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I liked the the science and the math behind it, but I I genuinely wasn't a very good engineer, to be very honest.
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But with tech, I kind of saw that you can be pretty much anyone you want to be, because tech is very much domain-specific as well when you're niching down a product.
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So I tried to map that out for myself, and product was the best fit for that.
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But for me, what really fascinated me was like how you can actually take what you're building and give it to people.
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Because I didn't want to build stuff to just end up in a room which is just my room and me just playing around with it.
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I wanted other like the magic of it is building something and then seeing somebody use it and get value from it.
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So what we are trying to do is digitize the data collection in agricultural supply chains in Sri Lanka.
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Essentially how we see it is that if we can convert a supply chain into a value chain with the data we have, we empower an entire industry or entire vertical in Sri Lanka.
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So agriculture can be taken to another level.
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I'd say creativity is kind of like the only thing that differentiates people who do this kind of work well from people who are average.
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But where I try to be a little more creative is in terms of structures, workflows, processes.
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But the thing is, they also have to, it's almost like a structured form of creativity in a way.
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I just got done recording two days of my podcast, the Creative Artists Podcast, here at Hatch.lk, one of the leading startup hubs in Sri Lanka.
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Because my goal was to be able to tell stories of unique creatives here who are crazy enough to think that they can actually solve problems.
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To be here at Hatch and be inspired in what I'm doing and to be able to tell these stories and have this uh studio and opportunity.
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I'm super grateful to Hatch.
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I feel affirmed in my mission to highlight creatives, and when I saw individuals from startups like inviting their own friends to be on here, so I can highlight their stories in their unique way of thinking, every single one of them has so much uh insight to provide to anybody who's watching who's anybody who's thinking that they're not good enough to do what they're doing.
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Seeing stories from doctors who have changed uh careers into running startups to journalists to doing these kinds of things, like it gives me so much hope to be able to share this to others to say that like wherever you are at, if you're not passionate about what you're doing and you're stuck in your own uh bubble or whatever, find communities like Hatch because it is gonna be the best thing that you do for yourself because a community is absolutely amazing.
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Hatch, thank you so much for the support you provided.
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I can't wait to show you the amazing stories and the insights your own people are going to share with the world.
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Today we have Taraker with us.
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Um today we have Taraker with us, um, one of the uh people who are working with the Hatch startups over here.
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So without further ado, let's get started.
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What do you do and how do you explain to somebody who has no idea about this field?
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Okay, uh so to put it in a nutshell, what I do is help uh mainly startup founders to build products.
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And at an early stage, I help them validate their ideas and then I work with development and tech teams to actually bring that into a reality.
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And at the same time, what I also try to do is work with marketing teams to come up with how they are going to take that product to the market.
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So I work on the full cycle of product development.
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Wow, yeah, that's like a serious role.
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Yeah.
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In the sense that you have a lot of responsibility at this point.
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Yeah.
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So basically it's uh if the product is bad from the first stage itself, it's kind of on me to make sure that I I'm able to like quickly pivot, especially with startups, uh, because they have to move fast and they have to adjust quickly.
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I try to convince and I have to work a lot with stakeholders to essentially also tell them why the idea might not work.
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So you have to play both sides.
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What inspired you to get into this field and it's what you're doing right now?
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Um, I think uh it's it's just a very versatile role.
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And it's a role in Sri Lanka, especially that I saw a gap in terms of people who could do it well.
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Uh, because a lot of people can talk, but they don't know what to say at the right moment.
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So product management is kind of a combination of being able to also use your emotional intelligence in a way where you get the best outcome for your team and uh your product and your business.
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So I think that was what kind of drove me towards that.
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I worked in a lot of different fields.
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So I worked in customer success, I worked in community management for Hatch, I worked with startups that are trying to kind of compete with the likes of Canva in the past as well.
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So what uh I learned from all of those was that to be in a versatile role, you have to be really fast and kind of like on your toes all the time.
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So that's kind of what drove me towards that because I come from a background of actually studying engineering initially.
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Wow.
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Uh so I studied aircraft engineering and then I pivoted that into tech and into product management.
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Why what happened with the pivot?
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Why uh I um initially I just wasn't very passionate about what I was doing.
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I liked the science and the math behind it, but I I genuinely wasn't a very good engineer, to be very honest.
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I wasn't a good engineer and I wasn't passionate about what I was doing.
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But with tech, I kind of saw that you can be pretty much anyone you want to be because tech is very much domain specific as well when you're niching down a product.
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So you can kind of leverage that domain knowledge for the product that you're building.
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So I saw that there was a usefulness of me actually knowing more than one domain.
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So I tried to map that out for myself, and product was the best fit for that.
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It's awesome, man.
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And how long have you been on this journey now?
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Uh, in terms of uh building products, it's been since about 2021.
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I would say about four years.
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Wow.
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So it's uh it's been a combination of things that I've been doing for my work and also building on my own with uh friends or just for myself as like kind of fun projects.
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Yeah.
