Sutej Singh saw a gap that most small business owners know all too well. After beginning his career at Deloitte as a management consultant working on enterprise software for large companies, Singh realized that the sophisticated systems available to enterprise organizations were completely out of reach for most small and medium sized businesses.
“Small business owners get stuck choosing between toy apps and expensive enterprise complexity, with nothing in between,” Singh says. That realization became the foundation for Autograf, the Calgary-based company Singh founded to help small businesses streamline their digital operations through branding, web, strategy, and managed systems designed specifically for SMBs. Here, Singh shares more about his journey, what he’s building, and how Pavilion has supported Autograf’s growth so far.
Let’s start with your background. What led you to starting Autograf?
I came up through Deloitte working as a Management Consultant on enterprise software for big companies. That gave me a front row seat to how serious infrastructure gets built, and how completely absent it is for small to medium sized businesses. Small business owners get stuck choosing between toy apps and expensive enterprise complexity, with nothing in between. I started Autograf to build the modern operating layer SMBs actually deserve.
Where did you grow up, and did that influence your path at all?
I was born in Amritsar, Punjab and moved to Canada at 16. That kind of jump teaches you to build from scratch and adapt fast. Calgary’s been home long enough that I have an outsider perspective and insider gratitude at the same time. Nothing meaningful gets built from the safe route. I’m pretty sure I learned that watching my parents leave behind a comfortable life to build a new one across oceans in their forties.
What sparked your interest in branding, web, and digital strategy?
Brand and digital are the parts of a business you can actually shape with taste. They’re also the part most small businesses get wrong because they’re stuck cobbling free tools together. Once I saw how much leverage a clean system gave a small business owner, I was hooked.
What problem were you trying to solve when you launched Autograf?
Small business owners are doing twelve jobs at once, they shouldn’t need to learn another app to do something simple. The whole industry is built around selling tools and copilots, where the owner still has to run everything. Autograf flips that. We run the digital operations, they focus on their craft. We sell outcomes, not another subscription to manage.
What does your day-to-day work look like right now?
A lot of conversations with business owners, a lot of buildings. Talking to barbershops, retail owners, and service businesses about what’s actually broken in their day. Working with our team to ship products. We just launched BARBERI, our first managed operating system for barbershops. Most days are some mix of strategy, sales, and design reviews, plus making sure our clients’ systems are running clean and occasionally pulling my hair and crying a little, but nowadays that’s only about two or three times a week.
What’s a recent project or challenge you’ve worked on that stood out?
BARBERI has been the big one. We spent 18 months co-developing it with real barbershops here in Alberta. We also recently confirmed a partnership with Square for hardware distribution, which was a real milestone for us. The hardest part wasn’t the tech, it was figuring out how to deliver app, service, and support as one experience for an owner who just wants to focus on cutting hair.
What do you enjoy most about the work you’re doing today?
Watching a small business owner go from spreadsheet chaos to actually running a clean operation. That moment where they stop thinking about tools and just run their business. I also love that we’re building real products, not trading time for money like a traditional agency. Our team gets to build things that exist, keep working, and compound over time.
What drew you to the Pavilion Residency, and how has your experience been so far?
It honestly felt like Pavilion opened at the perfect time, just for us. The residency gave us the confidence to put our heads down and build, and the wings to actually go after it. Kiersten and JB have made it feel like a place where we actually belong and not just a space where we rent desks. Now we can’t wait to grow our team out of here and build a massively impactful company from here.
Rapid Fire: Getting to Know Sutej
What was your first job?
I worked in the freezer at a Walmart store stocking shelves after we landed in Canada. It was -23 Celsius in the freezer, which was sometimes warmer than the weather outside.
What is your guilty pleasure food?
Mary Brown’s. The kind of order where the cashier double checks if it’s for a party. What do you like to do in your free time? Travel, and spending time with my wife and our two beautiful kids.
Favourite show or movie?
Your Friends & Neighbours on Apple TV.
Best travel recommendation?
Lake Como in October or November. Nobody around, gloomy weather, perfect food.
A neighbourhood spot you’d recommend?
Ground Press Coffee & Books in Airdrie, Alberta. One of our clients, so I’m biased, but it’s well earned.
