Arun Gupta Chief operating officer, Mauj Telecom

An entrepreneur at 16, an employee at 25, and an entrepreneur again at 35. That’s Arun Gupta, chief operating officer of Mauj Telecom, for you.

Gupta studied in suburban Mumbai’s Umer Bhai Patel High School. Remembers Gupta, “Computers simply fascinated me. In fact, I was one of the few to possess a ZX Spectrum (The Spectrum passed as a personal computer those days). Being a topper, my parents expected me to take up engineering and join an IIT. And they were surprised when I opted for commerce.”

He enrolled in the N.L. Dalmiya College, Mumbai in 1987. And this was also the time, when Gupta, all of 16, was a board member of an advertising agency, Forefront. This was his company for the next nine years.

Around 1995, when the advertising industry was experiencing a downturn, Gupta decided to move out and get some professional experience. By then, he had completed his masters in management. In 1996, he joined CNET, handling the technology sales division.

That was not for long. Within a year, he found himself at MTV Networks handling business development and strategy. “I was in charge of online space for the markets of India, Singapore and Hong Kong,” he says.

Internet was the buzzword then. And this led Gupta to join Yahoo India in 2000. He came on board as their director (business development) and was one of the survivors of the dotcom bust. He kept his head above the water because of the arrival of the mobile phones.

“The Internet model failed because its survival depended on advertisements. There were no paid subscribers,” says Gupta. “People were used to free e-mail, chat and the works.” But the mobile phone revenue model was different. Consumers were used to paying for calls, SMS, etc. Yahoo India decided to merge the two and Gupta was a part of the team that did it.

The company was not just among the first movers; it was also way ahead of its time. “It is so ironic,” says Gupta. “When I visited Barcelona this year for the annual GSM convention, Instant Messaging on Mobile was the main topic of discussion. At Yahoo, we had done precisely this five years ago.”

After two years at Yahoo, Gupta moved to Star to handle sales for Radiocity, the conglomerate’s radio business and stayed there for eight months.

In May 2003, Gupta co-founded Mauj along with Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com fame. For Gupta, this was a natural progression. “After having spent so many years in the Internet mobile space, it was only natural that I branched out to offering specialised mobile services through my company, Mauj.”

Gupta says that the company has been clearly positioned as a consumer brand, which people will ask for. Mauj offers a wide range of services, including multi-player bluetooth games, video ringtones, facilities for offering prayers on the mobile and other types of content in regional languages.

Mauj has gathered consumer support. Some blue- chip investment companies have put in $40 million. Says Gupta: “If you are attuned to consumers’ needs and you are willing to run faster than the others to satisfy them, you will always be successful.”

For Gupta, parenting is also a big challenge. He is now busy pursuing his doctoral degree in international marketing and business policy at the University of Mumbai.

If you ask him what he does to relax, he says that he is fond of paragliding, swimming and horse riding. You can’t make it big in life if you are a couch potato, he feels.

Gupta’s ambition is to make his brand a global one. Isn’t Mauj a rather odd brand name for the international arena? Yes, and no. But, ultimately, if Yahoo can make it, who’s going to shout down Mauj?

As told to Aparna Harish

in Calcutta