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Was that something you did when you were young or anything like that?
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No.
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No.
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When when I was younger, I was more um more of uh in the sense of like creativity, I think I was more into music.
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So I I was into music, I was into math and music.
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I used to always say that just to those two things.
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And I was trying to kind of connect those together in different ways.
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Uh and then I got more into like the physical sciences.
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So I started to understand like more things are like how you would actually build something from scratch.
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But for me, what what really fascinated me was like how you can actually take what you're building and give it to people because I didn't want to build stuff to just end up in a room which is just my room and me just playing around with it.
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I wanted other like the magic of it is building something and then seeing somebody use it and get value from it.
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So that was kind of the journey that I was on and what I was trying to do like midway through my career, I would say.
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That's super cool that you found a way to help society.
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Yeah.
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That's really powerful.
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I think that's a good way to judge a mission or a passion when somebody is doing it.
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If there's a way you can help society, yeah, then you can at least, even though the work is hard, yeah, still we can find some fulfillment out of it.
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100%.
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That's awesome.
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So what what problems are you trying to solve and and why does it matter to you?
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So in in the past year, uh one of the biggest problems I've been trying to solve was uh with a startup called Spectrify, AI.
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So what we are trying to do is digitize the data collection in agricultural supply chains in Sri Lanka.
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So uh currently in the tea industry, there is a lot of data being produced by factories, brokers, and exporters, but that data isn't really being leveraged well to optimize the supply chain and increase agricultural yield or output.
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So myself, Jeevan, uh Laksha, and Abit, like this entire team of people, what we are doing, what we have been doing is trying to create basically a wave that people can easily access and use this technology and understand it.
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We're so excited to share with you all the episodes that we filmed in Sri Lanka.
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We know a lot of you have been waiting, but we wanted to make sure that we did this really meaningfully because it really was an exciting time.
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When Sean first came to me and said he was gonna take the podcast to Sri Lanka, I honestly thought he was crazy.
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And so did I.
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I was like, is there any possibility we can fit this in?
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I want to try to bring the podcast in, get to know people and interview creators.
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So we expected to have just a few conversations, maybe a little sparks of inspiration here and there, but what happened was so much deeper than that.
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We met so many people that not only we you got to interview, but that also like came alongside us to help make these conversations happen.
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The crazy thing was this daring idea of going to a country, even though I'm from Sri Lanka.
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I hadn't been back for like seven years, and all I knew was some people from school that I went to and some on social media that I were following, but didn't really have a concrete plan to make it happen.
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And some days we had six, seven episodes back-to-back recorded because people were waiting and and and you were kind of facilitating that, yeah.
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Yeah, so it felt really significant because not only was it that we were having like these raw and authentic conversations, but a lot of their stories resonated with German's, and so it just was really fascinating to see them speaking the same language and to see like just this commonality of creativity and identity and purpose coming out as the themes of these conversations.
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You must be wondering when this trip happened.
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It happened in September, and uh the goal was to get these episodes out by December of last year.
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Well, a lot of things happened, and I didn't want to diminish the work we put in and again the amazing gifts that we've had.
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So we decided to do something really cool, and we're gonna post however many we can a week.
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So, LinkedIn, every single episode, you'll find a free PDF.
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It's actually a magazine that we developed.
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You can kind of think of it like if you go to a concert and you get like the souvenir of what happened behind the scenes and just about the different artists and all those things.
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We wanted to share with you not only about Tron's journey, but then help you connect with some of the guests that we interview in Sri Lanka and then invite you on your own creative Odyssey.
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Yes, there's so much more that goes into or that fuels this podcast, which is this this mission to inspire people to create so that they can get to know themselves and connect with their inner child.
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So to see that we could bring that story out of Sri Lankan creatives, a wide diverse range of creatives was definitely a highlight.
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Our hope is that whether you're living in the States, you're living in Sri Lanka, or somewhere else around the world, you'll connect with someone's story within Sri Lanka and it might inspire you to continue on your own creative fantasy.
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The link to the PDF for the magazine is in the description, and please check it out.
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They're doing really cool things that I really think you should be checking out to see their journeys.
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So without further ado, let's get to the episode.
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So that is one of the biggest problems I've been trying to solve in the last year.
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Essentially, how we see it is that if we can uh convert a supply chain into a value chain with the data we have, we empower an entire industry or entire vertical in Sri Lanka.
00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:51.519
So agriculture can be taken to another level.
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So currently we are part of the Gobilab program, also doing that.
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So we have one of 10 startups selected for Gobilab.
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That's something that's funded.
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Govilab.
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Govilab, yeah.
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So that's funded by the Bill, Bill Gates Foundation as well.
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It's being run by basically Sarbodia Foundation, too.
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So that is one of the problems.
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And on the other end, I'm working on AI agents.
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So we are figuring out how uh agents or digital workers actually sit inside of the domain of sales and also customer support.
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So I'm currently building that out and trying to rethink how uh customer support cycles can work better with AI assisted or AI enhanced capabilities for all center operators or anybody who's really dealing or front-facing with a customer.
