As an agile partner driving startup growth across Europe, IdeaBits connects budding entrepreneurs with technology teams to build robust products. These teams are equipped with a powerful combination of technological and business expertise to help startups at all stages grow. Thus, IdeaBits is the ideal partner for young companies to ideate, co-create, and build new products with expertise from one of South Asia’s most resourceful and agile technology talent pools – Sri Lanka.
How IdeaBits helps startups of all sizes grow
“Being exposed to tech startups in Sweden and Sri Lanka, we identified a gap in the two environments. European startups were struggling to find skilled technology talent to build products. Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, skilled technology talent is abundant,” shares the CEO of IdeaBits, Dennis Surendra. So the company works to build remote teams of skilled developers with business expertise to create sustainable and scalable technology products. These teams at IdeaBits work with businesses in various stages – it could be as early as the idea stage or generating revenue with a product they wish to scale up.
Regardless of where the startup is on its journey, IdeaBits works with entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses beyond its technology. “Our team of business analysts, designers, and developers sit with our clients to identify their MVP and then build it together with them,” conveys the COO of IdeaBits, Mayan Narendran. The company helps streamline business models, conduct market research, identify competition, and work on any additional features that would differentiate its clients in their selected niches. In doing so, the team at IdeaBits offers a blueprint for startups to scale and take their products to new heights.
Taking Sri Lankan tech talent to the world
“Sri Lanka has skilled developers seeking international exposure,” shares Mayan. Sri Lanka has made a name for itself globally as a hub for strong technology talent, serving some of the largest organizations in the world. He further observed developers are looking for opportunities to express themselves and proactively contribute to ideas within their companies. By onboarding individuals who can build on their own while also possessing a sound understanding of business, IdeaBits brings a new level of agility and competency to its partner startups.
Of course, building a team of tech talent skilled in business took a lot of work. Dennis conveyed this was IdeaBit’s biggest challenge in its earliest days. But over the past 5 years, the company has built a culture of transparency and innovation that’s helped give Sri Lankan developers unprecedented international exposure. The company also invests in training its employees to form self-managed high-performance teams. “We push all our employees into the deep end from the very beginning because we believe that the best people don’t know everything – but can learn anything,” Mayan expresses.
What it takes for startups to build good products
According to Dennis, Sri Lanka remains an emerging startup market, whereas Europe is one of the fastest-growing ecosystems for product development. Europe’s maturity has been aided by a strong push from governments, an abundance of private investors, and exposure to the latest trends in technology. Reflecting on these learnings, he shares, “From their onset, startups in Sri Lanka need to think globally – and going regional should be their first major milestone. They may use Sri Lanka as a test market to attract investors while undergoing a learning curve in their journey.”
Mayan also shares that young companies must be agile and ready to fail. “Ideally, their journey should be in steps; and be able to learn early when things are not working,” he advises. Founders need to verify their solutions with potential users and build with scalability. “Too often, entrepreneurs try to build a solution to fit within an existing market, which often leads to failure. Let the market tell you what it needs and build accordingly.”
An ongoing journey to be the success partner for startups
The duo at IdeaBits have shared a common goal of identifying strong startups and helping them scale up to unicorn status. They dedicate themselves to identifying the right idea with the right entrepreneur to build the right product. “Although this space involves a high risk, it is also high reward, and we aim to be the tech partner for companies from the startup stage and watch them turn to unicorns,” expresses Mayan. In under 5 years since its inception, IdeaBits has helped over 50 startups grow to high-value companies, with come closing funding rounds of over $1 million.
Further, in the years to come, Dennis and Mayan foresee a spike in demand for skilled tech talent globally. As such, IdeaBits is positioned to provide the right people that can help startups build innovative products. In doing so, IdeaBits aims to be the preferred technology partner for startups. But these ambitions are only the beginning. Mayan also states the company has invested in a few startups operating in Insurtech, Edtech, and Healthtech. These initial investments are part of a broader effort by the company to support startups. Ultimately, IdeaBits envisions itself to be the success partner that helps startups grow from disruptive ideas to global unicorns that changes lives for the better.