Forbes Under 30: Lucky app connects consumers to nearby favorite brands

Posted by: John Petkovic on Tuesday, August 1, 2023

By John Petkovic, Special to Greater Cleveland Partnership

In the e-commerce era, convenience has come to be defined as: Get it done without getting out of your chair. It was amplified by the plight of retail during COVID, when all but the biggest of big-box behemoths were closed.

The consumer’s first reaction to product that catches our eye? Go online, find the brand, check the price, click the size, hit pay and wait for the box to show up on your doorstep.

So obvious. So easy. So convenient.

At least, that’s what Sneh Parmar was thinking almost three years ago when he went online to buy a particular brand of charcoal toothpaste. Yeah, a very niche product, so Parmar didn’t mind waiting a week to get it in the mail. After all, the process of getting it was just a click away.

That is, until a friend told Parmar that Target carries his favorite niche charcoal toothpaste brand and that he could’ve already been brushing with it if he had just walked a couple blocks from his house.

You could conclude that there’s a fine line between convenience and laziness. However, Parmar and his partner, Nafis Azad, saw something else: opportunity. They are the co-founders of Lucky, a fast-growing company that connects consumers to their favorite brands to create a more efficient shopping experience.

“We work with brands and retailers and use data to let consumers know where they can find what they’re looking for,” says Azad, a Columbus native who studied computer science at Ohio State University. “We’re partnered with companies like Sephora, Nordstrom and Walgreens and we collect data from retailers and brands. With Lucky, you’ll find out if a brand you’re looking for is located a mile from your house.”

*The Lucky app finds your favorite products at stores near you.*

The direct-to-consumer company provides retail inventory fulfillment solutions – a fast-growing segment of the retail industry. It not only directs consumers to brands that are available in nearby stores; it also gives them in-store and local delivery options for online orders.

The seamless marriage of software programs and consumer behavior has made Parmar and Azad rising stars in retail. They have been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2023, which identifies young entrepreneurs in rising business. It will be holding its annual summit in Cleveland in October. Both Parmar and Azad are planning to attend the event.

“It’s a cool to be part of such a successful group of young and ambitious entrepreneurs,” says Azad, 26, two years younger than Parmar. “The loneliest part of being an entrepreneur is that there aren’t many of them.”

Starting a business at a young age is a roll of the dice, one even business veterans are apprehensive to do in an economy disrupted by COVID, rising interest rates, inflation, recessionary fears and a challenging environment for raising capital.

So it was no surprise that Azad’s family became worried when he decided to drop out of Ohio State to jump into a world of risk.

“When I was young, my parents dreamed that I would become a doctor or lawyer or engineer,” says Azad, who currently resides in Miami. “I wanted to get into the tech field and I started a software company my freshman year in college.”

That experience made taking the jump into Lucky easier. Ironically, a crashing COVID economy made him see reward amid the risk.

“Stores were shut down during COVID and it created a real challenge for retail, but it also opened opportunity for, say, gyms, which were allowed to stay open,” says Azad. “So I would put up shelves of fitness and wellness products and turn them into retail spaces.”

The pandemic economy brought a seismic shift to e-commerce companies like Amazon at the expense of brick-and-mortar retailers, which were decimated during the shutdowns. The re-openings brought a wave of people that wanted to get out of the house to shop, but they still wanted the convenience that comes with e-commerce.

Parmar’s charcoal toothpaste experience flashed an idea that Lucky cashed in on.

“As stores started to reopen, we knew we had to partner with retailers,” Azad. “For instance, one of our clients, Sephora, offers a variety of fragrance brands that, yes, you can get online. But why not get it faster in a store you? Our software enables people to see where they can find it. They can also order it online and just pick it up.”

Lucky, which charges a fee for the data it collects, has raised $3.3 million in funding thus far. Azad sees room for growth in the even amid the economic challenges.

“We’re thankful for things have gone so far and for the recognition we’ve from Forbes,” says Azad. “But we also realize that still in Chapter 1.5 of our journey and we have a lot more work to do.”

Pictured above: Lucky founders Sneh Parmar, left, and Nafis Azad.

Greater Cleveland Partnership’s All In vision for a Great Region on a Great Lake has five key priorities: Dynamic Business, Abundant Talent, Inclusive Opportunity, Appealing Community and Business Confidence. All of our work ties back to these values. This story relates to Dynamic Business.