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Oh, that's really cool, by the way.
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Um that excites me so much.
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Um really curious, how how did you guys come up with the concept?
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Uh of let's start with the agriculture one, yeah.
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Yeah, so the the concept actually was uh it was Jeeven's idea initially.
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So he met he met a person named Mike who was a kind of like a scientist who saw the potential in using infrared spectroscopy.
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So using infrared uh rays, you can essentially shine that using a sensor and you can figure out the chemical properties of an agricultural product.
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Wow.
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So for us, what we saw the importance in mainly was towards moisture, because moisture tells us knowing how something is stored and being able to detect the moisture easily remotely is very valuable to people who store agricultural products.
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Because if the product goes bad, then they can immediately they can tell that this is more likely to go bad or not.
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Right.
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So that is how that project got started, I would say.
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It was Jeevan's curiosity, and he he really wanted to bring AI and tech into agriculture in Sri Lanka and wanted to help the country kind of rethink their digital agricultural strata like uh strategies.
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So that's how that came about.
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I joined that a bit later on.
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Sure.
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Uh I came in mainly with the goal of uh showcasing the software behind it and how people will interface with that technology because technology is great.
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Like I said again, it's great sitting in a room, right?
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Uh being experimented, but nobody ever seeing it doesn't really help.
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So I kind of try to help them a lot more in terms of uh showcasing that.
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I would say.
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So that's how that that problem started.
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I would say with Vector, I worked with a lot of people, including Sitra, Kevin, and the team.
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Uh with that, what we were trying to do is create a better way for digital workers to be embedded into the current workforce.
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Because with the way things are going, we we we don't need to be scared of people taking our jobs.
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It's more that we can use digital workers to enhance and to up basically increase our operational efficiency as an organization, regardless of your size or scale.
00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:56.320
So after you know, being in this industry for four years and seeing what's uh the what's happening in the underbelly of everything, how do you look at creativity?
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I'd say creativity is uh kind of like the only thing that differentiates people who do this kind of work well from people who are average.
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I for me, I think creativity kind of took a different approach because I'm not very uh artistically talented, but uh where I try to be a little more creative is in terms of structures, workflows, processes.
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So I try to think outside of the box in that sense.
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So normally for me, being creative could be thinking of a feature.
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Like how is somebody going to use a feature?
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Where are they going to be when they use the feature?
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Are they going to be on their mobile?
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Are they going to be on their laptop?
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What are they thinking while they're doing it?
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How do they feel?
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So, an example would be, for example, if we are trying to make somebody purchase something, we want to streamline the way that they get to that purchasing decision.
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So I would try to think, okay, what can I do in this step?
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It could be even a little bit of text, but that text could be the difference between a person clicking or not clicking.
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Right.
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So I try to be creative more in that way, and I think I see it as a huge force in the field of product management as well.
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People are trying to be more creative, but the thing is they also have to, it's almost like a structured form of creativity.
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Right.
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In a way.
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Yeah, I mean, uh it's it's interesting because uh the the podcast, Creative Odyssey, my goal is to create to change the narrative of creativity.
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Because growing up in Sri Lanka, creative was all about artists artistic stuff, right?
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And and and soon I realized like no no no no no, like tech people are using it, engineers are using it, yeah, creative thinking, problem solving.
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Yeah, and and and if we can change that narrative and like help people see, like, wait a second, creative can you be used in all these areas?
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How can we encourage people to do so?
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And that's why I'm here doing this.
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So it's super cool that you mentioned that.
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Um I already asked that question.
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So um looking ahead, as far as working with other companies, and and you are kind of like a uh center kind of uh what do you what do you like to see as far as the the companies you work with, what kind of thing impact are you trying to like make in the future through what you do and the the startups you're trying to get get along with?
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Impact-wise, like uh I would say that's a good good word, uh using the word impact over something like revenue.
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I think for different people, there are different metrics in terms of how they measure.
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:28.640
But for me personally, like what I really want to do is just build really good products that are used by a large number of people.
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And uh product products basically where people see the value in it.
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So meaning that their day-to-day workflow or what they do might be enhanced, so they might be better than uh before.
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So the impact I'm really trying to do is work in different verticals.
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So one is agri tech, one is AI, and possibly in fintech as well.
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I want to kind of have something to do to impact that you know transition from the ways we are currently doing things.
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And I would say a majority of my focus is in Sri Lanka now, but also to take that global would be kind of the next uh step.
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Um really quickly, as far as um AI being accessible to let's say rural areas and and and people using that, like um how do you what do you predict as far as that, you know, get getting to the point where people are using that?
00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.839
You the thing is close, uh closer than we think, or I think we're getting there.
00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.279
I mean, we're definitely going in a positive direction in that sense.
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Uh the only thing limiting it is infrastructure, right?
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Like as long as those kids in rural areas still have the same connections that people in Colombo do, they can do the same things we do, they can build the same products we do, they can pretty much do what we do times, I mean, at the same rate or the same speed.
