Trevor Botkin: 0:10

And welcome back to another episode of when Leaders Connect, the Corporate Connections podcast, where we delve into the stories and strategies and insights of influential leaders shaping the future. My name is Trevor Botkin, I'm the National Director of Corporate Connections, canada, and today we're honored to have an extraordinary guest whose visionary leadership and innovative spirit have made a significant impact in the tech industry. Joining us today is Taranjan Bulankulame, the founder and CEO of Layer 7 Innovations. With a remarkable career dedicated to pushing the boundaries of technology, taranjan has established himself as a trailblazer in the field of software development and digital transformation. Under his leadership, layer 7 Innovations has become a leading provider of cutting-edge solutions that empower businesses to thrive in the digital age. In today's episode, we're going to explore Taranjan's entrepreneurial journey, his insights on the future of technology and his thoughts on what it takes to lead a successful tech company in a rapidly evolving landscape. Get ready for an inspiring conversation that will provide valuable lessons for leaders across all sectors and without any further information. Taranjan, welcome to when Leaders Connect.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 1:23

Thank you so much, Trevor, and it's been. It's really great to have me here and really thankful for inviting me to have a discussion today.

Trevor Botkin: 1:36

Oh, it's absolutely my pleasure. So let's start with. Where in the world are you right now?

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 1:43

Oh, right now. So yeah, so I'm actually in basically at home in our offices, well, at home in Sri Lanka, but I'm actually visiting our R&D offices in Sri Lanka for the next month and a half. So you know we do a lot of our um rnd back in this part of the world, um, but you know a lot of our solutions and our partners are back in toronto, where I spend probably about eight months of the year and you're in the.

Trevor Botkin: 2:22

You're in the warm season in Sri Lanka right now.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 2:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's quite warm. Anyway, it's warm right through. Unlike Canada, we don't have four seasons, it's pretty much warm right through, and then we have a few scattered monsoons, you know, pushed in in between the warm weather. So, yeah, I mean you like the tropical weather? It's the place to stay.

Trevor Botkin: 2:55

So you skip the beautiful weather of Toronto, where it's summer, and go to the hotter than hot and humid of Sri Lanka? Yeah, that's correct, okay, well, beautiful. Well, that's correct, okay, well, beautiful. Well, let's go back. Let's step back to where your journey started, or where this chapter maybe, maybe, just to be more specific, where this chapter of your journey started.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 3:16

Sure. So you know, back in 2010, I worked a lot of my roles in finance but ran a lot of IT departments within my scope as a financial control and CFO. But I always had a passion for trading in stock markets and that's probably how I got into technology, because I knew a lot of people at the TSX and also people at the London Stock Exchange. So I was recruited by an American company but owned by two entrepreneurial Sri Lankans. So I was brought in. I was actually making the move back to Sri Lanka also and I was hired in as a VP of their stock market solutions unit, which was quite exciting for me because I always had a passion for trading and how the markets worked.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 4:31

In my early days, I worked for LaSalle Bank, which subsequently became ABN Amro in Chicago, and spent about five, six years working after graduation in Chicago, so always was fascinated by the way the trading happened on a digital landscape and how trades were made and how the market data was fed through. A platform was fed through a platform. So I actually worked. So I took this opportunity to move back to Sri Lanka and worked with basically the London Stock Exchange because they provided the software to the Colombo Stock Exchange and that's how kind of my exposure to, you know, fintech and technology software solutions happened back in 2010.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 5:33

And then back soon after that, you know, I was working for about five, six years but I got an appetite, the entrepreneurial appetite, to start my own firm and obviously I had to leave my current setup but it was a good, exciting challenge at that time and we've grown. The company has grown over the years. I mean, we never in the early days looked for funding at that time. So how we bootstrap the companies, we kind of offered software services of other companies like the company I work for to kind of gain revenue and build our own products over. So we've gone through a gradual process of evolving from software services to a product-based company and now today we actually have a mixture of services. So we also sell Microsoft services in Canada and we're an approved reseller of Microsoft Canada.

Trevor Botkin: 6:54

What would you say the biggest lesson you learned in that transition from employee to entrepreneur?

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 7:01

Yeah. So a couple of things. One is, you know, you, being a startup company, you are always going to be making mistakes. You need to learn from those mistakes and there's a whole bunch of mistakes that we're probably going to make, you know, going forward. But that's how kind of you learn. And also, the second thing is how you treat people and staff, and that's kind of really important for us, the way we give back to the staff. And we have, you know, incorporated an ESOP program, which is Employee Share Option Program, because we want to recognize some of our key staff in the company and make sure that they grow with the company. Things, especially in software development these days, is there's so many technology companies around. There's a lot of turnover with technology companies, so employee retention is really important. So those are kind of the two things that I've learned over the years and I'm still learning. With that we're bringing in new employees who are really adding value to the company, and yeah, so in general.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 8:36

Those are the two points that really kind of motivate us to grow as we go along.

