Saturday Jan 31, 2026
Saturday Jan 31, 2026
Friday, 30 January 2026 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
From left: Moderator Stax INC Managing Director Ruwindhu Peiris, Author and Personal Brand Strategist Kelly Lundberg, Creedcap Advisors Managing Director and Founder Vishal Pereira, Social Beat Co-Founder Vikas Chawla, Crepe Runner CEO and Founder Abdus Salaam, and Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company Chairman and CEO Dilhan Fernando
From left: Moderator nVentures Managing Partner Chalinda Abeykoon, Startup Steroid Co-Founder and TiE SoCal Angels Fund, Board Member, Anshuman Sinha, LOLC Holdings PLC, Chief Manager – Business Acquisitions and Development Gayathiri Ramachandran, Isso Restaurants CEO and Founder, Apinash Sivagumaaran, Strategyzer, Co-founder / CEO and Creator of the Business Model Canvas, Dr.Alex Osterwalder, and AnitaB.org Managing Director India, Shreya Krishnan
From left: Moderator Rockland Distilleries Group Chief Executive Officer Dilmini Weragama, Ecosystm Group, Group CEO and Founder, Amit Gupta, Freshworks, Former CIO and Advisor, Prasad Ramakrishnan, Hunar.AI Co-Founder and CTO Shantanu Bhattacharyya and Aistra Labs, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Eric Selvadurai
From left: Moderator PeoplesHR CFA Chief Strategy Officer Nilendra Weerasinghe, International Tennis Hall of Fame and Sports Commentator Vijay Amritraj, Apex Hospitals Director and ACE Consultants Founder, Sheenu Jhawar, and STEER World, Executive Chairman, Hari TN.
From left: Moderator Advocata Institute CEO Dhananath Fernando, Volksy Technologies Founder and CEO Murali Bukkapatnam, HNB PLC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Damith Pallewatte, Valuecent Group Founder and CEO Dr. (CA) Vikas S. Chaturvedi, 99x Technology Sri Lanka and Asia Founder and Chairman Mano Sekaram and CSF, Economist and Co-founder Anushka Wijesinghe.
By Safna Malik
TiECon 2026 recently took place as the first flagship global summit for entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. Organised by TiE Colombo, the event brought together over 600 delegates from 14 countries. Under the theme “Go Global: The Runway to the World,” the summit connected local founders with the capital and networks needed to scale beyond national borders.
Building personal brand as a strategy
“We all have a personal responsibility to be able to inspire a generation and share knowledge,” said author and personal brand strategist Kelly Lundberg. She explained that in a digital world, your personal brand is about how you make people feel and value their time. Confidence in your brand only comes when you execute; it is the action that shapes your voice and message. She emphasised that knowing your “why” and your target audience helps develop the storytelling needed to connect.
Innovating with the business model canvas
“Business plans are the death penalty of entrepreneurship,” stated Strategyser, Co-Founder/CEO and Creator of the Business Model Canvas, Alex Osterwalder. He argued that success stems from a business model that creates repeatable value rather than just a new product idea. He advised that founders must design models that are difficult for competitors to copy and use rapid experiments to test assumptions, helping a startup find a path to profit before its resources run out.
Regarding global strategy and corporate dynamics, he warned that 90% of partnerships will suck the life out of a startup because corporations move too slowly. He noted that a startup can run out of money simply waiting for a corporate meeting to be scheduled and urged founders to stop overthinking on paper. Because going global is a strategic challenge rather than just an operational one, he emphasised that opening offices or hiring staff is irrelevant if a founder cannot first use real evidence to identify their specific target in a new region.
From exporter to brand – creating global recognition
The mindset shift
“The mindset shift is fundamental to evolving from an exporter to a brand,” said Creedcap Advisors Managing Director Vishal Pereira. He noted that many brands fail on the ambition of profit alone and must instead be built on passion and authenticity.