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I don't see I see that kind of adoption as being more of a unifier in terms of knowledge across the country.
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And um, for me personally, I I kind of think of myself not as even being in a city or place.
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It's just, you know, it's just the world of people out there who are all connected through different networks who are just doing things together and collaborating together, even people who work on products or projects.
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Most of their software is hosted in GitHub.
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We can collaborate with each other there.
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Yeah.
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Or there are forums for ideation.
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There's a lot of different things.
00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:21.599
There are many like communities.
00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:41.759
So I see that if we can just improve the infrastructure for people who live in rural parts of the country, I think that they would just have more access, meaning that we can actually increase our output in terms of not just output, but also our knowledge of product and how we actually build more products and services from Sri Lanka.
00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:48.079
Finally, um, if anybody is watching this and they're like, either they're too young or they're too old, right?
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.440
But regardless of that, they want to get into this field.
00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:53.519
How do you suggest they do?
00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:58.079
I would say like one of the best things to do is to join a community initially.
00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:05.440
First, before you get into the field of product, I think just think about if it's for you, because it is a very demanding field.
00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:08.319
It requires a lot of persistence, a lot of energy.
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.920
You need to be able to focus on multiple things at the same time.
00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:15.519
If you are into it, I would recommend the source-called product school.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:23.839
So they're a huge one of the biggest communities based out of Silicon Valley, but they do these conferences, uh, online conferences where anybody can attend.
00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:24.559
It's free.
00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:25.839
Uh, that's where I started.
00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:28.960
So I started hearing it about it there during COVID.
00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:34.960
So I was attending these conferences and then yeah, lo and behold, like one year later I'm working in the field myself.
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:35.440
Wow.
00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:37.920
So uh I think that would be the best way.
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.680
There's a lot of the communities on also a lot of them have Slack communities.
00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:48.319
So you can directly interact and you can even ask real product managers in top like Fortune 500 companies.
00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:50.799
You can ask them questions about like how did you get there?
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:51.839
What did you do?
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:56.640
So that's what I mean by the world, it is a very connected place that if you are just looking for it.
00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:59.759
I would recommend also another channel called Product Led Growth.
00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.680
That's also another really good one.
00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:07.519
There's a community called Hello PM in India that's becoming massive, like absolutely massive.
00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:08.880
They do courses.
00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:16.960
So I would say to get into it, you don't need a degree, but it helps to have some kind of a background in tech and IT as well.
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:21.200
Uh but I've seen product managers come from kind of all walks of life.
00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:28.640
Some people have been more marketing leads, some people have done customer success, some people have just not even been in tech at all.
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:37.200
But somehow their skill set is so domain-specific and domain concentrated that they can easily come into a new product and help build it.
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:55.680
So I would say like regardless of who you are, if you have this like burning desire and passion to be in it, then I think that it doesn't really matter uh what walk of life you come from, as long as you're committed to putting in like maybe six to eight months of like hard work to learn about it.
00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.519
So yeah, there's multibody.
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.839
There's some multiple ways you can get into it.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.480
Wow.
00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:02.720
Thank you, Taruk, for being on the podcast.
00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:04.160
I know you're a very busy guy.
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:05.839
I appreciate you taking the time.
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:11.279
All I gotta say is if this doesn't this doesn't inspire you to find what you're passionate about, I don't know what will.
00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:16.319
So all I gotta say is keep dreaming, keep creating, and keep going on your own creative Odyssey.
00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:18.319
Until next time, see you later.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.519
I liked the the science and the math behind it, but I I genuinely wasn't a very good engineer, to be very honest.
00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:18.000
But with tech, I kind of saw that you can be pretty much anyone you want to be, because tech is very much domain-specific as well when you're niching down a product.
00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.640
So I tried to map that out for myself, and product was the best fit for that.
00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:29.760
But for me, what really fascinated me was like how you can actually take what you're building and give it to people.
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:35.840
Because I didn't want to build stuff to just end up in a room which is just my room and me just playing around with it.
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:42.079
I wanted other like the magic of it is building something and then seeing somebody use it and get value from it.
00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:48.960
So what we are trying to do is digitize the data collection in agricultural supply chains in Sri Lanka.
00:00:49.119 --> 00:01:01.359
Essentially how we see it is that if we can convert a supply chain into a value chain with the data we have, we empower an entire industry or entire vertical in Sri Lanka.
00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.640
So agriculture can be taken to another level.
00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:14.799
I'd say creativity is kind of like the only thing that differentiates people who do this kind of work well from people who are average.
00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:21.280
But where I try to be a little more creative is in terms of structures, workflows, processes.
00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:27.040
But the thing is, they also have to, it's almost like a structured form of creativity in a way.
00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:43.359
I just got done recording two days of my podcast, the Creative Artists Podcast, here at Hatch.lk, one of the leading startup hubs in Sri Lanka.
00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:51.920
Because my goal was to be able to tell stories of unique creatives here who are crazy enough to think that they can actually solve problems.
