Ujwal Arkalgud

Ujwal is an award-winning cultural anthropologist, author, and entrepreneur. He began his career working in India as an in-field researcher conducting immersive “ethnographies" in the entertainment and travel sector, where he discovered a simple truth - that people make decisions based on shared beliefs, not rational needs. This discovery set Ujwal on a path to constantly seek better ways to uncover the underlying beliefs and motivations that guide people and their decisions.

Over the next decade, whilst working at various technology and advertising firms, Ujwal became a pioneer in the study of consumer beliefs and culture on the internet. He is also the only researcher who has used reddit.com to examine consumer culture and predict the evolution of business and politics. In fact, in his research published in February 2015, Ujwal identified “fairness” as a key trend influencing consumers and voters alike in the coming year. A trend that we are today watching become the central theme of the U.S. elections.

In 2015, Ujwal co-founded a disruptive consumer research company called MotivIndex. In just over a year, the company has turned into one of the fastest growing research startups in the world. Today, MotivIndex serves innovation and research departments at Fortune 500 companies around the globe and helps them identify shifts in consumer culture before they hit the mainstream.

Ujwal has an MBA from the Schulich School of Business in Toronto. He is a contributing author for the Huffington Post and he has spoken at multiple conferences including NXNE, the Digital Analytics Association Symposium, and most recently, the DX3 conference discussing the future of consumer research on the internet.

Ujwal is also an angel investor and advises a few early stage startups in Toronto.