Trevor Botkin: 8:45

That's beautiful. I love this idea of always making mistakes and just kind of the acknowledgement of that and not trying to be perfect. What would be something that you wish you knew back then, that you now know in hindsight?

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 9:12

Well, that's a loaded question. Um, a lot of the things you know that we're kind of developing now. Um, I wish I knew, uh, you know, the benefits of what uh, artificial intelligence is, uh is happening these days, you know, about 10 years ago, because we would be better prepared for it, because it's really about collating a lot of data and having that data you know being helpful to you. You know you, in developing your products. Even as much as two years ago, ai was kind of an area where you just used it for collating large amounts of data and using it for marketing research. But now it seems like every product that you see, there's sort of some kind of AI tool that is needed to kind of enhance the product. And I mean, if we had known that, even just two, three years ago, we would have been able to kind of look at, you know, getting large funding opportunities to really, you know, grow the company. But you know, it's still early days in the AI world, in the AI world.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 10:48

And two of the largest kind of movements that are going around technology right now is AI and the other is actually women in tech, and we're actually in both those areas right now. We're actually making some ground in building a wealth management solution for women and we should have that out by the end of this year and, funny enough, ai is in, built into the, into the solution. So, uh, yeah, so those are some of the things I guess that, uh, we but Help me impact that, taranjan, because it's interesting that you talk about.

Trevor Botkin: 11:32

I mean, I understand the women in tech part and I understand that it's not been traditionally an industry where most women are comfortable going into whether it's our education system or whatnot but it's been predominantly a male dominated field and we're seeing that shift a male-dominated field and we're seeing that shift. That's correct. But when you say that you're building a platform for wealth management specifically targeted to women, what does that look like?

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 12:00

So if we look at the landscape in North America, about 70% of fund managers are men. So usually if a woman walks into a wealth management company or a bank, they go in sort of blindly and expect the fund manager to know. You know their appetite for investment and things like that. So a lot of times, you know, say six, seven months into the investment they realize that this is really not the sort of investment that I need. You know, based on my spending habits and my appetite for investment. There's different types of things, an appetite for investment. There's different types of things. There's you know things now that are looked at like ESG.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 13:05

What type of investments have, you know, a carbon footprint on it and certain, you know, women don't want to invest in certain types of products and things like that. So what we've done is we've actually helped a woman build their own profile what type of investor they are, asks 10, 15 questions to ascertain what kind of profile they are, and then it also basically helps them to ascertain what their net worth is, which they may not know offhand. So this is sort of a cheat sheet app that helps them to ascertain all these variables before they actually go and meet a fund manager. So then it basically helps them. It provides a recommendations engine to align their investment appetite compared to the types of investment products that a wealth management or a bank offers. So we're actually not looking at product-centric, we're looking at customer-centric solutions here.

Trevor Botkin: 14:26

But would it be like a wealth sample for women? Exactly.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 14:31

That's exactly right, yeah, so basically, for example, if we look at one of the major banks, they may have a variety of investment products, from ETFs to mutual funds. But, a female, a woman when they walk into the bank, they wouldn't know what each of these products does for them.

Trevor Botkin: 14:55

So basically, but I don't think. I think most consumers don't know what those products do for them. I mean, I'm a man and I'm that's very true.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 15:04

So this type of product actually is geared to, you know, help, you know, not only women, but also certain all types of individuals. To help not only women, but also certain all types of individuals and even, basically, non-for-profit organizations, because they also invest a lot of their surplus funds in products like this. So this type of solution would help everyone really.

Trevor Botkin: 15:31

Right.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 15:31

Yeah.

