Checking in with Rameet Chawla, globetrotter and founder of Fueled

Culture

Checking in with Rameet Chawla, globetrotter and founder of Fueled

He dances, plays Ping-Pong, enjoys practising his French and, oh yeah, heads up a multi-million-dollar tech company

Amelia Mularz

BY Amelia Mularz23 August 2016

If black turtlenecks and hoodies have become synonymous with tech entrepreneurs, then Rameet Chawla is something of an anomaly. You’ll often find the founder of Fueled – the award-winning technology consultancy – in neon ski gear in Utah, sporting rainbow-coloured headscarves in Tulum, and donning a bejewelled turban in the Nevada desert. Beyond his knack for statement-making clothing, Chawla has a keen eye for mobile design. Through Fueled, he’s worked with brands like Warby Parker and Barneys New York to launch some of the sleekest e-commerce apps around. We caught up with the follicly-blessed mobile mogul…

When you’re on the road, what’s your favourite smug ‘office’?
The Skylodge at the top of Powder Mountain in Eden, Utah.

What’s the most off-the-grid travel experience you’ve had lately?
I went to Tortola for a wedding. It took multiple planes, boats and automobiles to get there, but it was worth it.

Akin to Super Bowl winners saying, ‘I’m going to Disney World!’ after the big game, what’s the one destination you immediately think of as a reward after a big launch?
Definitely the jungle of Tulum.

Finish this sentence: I would switch to a middle seat for…
…a good meal!

Do you have any favourite travel hacks?
Using my Delta Medallion status, I book the cheapest flight for the day I want to travel and then do a free same-day switch to the more expensive flight (which is usually at a better time or has better connections).

What are your thoughts on out-of-office messages? (Leave one? Skip it? Keep it simple, or make it poetic?) 
I avoid them… and when am I not working?

What are three qualities a travel companion must have in order to hit the road with you?
They have to be up for any adventure, down to go the extra mile for a good meal and excited by impromptu changes to the itinerary.

In your opinion, what’s the greatest travel innovation from the last 50 years?
For travelling from point to point inside a city, Waze. For travel from city to city (in the future), Hyperloop.

Any advice on creating the perfect travel Instagram?
I’m still trying to figure that Instagram thing out.

To figure it out for yourself, follow our travel-savvy team for inspiration @mrandmrssmith.