Manoj Ranaweera – Page 6 – The man who built Manchester’s Tech Startup Ecosystem

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…

The so-called Product Market Fit (PMF)

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 16, 2023

To me, Product Market Fit (PMF) is just a pre-mature process, when you are starting up. The real issue is not PMF, but the Problem Solution Fit (PSF). How deeply do you understand the problem? Have you fallen in love with solving this problem? How relevant is the problem to you? Is the problem something you felt one time or continue to feel? A bad example is wedding apps just because you had issues trying to get hitched. Are you solving someone else’s problem that you have no deep experience of? My first failed tech startup was trying to do…

Cookies vs jwt authentication

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 14, 2023

I’m not a developer, but keen to understand Which one is the most used? Which one is the best? Which one is the latest? ChatGPT Response Cookies and JWT are two common methods for authentication in web applications. Here are some answers to your questions: The most used method for authentication is cookies. This is because cookies have been around for a long time and are widely supported by browsers and web servers. Many web frameworks and libraries also have built-in support for cookies. There is no single “best” method for authentication, as it largely depends on the specific requirements…

Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on March 11, 2023

What happened? The Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) said on 8th March 2023, that it was planning to raise $2bn in capital after losses on bonds it sold. This spooked investors and customers which resulted in the share price drop by about 60% by the next day. This resulted in customers withdrawing cash rapidly resulting in a “bank run”. Share price continued to drop as a result. According to Claire Lee, ex SVB employee, This is a comedy of errors; without the comedy. Time of death: after questionable decisions and clumsy communications, panic ensued on March 9th — then clients withdrew…

Daily Update: 2023-03-06

Daily Update: 2023-03-06

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on March 6, 2023

SkilledUp Life: Sales meeting with a Nigerian Tech Startup. Leadership meeting with a discussion on issuing certificates. Operational support. Paid salary for one employee after getting feedback from Flutterwave. Dealt with failed subscriptions. Techcelerate Ran Series 1 Episode 4 Linkedin Audio – Onboarding customers and customer support with Andrew Threlfall and Russell Groves. Onboarding session for new tech founders: Rezaul Hoque, Joseph Petrie and Craig Taylor supported by Andrew Threlfall. Organising TCLPL4 on Wednesday and TCMCR37 on 15th – invites sent by Nishani. Deal Lite: Prepared deals for the Deal Lite Newsletter which Wishma issued. Shared a screenshot with a…

Prioritising Multiple Business Interests with Personal Life

Prioritising Multiple Business Interests with Personal Life

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on January 2, 2023

Assume the above is self-explanatory if not give me a shout and I will write a few words to help.

Tool Hack: AWS WorkMail + Google WorkSpace Essentials

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on April 29, 2022

Since the dawn of Google Apps, which are now called Google Workspace, I had a free business account that Google no longer wants to offer free. Going from not paying to paying for 50 user accounts is not something my wallet would be happy to spend on. I’ve been scratching my head on how to find a no-cost or low-cost solution. Here’s what I found. Moving Email to AWS WorkMail If you have AWS Credits that last two years, you can move emails across to AWS WorkMail and use those credits to not pay for emails for up to 2…

David Lovett’s 18 year Journey and Exit

David Lovett’s 18 year Journey and Exit

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on December 15, 2021

Just listened to the awesome story of David Lovett‘s Perceptive Engineering Exit story yesterday. Dave was brought in to lead a University spin-out in 2002. He raised investment, bought the investors and the university out through an MBO and Exited to Applied Materials. Dave and his team moved to Sci-Tech Daresbury just after me and a few early innovators in 2006. I left in 2011 and rejoined a few years back. Dave continued to leverage the campus all the way to the Exit. At the time of Exit, Dave owned 30% of equity, which in my book, is an awesome stake to hold. Dave also changed…

Don’t attempt to flog to laggards too early

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on December 12, 2021

The need to focus on early adopters – time to be clever. I should know better. But we all make classic schoolboy errors from time to time. Until now, I’ve worked on the principle that I could help any Tech Founder. But this is an illusion. You can only help people who are willing to accept that help and always looking for an edge to improve themselves and their businesses. They are the “innovators” and “early adopters” in the “technology adoption curve”. If your product is new, don’t think you could sell it to everyone who fits your customer persona,…

I need to ask my wife

Published by Manoj Ranaweera on December 12, 2021

I need to ask my wife before I buy #StartupLife [This is not about having a go at wives – opposite might equally be true, but I’ve only experienced this with men who wanted business advice from their wives]. During my tech startup carrier since 2004, I have come across above a number of times. Each time the deal fell through. If I hear anyone mention that now that they need to consult their partner (in my case all being wives), I just walk away from that deal. It’s simply not worth the expectation – as it won’t happen. Here…

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