Skip to content

Category: Knowledge

Definitions

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on August 26, 2025

Builder = someone who builds a software application. Indiehacker = someone who builds a software application for commercial gain. Bootstrapper = someone who self-funds a tech startup. Solo founder = someone who starts and leads a tech startup. Tech Entrepreneur = someone who builds a tech startup with others. Tech Startup = A company that build and commercialises a technology solution with people driving it. Feel free to disagree with me. Here’s a clean-up version by ChatGPT Builder: Someone who creates products — often software applications — by writing code, designing systems, or assembling tools. In startup culture, a “builder”…

Continue readingDefinitions

Getting things wrong – two resigns

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 15, 2025

In my effort to be efficient (I’m still a slacker), I seem to have dropped all the niceties. My sentences are straight forward. I still use please but they are more to the point. I don’t write long essays when emailing. I try to keep things compact. I seem to have removed the filters, which means output can be quite row. Sadly, this drove two of my invaluable team members to resign over the weekend. “Yes, we decided to resign because we felt that the working environment at SkilledUp Life was not as supportive or friendly as we had hoped…

Continue readingGetting things wrong – two resigns
Wisdom Bites #2 – Be YourselfBe Yourself - Horizontal image

Wisdom Bites #2 – Be Yourself

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 15, 2025

Perhaps a better phrase would be authentic. I think there are subtle differences between being yourself and being authentic. There’s also another term be genuine. We can pretend to be someone else in some cases, but in my opinion, this could lead to heaps of problems. No one is perfect. Painting a picture of perfection could lead to disasters, especially when you have to be right all times. It’s much easier to be you and yourself and access the roughness that comes with it. If you pretend and if you are not genuine, people will eventually find out. When they…

Continue readingWisdom Bites #2 – Be Yourself
Wisdom Bites #1 – Do the right thingDo the right thing

Wisdom Bites #1 – Do the right thing

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 13, 2025

It’s easy to say, “Do the right thing” but what does that mean? When and how do you apply it? Is this the same as listening to your gut feeling? Do you listen to your mind or your heart when deciding? In my opinion, to do the right thing you need to take both the mind and the heart into consideration, which is not easy if they are not in alignment. Let’s explore an example: You made a mistake. Should you own up or pretend you are not responsible for it? The right thing is to accept the mistake, which…

Continue readingWisdom Bites #1 – Do the right thing

Xero and Tide Banking feeds nightmares

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on July 1, 2024

Over the last few months, Tide Bank changed bank accounting details. If you had Xero integrated with this, your feeds may have stopped working. When you have re-activated synchronisation at Tide end, it may have created duplicate accounts. This creates a nightmare scenario. To get out of this problem: Remove Xero connectivity at Tide end Remove Tide App at Xero end. Delete any duplicate bank accounts at Xero end. Download any missing transactions from Tide in Xero format and upload to correct bank account at Xero end. This is optional. Leave for 24 hrs. Activate Tide app at Xero end.…

Continue readingXero and Tide Banking feeds nightmares
Methodology for starting up on XiaohongshuXiaohongshu

Methodology for starting up on Xiaohongshu

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 23, 2024

I published my first post on 16th Feb just over 2 months ago and have acquired 1 team member, 104 followers and over 10 sign ups for SkilledUp Life. The Rules As I cannot read Chinese, I breached their rules in the early days. Make sure you do not include website addresses in your posts or comments. Xiaohongshu will penalise you. As a result, they took away my ability to comment. The beginning Post regularly – which I didn’t do. This was my mistake. Suggest post daily. Follow those you think might be interested in what you offer – don’t…

Continue readingMethodology for starting up on Xiaohongshu
The art of building a tech startupThe Art of Building a Tech Startup

The art of building a tech startup

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on October 14, 2023

Building a tech startup and perhaps any business is all about having a vision, being able to articulate it, assembling a team and executing it. It helps execution if the know-how is there to start with. You know what needs to be done, how to do it and when to do it. You may not need to be a specialist in each area but you need to have the ability to find individuals who can be. You would need constant supervision to ensure the team does not divert from the path and this is where the knowledge and experiences come…

Continue readingThe art of building a tech startup
Stay employed! Don’t leave to start a tech startup!Stay employed

Stay employed! Don’t leave to start a tech startup!

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 25, 2023

If you are employed, please don’t leave it to set up a new tech startup. If you do, it’s simply bad timing on your part. Most things are stacked against you, especially if you need external capital. It’s going to be a tough time for everyone – a blood bath for some. More and more venture backed tech companies are going under. Whilst I am only a Punt Investor and not a real investor, quite a number of my punts are proving to be, guess what, just PUNTS! Clim8 shut down recently Coconut is being sold for £1 And there are more. In some of these cases, the…

Continue readingStay employed! Don’t leave to start a tech startup!

Alpha and Beta Comparison to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 17, 2023

Alpha and Beta About a decade ago, you would have seen many websites showcasing “beta” labels with logos to indicate that the website is still in the testing phase and not launched fully. Slideshare which inspired me to launch edocr.com displayed beta label for many years. This trend of displaying alpha and beta labels have dropped out of fashion many years ago.According to ChatGPT, Alpha and beta releases, are typically used in software development to denote different stages of testing and deployment. An alpha release is an early version of a product that is released to a limited group of…

Continue readingAlpha and Beta Comparison to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)
Entrepreneurship sucks! Know when to get out!

Entrepreneurship sucks! Know when to get out!

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on November 2, 2018

There is a significant danger in promotion of “entrepreneurship” without fully understanding the ups and downs. Where ever you look nowadays, there are so many people calling themselves entrepreneurs or promoting it. It’s a trend. Very few talk about the dangers of it. Don’t get me wrong, we need entrepreneurs to move the society forward. We need them more than ever, given the volatility of the global political system and the climate change. But not everyone can become a successful entrepreneur. I don’t mean success by the number of millions or billions you make it at an exit. You can…

Continue readingEntrepreneurship sucks! Know when to get out!