Saagar Varu
Age: 22
Company: Harvestdate
Position: Founder and co-owner
Location: Seattle, Washington
Saagar Varu built a web-based cannabis sales and marketing platform from scratch.
Although he does have one business partner in the venture, Varu handles all aspects of the design and development of Harvestdate on his own.
That alone would be an impressive feat for just about anybody and it’s made even more impressive by the fact that Varu began working on Harvestdate before he was old enough to legally buy marijuana at retail shops in Washington. Plus, he did it while taking a full slate of college classes. His goal is to create a valuable tool for the industry and let people use it for free.
“I didn’t do it because I was necessarily super enthusiastic about cannabis,” says Varu, now 22 and graduating from the University of Washington in June with a business degree. “I did it because I saw a problem.”
There have been times in the past couple years that Varu felt like school was holding him back from building Harvestdate. He has an almost obsessive work ethic and plans to dive into Harvestdate full time after graduation.
“When I have a personal stake, I work harder than I’ve ever worked,” he says. “I work harder at this than I’ve ever worked in school.”