Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Friday, 30 September 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Handling two tasks simultaneously, Raveen Wijayatilake is the Head of Web and Digital Media at Pyxle by day and he conquers the esports landscape with his teammates at InGame Entertainment by night.
At a very young age he started building experiences on the web which resulted in the merging of web communities and gaming experiences. Gamer.LK started off in 2007 as a simple online discussion forum, and now nine years later it has grown into a mega-community of passionate cyber-athletes and casual gamers.
Raveen saw esports as a growing trend internationally with immense potential in promoting it in Sri Lanka. In addition to what we see as the products of the games and esports company being the annual Sri Lanka Cyber Games and Comic con, it provides a variety of services, which come under four main verticals:
Raveen hinted that his company would be getting into two more verticals in the next two years.
The games and esports company generates revenue mainly through server maintenance, advertising and sponsorships through their publishing and events.
Serving in a niche market such as the gaming industry requires a business with a lot of perseverance which is not easy to develop. Raveen says that he has seen “competition come and go”, but they haven’t had the X-factor needed to survive in the particular industry which the games and esports company seems to be having.
Starting up almost 10 years ago Raveen has adopted many strategies in reaching out to their customer base as a result of the rapid development in technology. Back in 2007 there weren’t any social media platforms such as Facebook to communicate to the right audience with the right type of news and they had to use primary methods of communication such as traditional emails, newsletters 
and blog posts.
Even though it was a huge challenge back then to communicate, they adapted and created a strategy to change their methods of communication so that they reached their target audience on time with relevant content. While things changed significantly and social media replaced the discussion forum, their ability to effectively use these platforms managed to keep them ahead of the game. Within the Facebook platform itself, how you reach your audiences change. “It’s a constant stream of changes we have to adapt to,” says Raveen.
Touching on challenges for online business startups in Sri Lanka he shared his personal experience of accepting payments online. This “significant roadblock for startups” ended this year as online payment solutions such as PayHere and WebxPay came out which helped entrepreneurs immensely in getting a revenue stream through online payments going.
Raveen says he realised that there were many things that he would have done differently if he had the knowledge and experience that he has now. However he expressed that he is happy in general with where his business stands today, while adding that there is much more to do.
“Ideas are cheap – implementing ideas is where the real value is. If you thought of an idea, chances are that 100 other people have also thought of it. You can stand out by being the best implementation of that idea. Work hard, make it happen – don’t make excuses. If you give it your 110% and it doesn’t work, learn from your mistakes and move onto your next great idea. Move fast,” he asserted.
He was a strong believer about his idea being a reality even though he got bombarded with advice and opinions. His advice to the young entrepreneurs is to “take all the feedback in a constructive manner because some advice is gold and some not so much, but if you really believe in the product/business/idea, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
In terms of funding, Gamer.lk bootstrapped their journey as they didn’t need any explosive growth that necessitated outside investment. “It’s been a slow and steady ride for the last nine years,” said Raveen with a look of satisfaction on his face.
As a successful entrepreneur Raveen is very picky about who he lets into his core team. He makes a big effort to surround himself with people who have the same values he does. This has resulted in a core team today with the same passion, values and vision which extends to the company and the overall community, and it has been created organically without having to force it on them.
He thinks that there is a great improvement in the support that startups are getting these days and that a lot of challenges that he mentioned before are being addressed, and that things will only get better for startups moving forward. He also stated that when the correct supporting elements are in place, the only issue that the startups need to worry about is their idea and how to get it to the market.
Thinking about his future Raveen sees himself as an ideas guy who would be overseeing various tech projects in different industries, always experimenting, running a venture capital firm and mentoring entrepreneurs.
As the hub of the gaming culture in Sri Lanka which happens to be a successful startup that faced many challenges and presented us with the best gaming experiences so far we can expect more to come from the games and esports company in the near future.
Are you going to be a part of the next big disruption? If so, visit http://cimalaunchpad.com/ or contact Shakir 0771 393949 or Sashini on 0778 681830.
