Startup Of The Week – Wylo
| 4 minutes read
Name of the startup – Wylo
Founded in – April 2019
Industry – Consumer Internet
Founder – Omnath Premnath
CEO – Omnath Premnath
Startup Motto- Live your passion
Startup Funding- Bootstrapped
Below is the transcript of our interview with Wylo
Could you please tell us about Wylo App and what it is all about?
Wylo is a social network that lets people network with like-minded folks and explore content across the internet based on their interests most simply and effectively.
Anything (community, people, and content) that users find on Wylo is organized based on their interests. So, all it takes is a few taps for users to get their hands on the most relevant communities, people without searching, and content they love.
As exploration is made easy, people receive faster exposure and better networking, which aids our vision: help people do what they are passionate about.
Being a Founder, there are many questions people would like to know about the successful journey. Therefore, could you tell me about your whole journey and from where did you begin?
It was my final year in college. I had nearly spent three and half years studying Electronics.
A few multinational companies came to my college and hired hundreds of students. Then they placed them under different domains in their company irrespective of the courses they did. It made me wonder: why should people have to study something for four years and end up doing a job that is not related to their studies or interests.
Even in my case, it took me some time to realize that I never had an interest in Electronics. Luckily, I was more into programming. It was a problem I found quite common amongst others in my batch and people in general.
I felt this urge to help people do what truly interested them. So I dug into the problem and found that it was a global problem that was more prominent in India. As I dug deeper, I understood there are three interconnected reasons why this happens.
- Poor exposure on various topics because of which people never realize their interests.
- Ineffective networking due to which people don’t find the proper means to pursue their interests.
- Unorganized information on the internet due to which people find it hard to consume and share knowledge.
That was how I understood the need for a place where people can make like-minded friends while exploring their interests. And I wanted to build that: a social network that simplifies exploration and networking in the most effective way.
From a student with an idea to create an app that now has thousands of users, it has been one hell of a ride yet so rewarding. And when someone tells me the app we built is amazing and helps them out in the way we thought it would is quite a feeling for sure.
And this is all just the beginning of the journey. There is more to come.
How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
We believe that everyone born has a birthright to realize their interests, turn them into a passion, and live a purposeful and happy life. If everything goes right, Wylo will exactly do that. Here is how:
Wylo will act as a seamless space for people to explore their interests like in real life, but irrespective of physical and other barriers.
People will get to share and consume a myriad of content that’s relevant to their interests. So anyone can get their hands on new topics or dig deeper into familiar topics that they would not find elsewhere easily.
People will get to interact and make like-minded friends who share their interests in the simplest way. It initiates room for collaboration and more.
As all three attributes (content, people, and communities) of a social network are organized in the most effective way for exploration, people won’t need to look further to explore their interests.
Eventually, Wylo will help people have a more sorted view of their interests and how they should pursue them further. And this quality will embed Wylo in people’s lives as a go-to social network for all their passionate needs.
As you said, the startup is just two years old, how did you manage your team in 2020, and what are the difficulties you faced during COVID-19?
Managing my team has never been a difficult task. When you have a great team, all you have to do is trust your team and delegate the responsibility. And the team will never fail to deliver. When I hire people, I always see if they are passionate about what they do and believe in its vision. In that way, all of our team members are quite passionate. They believe in the cause, and they love what they do.
Concerning the pandemic, there has not been much difference before and after Covid-19. The only thing that changed was working from the office to working remotely. We have always been flexible with our work culture. So it didn’t matter whether it was in the office or remote. We all know what’s our work and we do it wherever we are.
Can you tell me about a tough day you had at work and how you pushed through?
There is not just one tough day. To be honest, every day is a tough one, one way or the other. Hustle has always been on from day one. But that doesn’t mean there is no fun. Work is fun. It has to be.
We have worked day and night. Sometimes, we have worked during weekends, missed family time, and movie nights with friends. But in the end, when you think about why you started it all and what you wanted to achieve, it is all worth it.
How do you come up with the idea of building Social networking app? And how is it different from other social networking apps?
Most social networks corner us to build our network from scratch.
It becomes harder when we try to find content and people based on our interests as we’ve to follow hashtags or find groups. And it’s not straightforward as these hashtags are unmoderated, and most groups are stale or redundant. While some social networks distract as we’ve no control over what we see, content curation apps are inefficient as they don’t allow networking.
In short, no single place on the internet has both the content and people based on one’s interests. Even if so, they’re not simple and effective. But Wylo does both, making it the simplest and most effective platform for people to find folks and explore across the internet content based on their interests.
Could you describe yourself in one word?
Calm
Born in the family of entrepreneurs and have inherited the same. Started building applications in order to pay for my tuition. Later founded a tech company, marketing agency, and media outlets.
About the author
Born in the family of entrepreneurs and have inherited the same. Started building applications in order to pay for my tuition. Later founded a tech company, marketing agency, and media outlets.
