The return of Disrupt 2.0

Two months ago, Startup Sri Lanka launched an initiative called Disrupt 2.0. The goal of this initiative was simple, to help startups become more successful. To do so, Startup Sri Lanka identified promising startups and helped them connect with powerful mentors that’ll help them reach the next level. To say the original Disrupt 2.0 meetup was a success would be an understatement as we saw a full house at Trace City.
Following this success, Startup Sri Lanka made the decision to make Disrupt 2.0 a bi-monthly meetup for startups. With that in mind, the second iteration of Disrupt 2.0 was held yesterday, with the theme, “Growth Hacking for Startups”.
This time, Startup Sri Lanka has decided to do things a bit differently. The first Disrupt 2.0 was open to anyone and everyone, with the exception of the startup boot camp. This time, the event as a whole was only open to 25 startups that met a few requirements. These requirements were that the startups had been in business for a minimum of 2 years and had built a minimum viable product.

Yesterday, the startups were all gathered inside the Calcey office at Trace Expert City. The meetup began with Dilendra Wimalasekere – VP Marketing at WSO2 taking the stage. He introduced the concept of growth hacking to us. In case you’re lost, growth hacking is all about helping your startup grow by selling your product and gaining exposure.
Growth hacking usually involves the use of techniques such as search engine optimization, website analytics, content marketing and A/B testing. Dilendra gave us clear examples of how successful it is by sharing the growth hacking success stories of WSO2, Takas and 24/7 Techies.

Following Dilendra’s presentation, we saw an active panel discussion on various aspects of growth hacking. Moderated by Mangala Karunaratne – CEO of Calcey, the panel consisted of Jeevan Gnanam – CEO of Orion City, Chandika Jayasundara – CEO of Cinergix, Bhanuka Harischandra – CEO of Surge Solutions and Dilendra. The tweets below are some of the best lessons we took away from the panel.

@Bhanoob Growth Hacking is identify and valudating what doesn’t work and what works #DisruptSL

— Startup Sri Lanka (@StartupSriLanka) February 11, 2016

Understand the problem which make your users use your product for- @jeevs at #DisruptSL @StartupSriLanka #entrepreneurship
— ReadMe Live (@ReadMeLive) February 11, 2016

If you’re doing B2B then you should look at building a strong email marketing campaign says Dilendra at #DisruptSL @StartupSriLanka

— ReadMe Live (@ReadMeLive) February 11, 2016

Your company should solely focus on solving the problem your customers have- @chandika at #DisruptSL @StartupSriLanka #Entrepreneurship
— ReadMe Live (@ReadMeLive) February 11, 2016

Users don’t want to see the many features of your product. They want to know if it solves their problem says @chandika at #DisruptSL

— ReadMe Live (@ReadMeLive) February 11, 2016

When you see 9/10 people in your target audience is interested in your product is when it’s time to scale #DisruptSL #Entrepreneurship
— ReadMe Live (@ReadMeLive) February 11, 2016

With the end of the panel discussion, the new Disrupt 2.0 came to an end. While it’s now smaller in scale, the inspiration and the quality of helpful advice Disrupt 2.0 has to offer is still the same. With the reduction in size, it’s now able to focus on the entrepreneurs, already fighting a tough battle and helping them succeed. One could say it’s now more effective. So mark your calendars because Disrupt 2.0 will be back in 2 months and keep an eye on Startup Sri Lanka’s Facebook page.