Trevor Botkin: 15:32

Beautiful, I'm going to shift gears with you for a moment, if I may, and I want you to take us back to where you were right before the pandemic, as a company, and then what the pandemic, what effect it had on you as a leader, but also on your business, and then kind of where that's led you to today.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 15:51

Sure, but also on your business, and then kind of where that's led you to today. Sure, so. So when, when the pandemic hit, I was actually in Sri Lanka, I was actually making, making plans to spend at least five to six months in Toronto, and then the rest here because a lot of my partners, and then the rest here because a lot of my partners, strategic partners in the fintech world, were based in North America and in Europe. So there was a movement internally within the organization that you know being in Sri Lanka for the growth of the company would not be the ideal choice. But then the pandemic hit and we were sort of, you know, we were sort of in a firefighting kind of mode and we you know, just like most companies.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 16:54

So we kind of had to look at opportunities to kind of self-sustain ourselves and thankfully we were selling. We were also selling some services of other companies which generated recurring income. So that actually helped us, you know, kind of stabilize ourselves. Actually helped us, you know kind of stabilize ourselves. And of course, you know the Canadian government really supported a lot of the tech companies in Canada and there was a lot of, you know, financial resources put into a lot of startups during that time and I'm probably saying you know probably 30% of startups survived in Canada because of the you know the sort of regulations and the kind of initiatives that they put through to sustain ourselves. So you know we're very thankful to be, you know, canadian company but having offices outside of Canada.

Trevor Botkin: 18:05

It feels like that we're going to see more and more, I think, moving forward, where we have skill sets that lend itself very well to a Canadian marketplace, whether it's sales management and then some of the back office or some of the work that we have highly skilled workforces, be it in Sri Lanka.

Trevor Botkin: 18:29

India is another great example. We're highly skilled, but it's work that maybe our canadian system isn't setting some of our you know our people up for and in, and I don't want to call it menial work and I don't think it is that, but it's a bit more of the, the work that doesn't lend itself necessarily to to our. But it seems like because you can throw just the population numbers and I think of members in India, there's just the scale of people to most Canadians is incomprehensible how many bodies there just physically are in India and I think Sri Lanka, being next door, is probably in a similar situation just the density of that. So you can throw bodies at a problem in a way that we can't in Canada. We're just not able to throw those numbers in. So it's interesting and so you survived the pandemic and obviously the Canadian government did a lot to help startups and I think everyone to get through that. Yeah, why Toronto? Other than that, obviously, having been in Chicago having choice to any market in North America, what made Toronto so special for you?

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 19:50

A couple of things. I think it was a mixture of a couple of things. One you know Canada had a lot of initiatives to develop to bring companies over. I mean bring individuals over. So before I even started in the software industry, I was a financial professional and the opportunities in the two North American countries. So, having studied in the US, the opportunities to move to the US were a little bit more difficult compared to the opportunities that Canada offered. And, having lived in Chicago for many years and traveled to Toronto quite a few times, it was most likely the logical place, just because you know it's the one city in Canada that I had some kind of relationship, you know exactly some kind of relationship to.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 20:59

So it was, you know, of course it wasn't you know a thing of that that I would be a gradual, you know kind of getting used to kind of city. So you know, me and my wife came over together without, you know, basically not having too many connections. I mean, I had a few distant relatives, but it was kind of an exciting time and we had just got married and so it was different to the move that I've made now, spending eight months of the year here, and it's a sacrifice I've made because my kids and wife are back in Sri Lanka. But of course my kids were born in Toronto. So Toronto always has, you know, a feel of a second home to me.

Trevor Botkin: 22:06

So you have two children, if I'm not mistaken.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 22:08

Yeah, two beautiful girls.

Trevor Botkin: 22:11

Two beautiful girls and, if I remember, when we first met, at the time I think they were in Toronto and they were begging you to move back to Sri Lanka, that's right, to Sri Lanka, and and so, uh, it's I. I mean, I, I, I was born in Denver and so I don't have memories. I was three when we immigrated to Winnipeg, which I don't think you've ever been to Winnipeg, Um, but but Craig and I have, and Jeff the three of us all have Winnipeg roots, so we have lots of Winnipeg stories that we share in common. And for the, if you're listening, Craig and Jeff are members in in Toronto's chapter, so there's a strong Winnipeg connection there.

Trevor Botkin: 22:55

But, um, it's uh, if any, if, if the, if the girls ever want to complain about Toronto, you just threaten to send them to winnipeg. And and um, I think jeff are listening right now they're laughing um, so I'm gonna give you one more question and and then we'll wrap up. But as somebody who's had a career in trading, in finance, uh, fintech, and now purely technology what are you most excited about? Because working in tech, I think, is a little bit like, you know, trading on a stock exchange it's up, it's down, it's sideways, it's. It's a bit of a roller coaster and in no less now with ai, I think, ai, all the rules are gone, it's, it's a, it's the wild west again when it comes to to technology. What are you most excited about as you look forward? So?

