Youth Entrepreneur of the Year 2023: Arnav Mishra is building a foodie community with Dyne

Earlier this year, at the old age of 23, Arnav Mishra won this magazine’s 30 Under 30 competition. It’s very rare for someone that young to be overseeing more than 20 employees, but that was the case with Mishra, who founded Dyne, the Vancouver-based platform that connects foodies with local restaurants and each other. So I’m somewhat surprised when I call him in October and he says that the company has “grown significantly.”

To be fair, the employee headcount has stayed roughly the same (Dyne has added four people over the past few months), but the app’s popularity (it’s routinely in the top 10 among Canadian food apps) and its reach (expansion to Alberta, Ontario and the U.S.) are real.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of all is the personal growth that Mishra has been experiencing. “I’ve stepped into the shoes of an advisor and mentor to startups,” he says over a Zoom call. “I’ve been angel investing in some new companies, giving small cheques between $3,000 and $10,000, nothing too crazy. What people don’t realize is that for young entrepreneurs, sometimes $3,000 is a lot. You can set up a website, hire folks to build you a prototype, all that.”

Mishra is taking a similar brick-by-brick approach to Dyne’s expansion. “When we go anywhere, we hire local,” he says. “When we went to Alberta, we partnered with the Alberta Hospitality Association, Calgary Economic Development, Edmonton Unlimited. We hired co-op students from the universities and partner with the governments on technology adoption programs because Dyne is a machine-learning software. It helps governments generate more money for the economy.”

Dyne’s entire team is under the age of 25 but Mishra is clearly intent on growing up fast. His five-year plan includes becoming an “elder” in the food tech industry. “We want to be providing insights to players in the industry so they can transform their services and meet the challenges of their customers.”