchat.
What’s your favourite country to visit and why? And what’s the next one you plan on travelling to?
London, England. That was first country/city that I ever visited in Europe and I fell in love with everything about it. It’s such an amazing mixture of old school architecture mixed with skyscrapers. That said, I’ve heard great things about Greece from friends and family alike; I definitely want to visit there next.
What gives you the greatest FOMO?
If I hadn’t started Urbery, it would have been the biggest FOMO moment of my life. Now that I’ve lived the life of an entrepreneur for nearly two years, I would say the biggest FOMO moment is not being around a loved one when they need you the most.
What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
Watching any MLB game that’s on TV. I’m a huge Jays fan, but I can easily watch any baseball game.
What’s something you wish you didn’t spend so much money on? What’s something you wish you spent more on?
Phone and Internet bills. I want to spend more on travelling with my wife.
And finally, what does success look like to you? Work, play, or otherwise…
At a professional level, success to me in the short-term is growing Urbery and making it a national company, known for creating a truly personalized and trustworthy experience for our customers.
On a personal level, success to me is finding ways to spend more time with family, mentoring startups, and learning a new skill (I really want to learn how to play a new instrument and also to code my own mobile apps).
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