Knowledge – Manoj Ranaweera

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…

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…

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…

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…

What the heck is 70-20-10 rule?

What the heck is 70-20-10 rule?

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on May 6, 2018

What the heck is 70-20-10 rule you might ask. This came to my head whilst cycling in gorgeous sunny weather in Cheshire (UK) yesterday. I managed to squeeze 109 kms which was the longest ride in 2018 and was shy of 8 kms to break my all time longest. I struggled to agree with myself whether this is in fact 60-30-10 or 70-20-10. Either way, the rationale is as below: Spend 70% (60%) of your time delivering revenue generating work (Customer Delivery). Spend 20% (30%) of your time generating new revenue generating work (Business Development). Spend 10% (10%) of your…

I’m no #Linkybrains – more like #Leakybrains

I’m no #Linkybrains – more like #Leakybrains

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on March 22, 2018

When I first came across #Linkybrains by Doug Scott, I wondered what Doug was up to now? Doug is known to be a loud-mouth straight-talking prolific angel investor and a successful entrepreneur who used to kill his boredom with a red bandana. Yes, it seems you could do a lot with a scarf, at least get bit closer to be like a pirate just for a second only to realise that you missed the eye patch and forgot to shout ahoy, my hearties. When digging bit further, I also noticed that Chris Tottman of Notion Capital and Alex Dunsdon of Saatchinvest were…

My latest #GetMeOutOfHere strategy

My latest #GetMeOutOfHere strategy

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on June 23, 2017

This is how I feel… I was born to do more. Yet I don’t have all the right tools to achieve it. So I must persevere. So how am I going to persevere? Life’s passion – building technology companies. Helping others – helping other tech entrepreneurs grow their tech businesses through strategy, partnerships, integrations and more (do read on). Get a job – permanent, contract or interim. I have accumulated 15,000 contacts since 2004 (the year I started my tech entrepreneur journey). 5,000 of those are on Linkedin. Business friends see my networking abilities as my greatest USP. “To say we go back long…

Taming Microsoft when you return from Google after 8 years

Taming Microsoft when you return from Google after 8 years

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on November 21, 2016

Thanks to Mark Deakin, we made a decision to start supporting Microsoft (credit also goes to James Akrigg who spent few hours with me early this year. Then the timing wasn’t right for us to act). But returning to Microsoft has not been plain sailing. This post is very much a place to capture how I am navigating through the various hurdles thrown at me. To start with, I seem to have multiple accounts using the same email address. One seem to be called personal, another work and who knows, there could be more. Secondly, there is no real single sign…

Category: Knowledge