00:01:52.159 --> 00:02:00.079
To be here at Hatch and be inspired in what I'm doing and to be able to tell these stories and have this uh studio and opportunity.
00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:01.840
I'm super grateful to Hatch.
00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:25.039
I feel affirmed in my mission to highlight creatives, and when I saw individuals from startups like inviting their own friends to be on here, so I can highlight their stories in their unique way of thinking, every single one of them has so much uh insight to provide to anybody who's watching who's anybody who's thinking that they're not good enough to do what they're doing.
00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:52.719
Seeing stories from doctors who have changed uh careers into running startups to journalists to doing these kinds of things, like it gives me so much hope to be able to share this to others to say that like wherever you are at, if you're not passionate about what you're doing and you're stuck in your own uh bubble or whatever, find communities like Hatch because it is gonna be the best thing that you do for yourself because a community is absolutely amazing.
00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.360
Hatch, thank you so much for the support you provided.
00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:03.840
I can't wait to show you the amazing stories and the insights your own people are going to share with the world.
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:05.840
Today we have Taraker with us.
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:12.080
Um today we have Taraker with us, um, one of the uh people who are working with the Hatch startups over here.
00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:14.319
So without further ado, let's get started.
00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:18.719
What do you do and how do you explain to somebody who has no idea about this field?
00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:26.879
Okay, uh so to put it in a nutshell, what I do is help uh mainly startup founders to build products.
00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:36.560
And at an early stage, I help them validate their ideas and then I work with development and tech teams to actually bring that into a reality.
00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:43.759
And at the same time, what I also try to do is work with marketing teams to come up with how they are going to take that product to the market.
00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.960
So I work on the full cycle of product development.
00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.520
Wow, yeah, that's like a serious role.
00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:50.080
Yeah.
00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.039
In the sense that you have a lot of responsibility at this point.
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:53.360
Yeah.
00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:07.360
So basically it's uh if the product is bad from the first stage itself, it's kind of on me to make sure that I I'm able to like quickly pivot, especially with startups, uh, because they have to move fast and they have to adjust quickly.
00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:14.400
I try to convince and I have to work a lot with stakeholders to essentially also tell them why the idea might not work.
00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:18.079
So you have to play both sides.
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:22.319
What inspired you to get into this field and it's what you're doing right now?
00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:26.160
Um, I think uh it's it's just a very versatile role.
00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:32.240
And it's a role in Sri Lanka, especially that I saw a gap in terms of people who could do it well.
00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:36.560
Uh, because a lot of people can talk, but they don't know what to say at the right moment.
00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:49.040
So product management is kind of a combination of being able to also use your emotional intelligence in a way where you get the best outcome for your team and uh your product and your business.
00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:52.079
So I think that was what kind of drove me towards that.
00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.839
I worked in a lot of different fields.
00:04:53.920 --> 00:05:04.879
So I worked in customer success, I worked in community management for Hatch, I worked with startups that are trying to kind of compete with the likes of Canva in the past as well.
00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:14.079
So what uh I learned from all of those was that to be in a versatile role, you have to be really fast and kind of like on your toes all the time.
00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:20.399
So that's kind of what drove me towards that because I come from a background of actually studying engineering initially.
00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:20.800
Wow.
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:26.720
Uh so I studied aircraft engineering and then I pivoted that into tech and into product management.
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:28.240
Why what happened with the pivot?
00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:33.759
Why uh I um initially I just wasn't very passionate about what I was doing.
00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:40.480
I liked the science and the math behind it, but I I genuinely wasn't a very good engineer, to be very honest.
00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:43.920
I wasn't a good engineer and I wasn't passionate about what I was doing.
00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:54.480
But with tech, I kind of saw that you can be pretty much anyone you want to be because tech is very much domain specific as well when you're niching down a product.
00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:59.199
So you can kind of leverage that domain knowledge for the product that you're building.
00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:04.240
So I saw that there was a usefulness of me actually knowing more than one domain.
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:08.879
So I tried to map that out for myself, and product was the best fit for that.
00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.000
It's awesome, man.
00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:11.920
And how long have you been on this journey now?
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:16.240
Uh, in terms of uh building products, it's been since about 2021.
00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:17.759
I would say about four years.
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:18.079
Wow.
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:27.680
So it's uh it's been a combination of things that I've been doing for my work and also building on my own with uh friends or just for myself as like kind of fun projects.
00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:28.319
Yeah.
00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.680
Was that something you did when you were young or anything like that?
00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:32.000
No.
00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:32.399
No.
00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:39.759
When when I was younger, I was more um more of uh in the sense of like creativity, I think I was more into music.
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.800
So I I was into music, I was into math and music.
00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:45.120
I used to always say that just to those two things.
00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:48.480
And I was trying to kind of connect those together in different ways.
00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:51.439
Uh and then I got more into like the physical sciences.
00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:56.879
So I started to understand like more things are like how you would actually build something from scratch.
