Why Innovation Moves Slowly in Sri Lanka, Rohan Jayaweera on Reality, Risk & Readiness

In this unfiltered and deeply honest episode of TechTalk360, we sit down with Rohan Jayaweera Principal, Analytics Delivery at OCTAVE, Co‑founder of Antyra, former Google Sri Lanka lead, and one of the sharpest minds in Sri Lanka’s digital ecosystem.

With over 25 years in tech, analytics, and enterprise leadership, Rohan doesn’t offer startup clichés or motivational fluff. Instead, he delivers a reality check on entrepreneurship, innovation, data, AI, and why Sri Lanka struggles to scale big ideas even when the talent exists.

This episode also marks a special milestone: celebrating 2 years of TechTalk360, and setting the tone for a more honest, grounded year of conversations ahead.

What You’ll Learn:

• The “Greater Fool” Mindset – Why believing you can succeed where others failed is both dangerous and necessary

• Why Most Startups Fail Before They Start – The harsh truth about ideas, markets, and false optimism

• Services vs Products – Why Sri Lanka struggles to build scalable product companies

• Innovation Reality Check – Why Sri Lanka hasn’t truly innovated yet — and what’s missing

• Brain Drain & Broken Incentives – Why talent leaves, and why blaming individuals misses the point

• Data Before AI – Why using 6‑month‑old data to make decisions today is “silly”

• Entrepreneurship Isn’t for Everyone – A perspective most people don’t want to hear

• What Young Founders Must Learn First – Finance, resilience, and saying “no” to bad ideas

• The Myth of Digital Transformation – Why tech doesn’t fix broken businesses — foundations do

Chapters to Bookmark:

• (00:00) Why Rohan calls himself a “Greater Fool”

• (04:30) From Google to Antyra: building in uncertainty

• (08:45) The real story behind scaling Antyra

• (12:50) Why Sri Lankan businesses struggle to scale

• (16:20) Brain drain, middle‑class collapse & innovation slowdown

• (22:00) Why public transport & digitization haven’t worked

• (26:10) Why most companies misuse AI

• (30:00) Why entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone

• (34:00) Advice to young Sri Lankan founders

• (38:40) How Rohan wants to be remembered

Listen now on your favorite platform:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

Listen now on your favorite platform:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

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