This document provides an overview of entrepreneurship from the perspective of an entrepreneur. It discusses what defines an entrepreneur, some common challenges startups face such as lack of vision, planning, and capital. It notes that only 25% of businesses survive past 15 years. It provides advice on choosing a business idea that is passionate about and has growth potential. Sources of funding are listed as personal funds, friends/family, investors. The biggest challenges of starting a business are noted as finding the right people, capital/cash flow, developing a good business plan and product/service, sticking with it through frustrations. The document encourages attendees to pitch their own business ideas.

1. Perspective of
Entrepreneurship
R. Yasith Sirisena
CEO - Prodigi Interactive

2. STRICTLY PREPARED FOR
SERIOUS
ENTREPRENEURS

4. Who is an Entrepreneur ?

5. Entrepreneurship can broadly
be defined as the
Creation or
Extraction of Value

7. LETS
EXERCISE
YOUR BRAIN !!!
THINK OF A BRAND NEW BUSINESS IDEA AND PITCH
IT AT THE END OF THIS PRESENTATION

8. The Reality

12. • Lack of Vision
• Selection of a Business
• Lack of Proper Planning
• Not Having Enough Capital
• Poor Implementation of the Plan
• The Hiring of Wrong People
• Failure in Marketing
• Expanding Very Early
• Underestimating Competition
• Giving Up Very Early
ONLY 25% of Businesses
Survives after 15 Years

13. You need to have WILL POWER
then YOU WILL BE LUCKY !!

14. IF YOU ARE NOT
MENTALLY PREPARED
DONT START A BUSINESS !!

15. BUSINESS BASICS

16. What kind of business should I start?
A BUSINESS THAT
• You are passionate about
• Doesn't take a lot of money to fund
• Has the potential to grow into something big in a reasonable time frame
• You have some experience in (avoiding the problem of “you don’t know what you don’t
know”)
• You would enjoy doing (don’t build a business that you will dread going to everyday)
• One that can cause meaningful improvement in users’ lives

17. Where can I get money for my business?
• Personal funds
• Friends and family
• Angel investors
• Crowdsourcing sites such as Indiegogo.com and Kickstarter.com
• Bank loans / SBA financing
• Venture capitalists
• Equipment loan financing

18. The 4 Crucial Aspects

20. What are the biggest challenges to starting a
business?
• Finding the right people.
• Shortage of capital and cash flow
• Having a good business plan
• Coming up with a great product or service
• Sticking to it
• Working more than you expected
• Getting through the frustrations of being constantly rejected by customers
• Hiring good employees
• Knowing when to fire bad employees
• Having to wear so many hats
• Managing your time
• Maintaining some kind of work/life balance

21. LETS HEAR YOUR
BUSINESS IDEA !!

23. THANK YOU !
American Centre & Youth Forum