He advised founders to move from a transaction focus to building long-term interactions that compound in value. The goal is to engage with customers so effectively that they return to the business naturally without being pushed.
Internal readiness and team influence
“For me, it is the internal readiness,” said Crepe Runner Founder and CEO Abdus Salaam. He shared that if only the founder is the driver and the core team is not influenced, the business cannot move global.
Founders must embed the brand vision into their team so everyone believes the company is ready to expand. This internal belief creates the necessary impact that allows a brand to grow successfully across new borders.
Ambition and market focus
“Ambition is at the heart of change and defines the scale of your expansion,” noted Social Beat Co-Founder Vikas Chawla. This drive determines the state of your pilot projects, the talent you hire, and the leadership you bring in.
Vikas explained that a brand is far more than just a logo; it is the story and experience behind the name that solves specific pain points. Founders must identify an “Ideal Customer Profile” (ICP) to ensure their product positioning is clear for the right audience.
The hustler mindset and ground-level effort
“When your pockets are shallow, your creativity kicks in,” said Abdus Salaam. Embodying the mindset of a hustler, he explained how he solved supply chain issues by manufacturing his own ingredients.
He advised founders to get into the trenches “offline” to understand customer behavior and negotiate rentals directly. The magic of expansion lies in exploring a market physically and mentally rather than relying only on online data.
Brand integrity and sincerity
Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company Chairman and CEO Dilhan Fernando highlighted that personal branding must connect to sincere value creation. He shared how his family’s purpose is expressed through causes they believe in, such as cancer awareness and climate action, which aligns the brand with consumer values.
He noted that true value comes from engaging directly with the market—whether observing kitchens or talking to unhappy consumers. This sincerity feeds back into innovation and strengthens the brand, proving that business must be a matter of human service.
Building premium brands and price discipline
“Pricing is all about maintaining operational discipline,” said Vikas Chawla. Building a premium brand means having the strength to hold your price even when times are difficult or others offer discounts.
A brand is not a “super brand” until it can maintain its principles at home before trying to go abroad. This discipline creates a strong foundation that allows founders to negotiate with demanding global buyers.
Understanding the Indian market
Vikas Chawla highlighted that India is not a single market but a complex landscape of diverse regions and small cities. He advised founders to pick specific micro-markets to solve unique pain points, as each region requires a tailored story and different product positioning.
Success in India depends on being on the ground to understand regional differences. While Indian consumers are aspirational and willing to spend on premium services, a brand must adapt its story to fit the specific culture of each region.
The investor perspective on scaling
Vishal Pereira explained that for a company to grow, founders must be careful with their capital to keep it healthy for future investors. He advised against giving away large equity shares, such as 50% or more, in the early stages of a startup.
He warned that heavy ownership splits too early make it difficult to raise the more capital needed for large-scale growth. Instead, founders should manage equity with a long-term view, ensuring there is always room for strategic partners to join the journey.
Second-wave expansion – from regional success to global leadership
Culture and diversity as a strategic lens
“Diversity is strategic because when you have different thinking people at the table, you automatically have more products and services created for the people they are intended for,” explained AnitaB.org Managing Director India Managing Director, Shreya Krishnan. She shared that organisations ignoring diversity early on see a significant drop in potential profits because they fail to design for a larger market, including those with disabilities. She noted that having both optimists and pessimists in a room helps a business design for its most difficult consumers and understand the true pulse of a market.
Navigating market volatility and risk
“If you are serious about cross-border expansion, first create a talent pool that is as passionate and resilient as the native team,” shared LOLC Holdings PLC, Chief Manager – Business Acquisitions and Development Gayathiri Ramachandran. She suggested starting with small investments to learn customer behaviour and regulatory environments before prioritising growth. She advised decentralising operations for local autonomy while centralising capital discipline and governance at the group level to handle currency volatility and political shifts.