00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:10.000
But for me, what what really fascinated me was like how you can actually take what you're building and give it to people because I didn't want to build stuff to just end up in a room which is just my room and me just playing around with it.
00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:16.160
I wanted other like the magic of it is building something and then seeing somebody use it and get value from it.
00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:22.480
So that was kind of the journey that I was on and what I was trying to do like midway through my career, I would say.
00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:26.000
That's super cool that you found a way to help society.
00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:26.480
Yeah.
00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:27.680
That's really powerful.
00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:32.480
I think that's a good way to judge a mission or a passion when somebody is doing it.
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:40.240
If there's a way you can help society, yeah, then you can at least, even though the work is hard, yeah, still we can find some fulfillment out of it.
00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:40.720
100%.
00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:41.759
That's awesome.
00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:47.040
So what what problems are you trying to solve and and why does it matter to you?
00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:54.800
So in in the past year, uh one of the biggest problems I've been trying to solve was uh with a startup called Spectrify, AI.
00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:01.759
So what we are trying to do is digitize the data collection in agricultural supply chains in Sri Lanka.
00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:17.120
So uh currently in the tea industry, there is a lot of data being produced by factories, brokers, and exporters, but that data isn't really being leveraged well to optimize the supply chain and increase agricultural yield or output.
00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:31.439
So myself, Jeevan, uh Laksha, and Abit, like this entire team of people, what we are doing, what we have been doing is trying to create basically a wave that people can easily access and use this technology and understand it.
00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:35.519
We're so excited to share with you all the episodes that we filmed in Sri Lanka.
00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:41.120
We know a lot of you have been waiting, but we wanted to make sure that we did this really meaningfully because it really was an exciting time.
00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:46.480
When Sean first came to me and said he was gonna take the podcast to Sri Lanka, I honestly thought he was crazy.
00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:47.759
And so did I.
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:52.159
I was like, is there any possibility we can fit this in?
00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:57.039
I want to try to bring the podcast in, get to know people and interview creators.
00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:04.399
So we expected to have just a few conversations, maybe a little sparks of inspiration here and there, but what happened was so much deeper than that.
00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:12.480
We met so many people that not only we you got to interview, but that also like came alongside us to help make these conversations happen.
00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:17.440
The crazy thing was this daring idea of going to a country, even though I'm from Sri Lanka.
00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:29.120
I hadn't been back for like seven years, and all I knew was some people from school that I went to and some on social media that I were following, but didn't really have a concrete plan to make it happen.
00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:38.960
And some days we had six, seven episodes back-to-back recorded because people were waiting and and and you were kind of facilitating that, yeah.
00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:58.639
Yeah, so it felt really significant because not only was it that we were having like these raw and authentic conversations, but a lot of their stories resonated with German's, and so it just was really fascinating to see them speaking the same language and to see like just this commonality of creativity and identity and purpose coming out as the themes of these conversations.
00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.200
You must be wondering when this trip happened.
00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:07.679
It happened in September, and uh the goal was to get these episodes out by December of last year.
00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:15.279
Well, a lot of things happened, and I didn't want to diminish the work we put in and again the amazing gifts that we've had.
00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:20.159
So we decided to do something really cool, and we're gonna post however many we can a week.
00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.039
So, LinkedIn, every single episode, you'll find a free PDF.
00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:24.799
It's actually a magazine that we developed.
00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:32.000
You can kind of think of it like if you go to a concert and you get like the souvenir of what happened behind the scenes and just about the different artists and all those things.
00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:40.559
We wanted to share with you not only about Tron's journey, but then help you connect with some of the guests that we interview in Sri Lanka and then invite you on your own creative Odyssey.
00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:54.639
Yes, there's so much more that goes into or that fuels this podcast, which is this this mission to inspire people to create so that they can get to know themselves and connect with their inner child.
00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:05.679
So to see that we could bring that story out of Sri Lankan creatives, a wide diverse range of creatives was definitely a highlight.
00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:16.080
Our hope is that whether you're living in the States, you're living in Sri Lanka, or somewhere else around the world, you'll connect with someone's story within Sri Lanka and it might inspire you to continue on your own creative fantasy.
00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.799
The link to the PDF for the magazine is in the description, and please check it out.
00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:26.720
They're doing really cool things that I really think you should be checking out to see their journeys.
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:30.000
So without further ado, let's get to the episode.
00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.440
So that is one of the biggest problems I've been trying to solve in the last year.
00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:48.639
Essentially, how we see it is that if we can uh convert a supply chain into a value chain with the data we have, we empower an entire industry or entire vertical in Sri Lanka.
00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:51.519
So agriculture can be taken to another level.
00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:55.519
So currently we are part of the Gobilab program, also doing that.
00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:58.720
So we have one of 10 startups selected for Gobilab.
00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:00.159
That's something that's funded.
00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:00.879
Govilab.
00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:01.840
Govilab, yeah.
00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:04.960
So that's funded by the Bill, Bill Gates Foundation as well.
00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:09.759
It's being run by basically Sarbodia Foundation, too.
