Gurwi: How to turn building in public into a Shipaton #BuildInPublic win

Colombian builder Peñalver developed Gurwi, an education app envisioned as a “Duolingo for everything,” after experiencing limited educational opportunities in La Guajira and teaching himself to code. He built an early Figma prototype that gained significant attention on TikTok, continued documenting his progress publicly despite limited institutional support, and received 10 million Colombian pesos from a Colombian tech entrepreneur who saw his content. Working with backend developer Martínez, he migrated Gurwi from FlutterFlow to Flutter and accelerated its planned launch to enter Shipaton, where they built and submitted the app shortly before the deadline. Peñalver promoted the project in Spanish and English through frequent build-in-public posts and creator collaborations that generated more than four million views, helping Gurwi win Shipaton 2025’s #BuildInPublic award and its $15,000 prize. Although visa and passport delays prevented Peñalver from attending the New York ceremony, Gurwi appeared in Times Square, and the resulting publicity contributed to more than $19,000 in user payments during the year, the formation of Gurwi LLC, and expanded monetization options. The team continues to add courses, explore business applications, and create personalized lessons, while Peñalver advises other participants to build products rooted in genuine motivations, tell compelling personal stories, make progress visible, and prioritize shipping useful features.

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