The age of the internet has also given rise to a slew of modern millionaires – more, in fact, in the last five years than throughout the entire history of mankind. The success stories of this era are those of youthful origin – digital disrupters, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, surging their way into every industry and defined by their courageous (if not cut-throat) entrepreneurial spirit. Beyond the Mark Zuckerbergs of this world, there are similar success stories: Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat, was just 24 when he became a billionaire two years ago, while the three Airbnb founders, all in their early 30s, are now worth a cool $3-Billion each.

Torr describes his tech start-up experience as “propelling off a cliff in a homemade plane and hoping you’ve engineered it to fly”. Some good work went into the engineering of that plan because UCOOK’s subscribers have grown by 1000% in the last year, with deliveries now spanning the nation. Both sincere and light-hearted, he lacks the detached austerity often associated with the tech sphere’s market leaders, and he is all the more refreshing for it.

“I don’t think I was anatomically designed to be an employee. I have never taken well to authority and have the attention span of a gerbil,” says Torr. It was only in his mid-20s that he decided to go all-in on his true passion: food.

“The South African landscape possesses a thriving aspirational food and cooking culture and I felt that the positioning of high-end food online made sense. As I examined the success of retailers like Woolworths during tough economic times, it occurred to me that relative spend on food goods in South Africa compared to earnings is very high in the upper LSM environment. Aside from the business sense it made, I also love food. A lot.”

And while going it alone can bring with it a high level of reward, he is quick to issue a warning on the hindering factors that most start-ups will experience. "The first problem lies in the funding environment," he adds. "While the country is home to a healthy plethora of private equity firms, seed level investment is an activity that few people are interested in participating in." 

This makes starting a business fairly difficult. It becomes even more difficult if the investment ask is one that looks to the distant future before realising returns, which is the case with many tech businesses.

Finding the right team to get your business off the ground can also be a struggle. “Hard-to-find funding means hard-to-find salaries, which for many people with the capacity and aptitude required, can be a deterrent.”

Against the odds, they’ve built a team of 50 and managed to acquire funding even though at times, a few setbacks threatened to derail them almost entirely.

“Today, things are a little different, entire industries have been invented creating success stories that have exceeded expectation. I’m definitely not insinuating that market research and the validation of an idea’s monetary potential are redundant measures, I am saying that sometimes the market doesn’t know what it wants until the solution is delivered. So innovate and don’t let the market's expectations weigh down on your dreams.” 

While UCOOK still has a big mountain to climb, there are aspects that make up for all the late nights, slip-ups and seven-day work weeks.

“There are few things more satisfying than watching something that you were part of creating, grow. Better yet, come success or failure no degree or corporate job will teach you more about yourself, than going at it alone. There is a new adventure that awaits every entrepreneur, each journey different but much the same. Few things will bring you more satisfaction than the materialisation of your own destiny.”

For more information, visit www.ucook.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.