Focusing on smaller partners for growth
“Go and do business with the smaller partners; your growth will be much higher,” suggested Startup Steroid, Co-Founder and TiE SoCal Angels Fund, Board Member, Anshuman Sinha. He shared that while large corporate contracts look good for valuation, smaller partners often share the same sense of urgency as the founder. He emphasised that founders must have their own house in order and at least fifteen paying customers before scaling, and that CXOs must travel personally to build relationships.
The physical reality of brand expansion
“You can’t download a prawn; the product is physical, but the standard is digital,” explained Isso Restaurants, CEO and Founder, Apinash Sivagumaaran. He shared the painful lesson that scaling a food brand requires deep knowledge transfer and cannot be done as quickly as a digital product. He manages this by relocating core team members to the UK, maintaining standards and using a centralised facility in Sri Lanka to pre-portion spices, protecting the brand’s intellectual property while using robotics to solve local labour shortages in the UK branch.
Staying relevant in the Age of AI and digital disruption
The shift from control to speed in IT
“The first thing to change was speed; we used to operate in a model with long assessment phases, but AI has completely changed the time to realise value,” stated Freshworks, Former CIO and Advisor, Prasad Ramakrishnan. He noted that while COVID-19 disrupted how we work, ChatGPT accelerated the deployment of solutions to the point where anyone with a credit card can now buy technology. He explained that IT leaders must adapt to this “Shadow IT” by shortening decision cycles and moving quickly from pilots to production. He cautioned that as companies embrace this, they must ensure they start work within their own influence to prevent confidential data leaks.
Bridging the gap between CEO expectations and reality
“AI is not new—Face ID on your phone has been around for years—but the consumerisation of AI in November 2022 changed everything for the boardroom,” explained Ecosystem Group, Group CEO and Founder, Amit Gupta. He pointed out that every CEO became an “AI warrior” overnight, creating a language gap between leadership and IT. He argued that the real opportunity lies in an augmented approach to human capital, citing a company that used AI agents to allow a team of 11 people to do the work of 85. He emphasised that businesses must move from being “AI-forward” to “AI-core” to remain global players.
Redefining expertise and the human edge
“The human edge is shrinking because expertise is no longer as relevant when an AI can beat a history expert or a data analyst instantly,” shared Hunar.AI, Co-Founder and CTO , Shantanu Bhattacharyya. He noted that while we used to focus on Total Addressable Market (TAM), we are now looking at Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) because AI can replace routine, mundane roles entirely. He urged leaders to remove the hype and focus on business discipline, advising that instead of spending a ton of investment on “cool” apps, they should foster curiosity in the workforce and allow fast adapters to teach others to ensure a smooth transition.
Practical delivery and the ROI of evidence
“Go find design partners to build your products and proof of concept; do not fall for the hype or scams,” advised Aistra Labs Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Eric Selvadurai. He explained that success depends on understanding if a solution is predictive, where a small percentage increase in leads is a win, or absolute, where near-perfect accuracy is required to protect your stock price. He emphasised that the human must stay at the centre of the information, using incremental technical gains to reach exponential performance. He concluded that leaders must be honest about their goals before trying to spend millions on AI transformation.
Global talent and culture – Building cohesion across borders
The athletic mindset and global competitive drive
“The mindset is a critical element; the passion and the pain you add must come from a very positive belief in your own ability to pull through,” shared International Tennis Hall of Fame and Sports Commentator, Vijay Amritraj. He reflected on his career in a sport that was black and white, noting that while business has many more puzzle pieces, the core requirement is a winning mindset that survives the “last 10%” of a challenge. He observed that those from emerging markets often face an inferiority complex, but he argued that if you are better, faster, and stronger, your background becomes irrelevant. He cited an encounter with Buzz Aldrin—the second man on the moon—who kept a plaque that read, “Who says the sky is the limit when I left my footprints on the moon?” to emphasise that true leaders do not see limits, but rather footprints of what is possible, provided they have the desire to work more than the next person.
