Food and a sweet tooth key to Yamu’s success
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Chocolate biscuit pudding
A yummy mouthful of chocolate biscuit pudding is everyone’s delight, yet it caught YAMU co-founder Indi Samarajiwa by surprise when a suggestion by a co-worker that a good way to boost ‘hits’ on the website would be to carry a video-recipe showing how the dessert is made.
“It’s crazy. A simple pudding like that getting so many viewers,” laughs Samarajiwa as he recounted with delight an anecdote that probably best sums up YAMU in one mouthful. A guide to the goings-on in Colombo, and the rest of the island, the startup which began in August, 2012, is now a must-have link – Yamu.lk – among the hoi polloi.
“We got 750,000 page views for the ‘how-to-do’ chocolate biscuit pudding. It is by far our biggest success and just goes to show how much Sri Lankans love their food,” says Samarajiwa with much relish. Food is the source and centre of YAMU’s existence. The guide to Colombo and Sri Lanka also reviews shops, hotels, movies, plays and more, but the heart of the 19-team operation revolves around food reviews from restaurants and bars. And the public knows what they get is unbiased and professional for as Samarajiwa says YAMU is in a position to say “No”.
Indi Samarajiwa
Guide
This has been the crux from the outset when Samarajiwa and his wife Saruthi Mathews – “she is the practical side of the business” – took the plunge and decided to start a guide to what’s on in Colombo. Having gone to school in the US, Samarajiwa, 33, came back home in 2004 to make his dreams a reality. He started as a blogger and worked for a few newspapers including the Sunday Times, before making the decision to go-it-alone (of course with the help of his wife). “I came back in 2004 as I felt the ceasefire would hold,” was Samarajiwa’s assessment. He was proved wrong but it was probably a good decision for he had time to assess the ground situation and see where he could make the biggest impact. One of his first ideas was to start a trishaw/car taxi service but that didn’t last long.
“I wanted to start something like Pick Me and pitched it to investors and banks but that didn’t do well. This was in July 2012. A few months later, in August, I started YAMU, with food being the focus. I sort of stumbled on it,” smiles Samarajiwa. Sri Lankans are famous for their hospitality. Just about at the drop of a hat, we wouldn’t think twice about inviting a stranger for a meal. Samarajiwa knew he had backed a winning horse when he decided that food would be the focus of his new start- up.
Food
“If music be the food of love, play on” was how Shakespeare saw it in Twelfth Night. To paraphrase the Bard, and in Samarajiwa’s case, it was: “If food be the music of love, eat on”. But having an idea and making it work is two different things completely as Samarajiwa learned the hard way. Investors and banks shied away believing an online site on food reviews would not work. “I wish investors in Sri Lanka would take more risks. Overseas, people would invest in 10 startups and one or two would succeed. Here they might invest in two and expect both to succeed,” was Samarajiwa’s take on the tight-fisted and narrow view of the local market.
Finding it tough to get the financial support, Samarajiwa sold his Toyota Vitz for two million rupees and with another one million borrowed from his family put his toe into the water. “My start-up capital was three million rupees. One thing good about this is that right now, I’m my own man and in control of everything. The downside is I don’t have a car and have to take tuk-tuks.” YAMU has strictly adhered to its principles – mainly being independent and conducting reviews anonymously and without accepting money later for it, as well as having the gumption to say “sorry” when they make a mistake – as it has grown into a popular page for foodies and Colombo’s social eager beavers.
Independent reviews
“We always don’t write good reviews but that doesn’t mean we always get it right. If we are wrong, we go back and say sorry and write another review,” says Samarajiwa. “We rely on advertising and advertisers come to us. But we are in a position to say no.” During the elections, page views peaked at 654,000 – on average it is around 458,000 – as YAMU told its faithful on how to vote (not which party but on the intricacies behind placing your cross on the voting card) and how to follow the elections.
While also printing a monthly magazine – “to cater for the older folk” – more emphasis is being placed today on video content resulting in an increase in the workforce at their Duplication Road office to 19. “People don’t read as much as they used to but the views on our video content have doubled and we are getting a million hits a month. This shows we have to put more focus on video.” And of course showing how to make chocolate biscuit pudding always help for the way to a Sri Lankan’s heart is through the stomach. -(Alvin)