00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:11.919
So that is one of the problems.
00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:15.039
And on the other end, I'm working on AI agents.
00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:24.399
So we are figuring out how uh agents or digital workers actually sit inside of the domain of sales and also customer support.
00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:39.840
So I'm currently building that out and trying to rethink how uh customer support cycles can work better with AI assisted or AI enhanced capabilities for all center operators or anybody who's really dealing or front-facing with a customer.
00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:41.600
Oh, that's really cool, by the way.
00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:43.120
Um that excites me so much.
00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.639
Um really curious, how how did you guys come up with the concept?
00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:49.519
Uh of let's start with the agriculture one, yeah.
00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:53.360
Yeah, so the the concept actually was uh it was Jeeven's idea initially.
00:12:53.440 --> 00:13:02.399
So he met he met a person named Mike who was a kind of like a scientist who saw the potential in using infrared spectroscopy.
00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:12.080
So using infrared uh rays, you can essentially shine that using a sensor and you can figure out the chemical properties of an agricultural product.
00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:12.480
Wow.
00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:27.200
So for us, what we saw the importance in mainly was towards moisture, because moisture tells us knowing how something is stored and being able to detect the moisture easily remotely is very valuable to people who store agricultural products.
00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:34.159
Because if the product goes bad, then they can immediately they can tell that this is more likely to go bad or not.
00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:34.559
Right.
00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.440
So that is how that project got started, I would say.
00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:49.759
It was Jeevan's curiosity, and he he really wanted to bring AI and tech into agriculture in Sri Lanka and wanted to help the country kind of rethink their digital agricultural strata like uh strategies.
00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:51.279
So that's how that came about.
00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.279
I joined that a bit later on.
00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:53.759
Sure.
00:13:53.919 --> 00:14:03.120
Uh I came in mainly with the goal of uh showcasing the software behind it and how people will interface with that technology because technology is great.
00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.440
Like I said again, it's great sitting in a room, right?
00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:09.120
Uh being experimented, but nobody ever seeing it doesn't really help.
00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:13.919
So I kind of try to help them a lot more in terms of uh showcasing that.
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:14.399
I would say.
00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:16.559
So that's how that that problem started.
00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:21.679
I would say with Vector, I worked with a lot of people, including Sitra, Kevin, and the team.
00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:30.080
Uh with that, what we were trying to do is create a better way for digital workers to be embedded into the current workforce.
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:36.559
Because with the way things are going, we we we don't need to be scared of people taking our jobs.
00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:47.679
It's more that we can use digital workers to enhance and to up basically increase our operational efficiency as an organization, regardless of your size or scale.
00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:56.320
So after you know, being in this industry for four years and seeing what's uh the what's happening in the underbelly of everything, how do you look at creativity?
00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:05.919
I'd say creativity is uh kind of like the only thing that differentiates people who do this kind of work well from people who are average.
00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:21.120
I for me, I think creativity kind of took a different approach because I'm not very uh artistically talented, but uh where I try to be a little more creative is in terms of structures, workflows, processes.
00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:24.480
So I try to think outside of the box in that sense.
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:28.559
So normally for me, being creative could be thinking of a feature.
00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:30.639
Like how is somebody going to use a feature?
00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:32.879
Where are they going to be when they use the feature?
00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:34.240
Are they going to be on their mobile?
00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:35.840
Are they going to be on their laptop?
00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:37.679
What are they thinking while they're doing it?
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:38.639
How do they feel?
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:47.759
So, an example would be, for example, if we are trying to make somebody purchase something, we want to streamline the way that they get to that purchasing decision.
00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:51.200
So I would try to think, okay, what can I do in this step?
00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:57.200
It could be even a little bit of text, but that text could be the difference between a person clicking or not clicking.
00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:57.519
Right.
00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:05.919
So I try to be creative more in that way, and I think I see it as a huge force in the field of product management as well.
00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:14.399
People are trying to be more creative, but the thing is they also have to, it's almost like a structured form of creativity.
00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:14.960
Right.
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:15.600
In a way.
00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:23.600
Yeah, I mean, uh it's it's interesting because uh the the podcast, Creative Odyssey, my goal is to create to change the narrative of creativity.
00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:28.159
Because growing up in Sri Lanka, creative was all about artists artistic stuff, right?
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:35.200
And and and soon I realized like no no no no no, like tech people are using it, engineers are using it, yeah, creative thinking, problem solving.
00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:43.279
Yeah, and and and if we can change that narrative and like help people see, like, wait a second, creative can you be used in all these areas?
00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:45.600
How can we encourage people to do so?
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:47.279
And that's why I'm here doing this.
00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:49.360
So it's super cool that you mentioned that.
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:50.960
Um I already asked that question.
00:16:51.120 --> 00:17:09.599
So um looking ahead, as far as working with other companies, and and you are kind of like a uh center kind of uh what do you what do you like to see as far as the the companies you work with, what kind of thing impact are you trying to like make in the future through what you do and the the startups you're trying to get get along with?