Consistent behaviour in life-and-death environments
“Culture is not what you talk about; it is whom you promote and whom you reward,” explained Apex Hospitals, Director and ACE Consultants, Founder, Sheenu Jhawar. She noted that in healthcare, consistent behaviour is a matter of life and death, requiring a strategic vision that bridges the gap between the boardroom and the front-line staff. She shared that while scaling from a 75-bed facility to a network of 1,200 beds, the leadership must maintain a consistent ideology of accessibility and accountability. She argued that while values are eternal, culture must be agile enough to evolve with the times. By ensuring every piece of patient and staff feedback reaches the board in real time, the organisation ensures its core values remain the primary driver of growth.
The reality of culture transformation and non-negotiables
“Culture is akin to an individual’s personality; it is the fundamental DNA of what you do every day, and it is not easily changed,” stated STEER World, Executive Chairman, Hari TN. He clarified the misconception that culture is simply a dress code, noting that it is instead the behaviours you recognise and the actions you penalise. He advised that while organisations should be completely flexible with visible cultural indicators across different global regions, core performance standards must remain non-negotiable. He suggested that for a culture to successfully transmit across borders, leadership must find a small group of “believers” who display core behaviours
consistently, as moments of truth—how you handle a high performer who breaks rules—define the true culture.
Attracting talent and scaling for startups
“If your startup requires your heroics and personal touch every day to succeed, then you remain an operator and not a builder of a global system,” observed Hari TN. He suggested that many founders struggle with global leadership because they feel responsible for every single decision. To scale, he urged founders to move from being problem solvers to facilitators who hire people smarter than themselves. He noted that at an early stage, a founder must be a magnet for talent through inspiration rather than money; if people join only for a salary, they are the wrong fit. He recommended using “guardrails” like brand identity and cultural principles to allow for delegated decision-making and using asynchronous communication to manage teams across time zones effectively.
Beyond market entry – Thriving amid trade shifts
Transitioning from control to trust in global leadership
“To scale globally, I had to abandon the ‘command and control’ style of leadership and focus on creating leaders who operate through trust,” shared 99x Technology Sri Lanka and Asia Founder and Chairman, Mano Sekaram. He explained that when entering Scandinavia, he had to personally underwrite the country’s risk with his own reputation to overcome the client’s fear of the unknown. By moving beyond personal instruction to building an ecosystem of trusted leaders, he shifted the business focus from technical delivery to high-value outcomes.
Strategic resilience and cutting through the noise
“Companies that succeed act on real facts instead of reacting to the noise of global politics,” observed CSF, Economist and Co-founder, Anushka Wijesinghe. She advised using simple tools to track market changes and getting information from local partners rather than just the news. This approach helps a company stay strong and find new chances to grow while competitors are distracted by the chaos around them.
Leveraging policy shifts for sustainable advantage
“A strong business owner uses sudden rule changes as a way to gain an advantage,” stated Volksy Technologies Founder and CEO, Murali Bukkapatnam. He shared how a shift toward green products initially cost money but later allowed the business to charge higher prices and build better ties with suppliers. He noted that knowing the local mindset and having a network of experts is key to winning in new countries.
The role of banking as an intelligence partner
“Banks should be seen as partners that provide data and protection against global risks,” explained HNB PLC Managing Director/CEO Damith Pallewatte. He noted that banks use their data to help businesses avoid losing money on currency changes or political shifts. He urged companies to work closely with their banks to export complete solutions rather than just talent.
Overcoming cultural barriers through integration competence
“Building a connection comes before everything else; if you do not understand local habits, you will fail,” shared Valuecent Group Founder and CEO Dr. (CA) Vikas S. Chaturvedi. He warned that most businesses fail when they try to run a foreign office from their home country without respecting local rules. He suggested keeping locals in charge because understanding how people work “and make decisions is the only way to survive in a new market.
By working together through strong partnerships and focusing on shared values, we can turn global challenges into clear paths for growth and lasting success. Now is the time to take that next bold step into the international market and turn your global vision into a reality,” he added.
Pix by Lasantha Kumara