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 23:51

my passion is about networking and making people and that's been sort of my natural to me, but it's, you know, forging relationships. These days, in fact, when I first met Jeff, something he said really resonated with me. That really resonated with me 10, 15 years ago, a lot of software companies didn't want to work with other software companies because they were very nervous about code and sharing of code. But these days, with the developments of API technology, which is basically connecting two solutions together, there is, you know, a passion for companies to work together, you know, because that sharing of code no longer applies because you have a connector in between.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 25:01

So you know, and and working, and basically we support two of the largest fintechs in the world because we have a technology that they don't have, which is, you know, we, we're we're passionate about mobile development, and so we work with in North America, we work with a company called Broadridge and in Europe, we work with a company called the All Funds Group, and they have a lot of inroads into banks which we don't have that connection. So there is something that they want from us and there's definitely something we need from them. So building relationships and networking is one of my great passions and it will continue to grow. Attending events like the collision event that just concluded is something that I really look forward to every year, and there's so many events around the technology industry right now in in Canada, in the U? S.

Trevor Botkin: 26:16

That needs to be explored and that's how we learn, basically going forward, forward certainly, and and if we if we come back to this idea of startups are always making mistakes, I think it's that opportunity to learn from other startups and maybe mitigate or avoid making the same mistakes they made through that, that exchange of, of, uh, experience, and I think that's beautiful. I lied, I'm gonna ask you one more question because it they made through that exchange of experience and I think that's beautiful. I lied, I'm going to ask you one more question because it popped into my head and I reserve the right to lie about how many questions I ask. Thinking about your journey and where you've come from and your international exposure through education, through work and the opportunity to live in as many countries as you have, international exposure through education through work and the opportunity to live in as many countries as you have, what's something that you hope for, or that you hope or that you endeavor for your daughters to learn?

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 27:24

from your experience. Endeavor for your daughters to learn from your experience Really about. You know how to treat people and you know not to change your philosophies as you, you know, grow you may be successful, but you should not really change your ways from your you know your roots basically, and that's what you know.

Trevor Botkin: 27:51

My wife and I try to instill with our children too that you know, be grounded and you will always succeed by thinking and you know, adopting that kind of lifestyle is such a reflection of also where you come from and your parents and your culture. And I think, especially for someone who's spending half or more than half your time in your adopted country of Canada but also raising, I guess, global citizens and your children who were born in Canada, so obviously have their Canadian citizenship, but also who now call Sri Lanka home, as you did as a child growing up, I think it's it's a beautiful idea of always know where you come from, but also being aware of of the impact that that has on other people. I think it's quite lovely.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 28:58

Yeah.

Trevor Botkin: 29:00

I just wanted to say thank you very much for everything. I know it's not always easy connecting with you because of the time zone and because of your international travel, so I'm always grateful to be able to connect with you, whether it's in person in Toronto or online. So it's it's always a. Anyone who makes this decision to grow their business, which means sacrificing family time in the way that you do, I think is is it's pretty, pretty inspirational because it's a big commitment. That is not easy. That is that not everyone is willing to make that choice and I think, in this world that moves so incredibly fast, to also put this sort of commitment into their business and to consciously know what you're giving up every day that you're in Toronto and not at home with your wife and daughters is pretty. That's a tough choice and I recognize that.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 30:09

Thank you, thank you. Thank you for those kind words, trevor, and thank you for inviting me today for the event.

Trevor Botkin: 30:17

Well, I'm excited to see where you go, I'm excited to see where Layer 7 Innovations and you know there's so much change happening in the world today with AI and technology and it feels like you are well situated to be on that journey and to take that ride and to acknowledge it. And I agree, obviously my business is the community and is networking. My business is the community and is networking, and so to hear you talk about that that's the thing that you're most excited about is building relationships and fostering those. I think it's very exciting, yeah.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 30:53

Thank you very much.

Trevor Botkin: 30:55

Beautiful and um, big, big thank you to all the members across Canada and internationally that take the time to also listen to the podcast but also to give us feedback. I really appreciate that. I think it's great to be part of the community and I just want to leave you with. You know, accountability and a strong culture are really the cornerstones of any successful organization, and so, as leaders, it really is our responsibility to cultivate these environments where innovation thrive and people feel value and empowered. And that's something I really take away from listening to you, Duranjan, today, in terms of how you've built your culture and how you support and embrace your employees, but really embrace your position as the leader of the organization. So thank you again.

Tiranjan Bulankulame: 31:43

Well, thank you, Trevor. That means a whole lot to us at Layer 7.

Trevor Botkin: 31:48

And to everyone else. Thanks so much for listening. Stay tuned for more inspiring conversations with leaders who are making significant impacts in their field. Till next time, keep leading with integrity, passion and a commitment to excellence. And, as always, this is where leaders connect.