Kalyan Gautham, Founder, and CEO, WATT, Worlds 1st platform for virtual marches
Founder & CEO at WATT – world’s first platform for virtual marches, political rallies, and charity walks.
Podcast
Overview
The world is balanced on the consciousness of the very few. Climate Change is upon us and we are extremely laid back to do something about it. Activism is limited to the very limited population of people who actually want to make change and create a safer world for the coming generations. Activism is also limited due to accessibility.
About Kalyan:
Today on TBCY, we have with us a leader who is working on making activism accessible and digital! We are pleased to welcome Kalyan Gautham on the podcast.
Kalyan is the Founder and CEO of WATT, the world’s first platform for virtual marches, political rallies and charity walks. He is a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum. He is a former Consultant. He is a Climate Reality Leader and very interestingly, he has been trained by Vice President Al Gore. He is a stargazer, a photographer and a chess player.
About Watt:
To begin with, Kalyan explains the scope of work at WATT and the focus points of the organisation. WATT, which stands for Walk the Talk, is a platform that induces community engagement for virtual marches and charity walks. By using WATT, people can participate in marches and charity walks from any corner of the world. This initiative not only helps the charity organisers get better global outreach but also helps them in raising more funds.
Kalyan believes that participating for a good cause should not be cumbersome. He wants to make every charity walk and social march accessible and globally united.
“I am a technologist who’s helping out all the activists and social workers who want to do social and environmental good or to scale their impact to the world. That’s pretty much what I do.”
How is Technology inducing change?
As his venture completely relies on technology, Kalyan talks to us about its role in creating change. He believes that people should evolve with time. As representatives of speeding technology, Kalyan explains how activism can be done differently and more coherently using technology. While the traditional method of street marches is still relevant, its access is very limited. Through technology, one can contribute to any social cause across the planet. And that is the beauty of technology!
“One individual could simply take a million or 10 million footsteps over a course of time and get visibility across the world by only that person walking rather than calling 10,000 people out there and then making them do 10 million footsteps. So that’s the ability that we give and you’re right, in the 70s-80s movements were happening like that and to a large extent they are happening even now.
That’s where the gap is right. We are now in the 21st century. We shouldn’t be doing the same things that were being done in the 20th century or 19th century. So we should evolve with technology.”
On Climate Change:
Kalyan has been trained under some commendable leaders and has gone through intense learning on the subject of climate change. He believes that the voice of the youth in these global matters is very essential.
In Kalyan’s opinion, there is very limited political will to solve climate change. If the world can come together to solve an issue as big as the pandemic, then other important issues can be solved as well. We need more political will, awareness and discussion in order to fight climate change.
Kalyan’s work is extremely change oriented and he is determined to make social causes more accessible and spread awareness about the problems across the globe.
Tune in to know more about Kalyan and his incredible venture WATT
Profile
Founder & CEO at WATT – world’s first platform for virtual marches, political rallies and charity walks; Was a Consultant prior to starting up WATT and helped various Fortune 500 companies across Aviation, Retail, eCommerce, Sports, Insurance, Banking and Finance industries drive data-driven decisions, working in across 6 countries; Global Shaper at World Economic Forum; Startup Mentor; Climate Reality Leader trained by Vice President Al Gore; A stargazer, photographer and chess player.
