[YS TV] Rags to riches, twice over - GENWI's Dr. P J Gurumohan shares his journey so far

Monday March 11, 2013 , 2 min Read

Based on the nature of business, entrepreneurs can be classified into three broad categories. The first kind, place their bets on proven businesses and play it safe (relatively). The second kind have a keen sense of trends and opportunities and base their businesses around what’s in.

And then there are the third kind. These entrepreneurs build for the future, based on what they think the world will be. As glamorous as this third kind of entrepreneurship might sound, a lot of it is groping in the darkness. And as with any person navigating through the darkness, there will be falls, and hard ones at that.

Take GENWI for example - Having gazed through the proverbial crystal ball, co-founder Dr. P J Gurumohan had long before seen digital information being consumed on wireless devices; only they didn’t know what those wireless devices would be. In our interview with Guru, he and his team at, then “Generation Wireless” were thinking along the lines of large TVs, which would render content for users to consume.

Imagine their surprise when they saw the iPhone!

However, the advent of this Apple device and the app store gave birth to one of the first app building making engines in the world. Using their service, users could make mobile applications across platforms, without having to code.

After a minor rebranding, to GENWI and a sizable cumulative funding of close to $7 million, P J (as Gurumohan is affectionately referred to as) had finally realized two very big dreams in his life - one that of being an entrepreneur and the other of creating a new way of experiencing content on wireless devices; But not before the journey took a toll on him.

Here’s Dr. P J Gurumohan, founder of Nexus VP and Inventus Capital backed mobile app company, GENWI, on his journey from rags to riches, twice over. Watch the video to know more -