Our Story

During COVID, I found myself sitting in a café in a quiet, far-flung corner of Uttarakhand, not far from Dehradun, wrestling with a question that had been growing inside me for years. I wanted to start a company. I was nearing fifty. Was it too late?

I called one of my oldest seniors from my NTPC days — a man whose wisdom I had always admired. I told him what I was thinking. There was a brief silence, and then he said: “Gautam, I know that if you put your heart onto something, you will come out on top of it.”

The conviction in his voice filled my heart. But it was COVID, and the world was uncertain, and so the idea settled quietly inside me — like a seed I kept warm but didn’t yet plant.

A New Chapter

The year 2021 brought a new chapter. I was working for a startup and stationed in my hometown, Haldwani, when I started thinking seriously about building a project management application. Around this time, a name came up — Gagan, who would later become my co-founder and partner at Keval-U. He was described to me as an exceptional coder, an IIT Mandi graduate, something of a prodigy.

I expected to have to convince him. Instead, he surprised me completely.

When we spoke, Gagan was warm, eager, and disarmingly down to earth. He told me it would be his honour to work with me — and that all his life, he had been looking for a mentor. He saw me as one.

I had been mentoring people for years without quite thinking of it that way. That conversation made me pause. It reminded me that mentoring isn’t just a professional tool — it can genuinely change the course of a person’s life.

Finding the Right Path

We met in person a few months later, at Bikaner Wala in Ghaziabad, over tea with a common friend. We talked honestly about the project management app and concluded that it was too narrow — that whatever we built together needed to be more meaningful, more sustainable, something with real reach.

And so, again, the idea was set aside. But not for long.

Shortly after, I received a consulting project from a company in the energy sector. They wanted to establish a mentoring system. While discussing their needs, I found myself — almost on impulse, drawing on my conversations with Gagan — suggesting that we could also build them an application to track mentoring activities and initiatives. They loved it. They asked us to quote a price. We did.

And that was how Keval-U truly began.

Building Together

We started building the application together. Then, midway through the project, my mother passed away.

Gagan completed the application almost entirely on his own — working from a concept note and a set of feature instructions I had written. He never made it a moment of inconvenience. He was so quietly capable, so sensitive, that I knew then — without any doubt — that this was the person I wanted as an equal partner in everything we would build.

The app was delivered. It worked. The assignment wrapped up. And in 2023, we registered the company.

The Name

The name took some thought. I knew I wanted it to carry the blessings of my master — a man named Kewal before he was ordained as a saint. That name had stayed with me. And the philosophy of mentoring is simple: the mentor’s entire focus is the growth of the mentee. So the name Keval-U was born, and with it, our motto —

Your Ascent, Our Priority.

The Journey Ahead

At Keval-U, we believe that every person, every organisation, every institution is unique. Our purpose is to help each of them become the finest version of themselves.

We formally registered the company in November 2023 and began full operations in December 2024. Our very first project, fittingly, was to train mentors and mentees at the Gas Authority of India Limited — a prestigious assignment with people who were genuinely committed to the idea of mentoring.

The journey has just begun. Manish, the first among my students to believe in what we are building, has joined us on this path — helping shape Keval-U from the inside, as it grows.

We are fortunate to be guided by our Founding Mentors — Dr. Satya N. Mandal, Mr. B.V.R. Sharma, and Dr. Sanjay Bhattacharya — whose wisdom has shaped us more than they perhaps know. And as we grow, we are building a circle of Keval-Architects — industry experts who bring their experience directly to our mentees, and whose insights help us continuously refine and strengthen what Keval-U offers to the world.

We are building training systems, refining our methods, and working toward something we believe in deeply — that good mentorship, good coaching, and good counsel can quietly change the world, one person at a time.

To everyone who finds their way to this page — thank you. We would be honoured to have the chance to make a difference in your journey.