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:16.640
Impact-wise, like uh I would say that's a good good word, uh using the word impact over something like revenue.
00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:20.720
I think for different people, there are different metrics in terms of how they measure.
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:28.640
But for me personally, like what I really want to do is just build really good products that are used by a large number of people.
00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.440
And uh product products basically where people see the value in it.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:40.720
So meaning that their day-to-day workflow or what they do might be enhanced, so they might be better than uh before.
00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:45.039
So the impact I'm really trying to do is work in different verticals.
00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:50.160
So one is agri tech, one is AI, and possibly in fintech as well.
00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:57.599
I want to kind of have something to do to impact that you know transition from the ways we are currently doing things.
00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:04.960
And I would say a majority of my focus is in Sri Lanka now, but also to take that global would be kind of the next uh step.
00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:21.519
Um really quickly, as far as um AI being accessible to let's say rural areas and and and people using that, like um how do you what do you predict as far as that, you know, get getting to the point where people are using that?
00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.839
You the thing is close, uh closer than we think, or I think we're getting there.
00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.279
I mean, we're definitely going in a positive direction in that sense.
00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.799
Uh the only thing limiting it is infrastructure, right?
00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:47.200
Like as long as those kids in rural areas still have the same connections that people in Colombo do, they can do the same things we do, they can build the same products we do, they can pretty much do what we do times, I mean, at the same rate or the same speed.
00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:54.160
I don't see I see that kind of adoption as being more of a unifier in terms of knowledge across the country.
00:18:54.400 --> 00:19:00.720
And um, for me personally, I I kind of think of myself not as even being in a city or place.
00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:11.759
It's just, you know, it's just the world of people out there who are all connected through different networks who are just doing things together and collaborating together, even people who work on products or projects.
00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.400
Most of their software is hosted in GitHub.
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:16.559
We can collaborate with each other there.
00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:16.960
Yeah.
00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.799
Or there are forums for ideation.
00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.000
There's a lot of different things.
00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:21.599
There are many like communities.
00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:41.759
So I see that if we can just improve the infrastructure for people who live in rural parts of the country, I think that they would just have more access, meaning that we can actually increase our output in terms of not just output, but also our knowledge of product and how we actually build more products and services from Sri Lanka.
00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:48.079
Finally, um, if anybody is watching this and they're like, either they're too young or they're too old, right?
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.440
But regardless of that, they want to get into this field.
00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:53.519
How do you suggest they do?
00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:58.079
I would say like one of the best things to do is to join a community initially.
00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:05.440
First, before you get into the field of product, I think just think about if it's for you, because it is a very demanding field.
00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:08.319
It requires a lot of persistence, a lot of energy.
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.920
You need to be able to focus on multiple things at the same time.
00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:15.519
If you are into it, I would recommend the source-called product school.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:23.839
So they're a huge one of the biggest communities based out of Silicon Valley, but they do these conferences, uh, online conferences where anybody can attend.
00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:24.559
It's free.
00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:25.839
Uh, that's where I started.
00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:28.960
So I started hearing it about it there during COVID.
00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:34.960
So I was attending these conferences and then yeah, lo and behold, like one year later I'm working in the field myself.
00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:35.440
Wow.
00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:37.920
So uh I think that would be the best way.
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.680
There's a lot of the communities on also a lot of them have Slack communities.
00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:48.319
So you can directly interact and you can even ask real product managers in top like Fortune 500 companies.
00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:50.799
You can ask them questions about like how did you get there?
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:51.839
What did you do?
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:56.640
So that's what I mean by the world, it is a very connected place that if you are just looking for it.
00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:59.759
I would recommend also another channel called Product Led Growth.
00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.680
That's also another really good one.
00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:07.519
There's a community called Hello PM in India that's becoming massive, like absolutely massive.
00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:08.880
They do courses.
00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:16.960
So I would say to get into it, you don't need a degree, but it helps to have some kind of a background in tech and IT as well.
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:21.200
Uh but I've seen product managers come from kind of all walks of life.
00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:28.640
Some people have been more marketing leads, some people have done customer success, some people have just not even been in tech at all.
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:37.200
But somehow their skill set is so domain-specific and domain concentrated that they can easily come into a new product and help build it.
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:55.680
So I would say like regardless of who you are, if you have this like burning desire and passion to be in it, then I think that it doesn't really matter uh what walk of life you come from, as long as you're committed to putting in like maybe six to eight months of like hard work to learn about it.
00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.519
So yeah, there's multibody.
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.839
There's some multiple ways you can get into it.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.480
Wow.
00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:02.720
Thank you, Taruk, for being on the podcast.
00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:04.160
I know you're a very busy guy.
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:05.839
I appreciate you taking the time.
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:11.279
All I gotta say is if this doesn't this doesn't inspire you to find what you're passionate about, I don't know what will.
00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:16.319
So all I gotta say is keep dreaming, keep creating, and keep going on your own creative Odyssey.
00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:18.319
Until next time, see you later.
