There are some milestones that mean more because of the journey behind them.
We are pleased to share that our founder, V Gautham Navada has joined the organizing team of WordCamp Bengaluru 2026, which will take place on November 21 and 22, 2026, in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The announcement comes just a few months after Gautham served on the Sponsorship Team of WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai, one of the flagship regional events of the global WordPress community.
For us at ForthFocus, the connection between these two roles makes this particularly meaningful.
From helping organize WordCamp Asia in Mumbai to now contributing to WordCamp Bengaluru closer home in Karnataka, 2026 has become an important year in Gautham’s journey from building with WordPress to helping build the community around it.
From a Blogger in 2011 to Building with WordPress
Gautham‘s relationship with WordPress goes back to 2011.
What began with blogging and experimenting with the web gradually developed into freelance web development and, eventually, entrepreneurship.
In 2015, after working independently for several years, he founded ForthFocus.
What started as a small initiative in Kundapura, Karnataka, has since grown into a digital solutions company working with more than 350 clients across eight countries.
Over the years, ForthFocus has worked on projects ranging from business websites and WooCommerce platforms to government portals, eCommerce projects, and custom digital solutions.
WordPress has been part of that journey from the beginning.
But over time, the relationship with WordPress evolved beyond simply using the platform professionally.
It became about participating in the open-source community behind it.
From Using WordPress to Contributing Back
WordPress is built and sustained by a global community of people who contribute in many different ways.
Developers write and review code. Translators make WordPress accessible in different languages. Organizers create local communities and events. Speakers share knowledge. Designers, testers, documentation contributors, photographers, and volunteers all play a role.
Gautham’s own participation has gradually expanded across several of these areas.
His public WordPress.org profile records contributions across WordPress Core, Polyglots, Photos, community organizing and plugin development, along with his participation as a WordCamp speaker and organizer.
For someone whose professional journey was shaped significantly by WordPress, contributing time and knowledge back to the ecosystem became a natural extension of that journey.
Organizing WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai
A major milestone came earlier this year with WordCamp Asia 2026, held from April 9 to 11 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai.
Gautham was part of the event’s Sponsorship Team, joining organizers from India and other countries in helping deliver one of the largest regional gatherings in the WordPress ecosystem.
WordCamp Asia 2026 brought together more than 2,400 attendees, over 70 speakers, and participants representing approximately 50 countries.
Being part of the organizing team offered a different perspective on WordCamp.
It was an opportunity to experience the work that happens behind the scenes, collaborate with contributors from across the WordPress ecosystem, and help create an event for a community that has played an important role in Gautham’s own professional journey.
With WordCamp Asia concluded in April, the next chapter is now much closer to home.
Joining the WordCamp Bengaluru 2026 Organizing Team
On August 7, 2026, WordCamp Bengaluru officially introduced its organizing team for the 2026 edition.
V Gautham Navada is one of 16 organizers volunteering their time to bring WordCamp Bengaluru 2026 to life.
The event will take place on November 21 and 22, 2026, at St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Museum Road, Bengaluru.
The organizing team brings together engineers, teachers, founders, designers, and professionals from different backgrounds.
What connects them is WordPress and a willingness to volunteer their time for the community.
WordCamp Bengaluru itself describes the event simply. It is run by the community, not by a company. The organizers volunteer their time, and the event is structured as a not-for-profit community initiative.
For Gautham, joining that team has an additional significance.
ForthFocus was founded in Kundapura. Much of his professional and community journey has developed in Karnataka. After contributing to a flagship WordCamp that brought the international WordPress community together in Mumbai, helping organize WordCamp Bengaluru brings that contribution closer home.
WordCamp Asia to WordCamp Bengaluru
The two events are different in scale, but the principle behind them is the same.
Community.
WordCamp Asia connects the wider WordPress community across countries and regions.
WordCamp Bengaluru brings that same open-source spirit into a strong local ecosystem of developers, businesses, students, educators, designers, creators and contributors.
Being involved with both organizing teams in the same year creates a meaningful continuation of a journey that began long before 2026.
2011: Gautham began exploring blogging and WordPress.
2015: ForthFocus was founded.
Over the following years: ForthFocus grew to serve more than 350 clients across eight countries, while Gautham’s involvement in the WordPress community expanded through speaking, translation, contribution, and community participation.
April 2026: He served on the Sponsorship Team of WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai.
August 2026: He was announced as part of the organizing team of WordCamp Bengaluru 2026.
The progression matters more to us than the individual titles.
It represents a transition from discovering an open-source platform, to building a career and company with it, to actively contributing to the ecosystem that made much of that journey possible.
Why Community Contribution Matters to ForthFocus
At ForthFocus, WordPress has never been just another technology in our stack.
It has been part of our history. It gave a young blogger an accessible way to understand web publishing, and it later became a platform for freelance projects.
Those projects contributed to the creation of ForthFocus.
And today, WordPress remains part of the work we deliver for businesses and organizations in India and around the world.
That history is why community participation matters.
Open-source ecosystems grow when the people and businesses that benefit from them also contribute back through code, translations, testing, education, sponsorship, documentation, events, and knowledge sharing.
There are many ways to contribute.
Organizing WordCamps is one of them.
About WordCamp Bengaluru 2026
WordCamp Bengaluru 2026 is a community-organized, not-for-profit WordPress event being held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The event is organized entirely by volunteers from the WordPress community.
- Event: WordCamp Bengaluru 2026
- Dates: November 21 and 22, 2026
- Venue: St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Museum Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka
- Organizing Team: 16 volunteer organizers
- V Gautham Navada’s Role: Organizer
WordCamp Bengaluru will bring together people from across the WordPress ecosystem, including developers, designers, agencies, entrepreneurs, educators, students, creators, and open-source contributors.
About V Gautham Navada
V Gautham Navada is the Founder and Director of ForthFocus, a digital solutions company based in Kundapura, Karnataka, India.
His WordPress journey began in 2011. He founded ForthFocus in 2015 after working independently for several years.
Today, ForthFocus serves more than 350 clients across eight countries.
Alongside his professional work, Gautham has participated in the WordPress open-source community through contributions, translations, speaking, community activities, and WordCamp organizing. He is also regularly invited by educational institutions for keynote session deliveries
In 2026, he served on the Sponsorship Team of WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai and subsequently joined the organizing team of WordCamp Bengaluru 2026.
Continuing the Journey
There is a certain symmetry to this chapter.
A journey that started by discovering WordPress as a blogger in 2011 eventually led to building websites, founding ForthFocus, working with clients around the world, contributing to the open-source project, and participating in the community behind it.
Fifteen years later, the technology is more capable, the business is bigger, and the community involvement is deeper.
But the connection to WordPress remains.
From WordCamp Asia in Mumbai to WordCamp Bengaluru closer home, we are proud to see that journey continue, not simply by building with WordPress, but by contributing back to the community that continues to build WordPress itself.
We look forward to WordCamp Bengaluru 2026 and to meeting the WordPress community in Bengaluru this November.
Official References
WordCamp Bengaluru 2026: Meet the Organizing Team
https://bengaluru.wordcamp.org/2026/meet-the-organizing-team/
V Gautham Navada: WordCamp Asia 2026 Organizer Profile
https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/organizer/v-gautham-navada/
V Gautham Navada: WordPress.org Profile
https://profiles.wordpress.org/vgnavada/
