Kauchiyannie Selvanayagam Gunasinghe, or Kauchi as a her family and friends call her, landed her first job at 19 years old and by age 26 started her own company. 

Her journey, she enthused, began - quite literally - with shopping carts! Kauchi started off as a content writer for a small-time web development company - having impressed her bosses with a write up on shopping carts upon their request - and before long, she found herself multitasking as a secretary and customer care assistant, and within two short years, she climbed the ranks and was appointed Business Developer. 

After her successful stint at the IT company, Kauchi eventually quit, met the man of her dreams along the way, and co-founded FanaticZine. “Today I am reliving the cycle. I multitask” she claimed, adding, “Thanks to my geeky husband and business partner we have grown rapidly in providing 360 degree Digital Solutions to a plethora of local and international clients. With a steady growth in our diversified clientele, we are super excited to venture out on every opportunity to create digital solutions that give our clients and partner the competitive edge.” 

The Daily Mirror Life caught up with Kauchi who shared her journey of hardwork and determination in carving out a name for herself in the dog-eat-dog world of IT startups. 

Tell us a little bit about your IT startup and what you do. 

FanaticZine is a Digital Agency that provides total digital solutions including websites, Social Media Advocacy, Web/Cloud Applications etc. My husband and I founded this company with the objective of providing customer focused solutions that come with a personal touch. There are many companies out there who provide similar services, but sometimes the lack of passion on the part of the service provider results in the delivery of highly priced products and services with zero creativity. We wanted to change that. I am driven by passion to make design/software to be a work of art. I get super excited with every project, and never forget to have tons of fun while writing every code. 

What are the challenges you faced when starting up? 

To be honest, we did not have a great financial backing. We could not really afford a fancy office, but we did not let that stop us from achieving our dream. So we started out with the basic essentials, we painted the walls ourselves, fixed second hand furniture, and did our own lighting and decorating. We had to stop comparing ourselves to others and keep our mind focused on keeping it simple. It was a lot of hard work, but today it has all really paid off. 

Was it difficult - being a young female yourself - to get the necessary backing and support? 

I am blessed with a really supportive husband, and friends and family, who have a lot of faith in me. Our parents did get a little worried when we told them that we were quitting our full time jobs to venture out on our own. But they stood by our decision nevertheless. However being a woman in the IT field is really not easy. At many meetings, I have been asked by clients if I am just the pretty face and if it’s the boys who do all the coding. There was one person who actually told me that girls can’t code. But thankfully that is only a minority. 

Who would you say are your role models? 

My all-time inspiration and role model is my music teacher Ms.Ruwani Seimon. Sadly she is no more with us. But from my school days at St. Bridget's, I always looked up to her for her courage and passion. She taught me to give 100% at whatever I do. She showed me the importance of hard work. And above all she helped me to believe in myself. She taught me the importance of enjoying what I do, and that is the very same spirit that I strive to build with my staff at FanaticZine. 

What are the most important traits you think are important to succeed? 

Perseverance and fortitude. The first year of the business was really hard. Things were not really falling into place too smoothly. And it took me a lot of strength to keep believing in my decision to quit my fulltime job. I was almost ready to give up, but somehow we pushed it through, and today we are really reaping the fruits of our perseverance. You have got to find the strength to somehow hold onto your dreams with every ounce of strength that is in you. Success is not easy. Many late nights, failed projects, missed meals, and postponed vacations led to us where we are today. Nothing but determination kept us going. 

What advice would you give youngsters hoping to one day kickstart their own venture? 

Stop being afraid of failure. That was one of my biggest fears and it is the worst kind as it really cripples your ability to dream big. It’s okay to let go sometimes. Just believe in yourself and take that leap of faith. If you have an idea, work at it. Be open to criticism, but don’t let it destroy your flame. 

What's next for you and your startup? 

Apart from the interesting projects that we are currently working on for our clients both in and out of Sri Lanka, we also have plans to develop one of our own apps, and release it to the local market this year. I am also looking forward to expanding the team, and have diverse set of coders join us. As for me, hopefully I'll be completing my LLB this year, and I am pretty excited to see where that would take me. 

Interviewed by Rihaab Mowlana