Where It All Began

Every journey has a starting point. Mine began with a simple dream and a used computer.

When I was around 7 years old, studying in Grade 3, I kept begging my father to buy me a computer. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with one; I just knew I wanted it more than anything. After a lot of asking, he finally brought home a used Pentium III PC.

Looking back, that old computer changed my life.

I spent countless hours exploring it, clicking every button I could find, breaking things, fixing them, and constantly asking myself, "How does this work?" Every answer led to another question, and without realizing it, curiosity became my greatest teacher.

As the years went by, life continued as usual. School, homework, exams everything felt normal. But my curiosity never disappeared.

When I reached Grade 10, something caught my attention every time I visited a supermarket: the Point of Sale (POS) system. I was fascinated by how cashiers could scan items, calculate totals instantly, print receipts, and manage everything so efficiently.

I remember thinking,

"How does this actually work? Could I build something like this myself?"

That single question started another journey.

I decided I wanted to build my own POS system. The first challenge was choosing a programming language. After some research, I settled on Java.

The funny part?

I knew absolutely nothing about programming.

There were no AI assistants or large language models to answer my questions instantly. Whenever I got stuck, I relied on YouTube tutorials, Google searches, online forums, and countless hours of trial and error. Some days were frustrating. Errors appeared that I didn't understand, and progress felt painfully slow.

But I kept going.

After months of learning, experimenting, making mistakes, and trying again, I finally built my very first POS system.

It wasn't perfect but it was mine.

That project taught me something much more valuable than programming. It taught me that you don't need to know everything before you begin. Curiosity, consistency, and patience can take you much further than you imagine.

Around the same time, I chose ICT as one of my subjects for both my Ordinary Level (O/L) and Advanced Level (A/L) studies. For my A/Ls, I studied Combined Mathematics alongside ICT, knowing that computing was the path I wanted to pursue.

Looking back, that decision wasn't random. It was simply the next step in a journey that had started years earlier with an old Pentium III computer and a curious kid who wanted to understand how things worked.

If there's one person I owe the beginning of this journey to, it's my father. He probably saw only an old second-hand computer. I saw a world of endless possibilities.

A New Chapter

After completing my A/L examinations, I didn't want to spend months waiting for the results doing nothing.

I wanted to gain real-world experience.

So I joined Cargills PLC as a Pharmacy Assistant. Although it wasn't a software engineering role, those eleven months taught me lessons that no classroom could. I learned how to work with people, communicate under pressure, manage responsibilities, and understand how businesses operate from the ground up.

Sometimes the experiences that seem unrelated to your dream end up shaping the way you approach it.

A few months later, my A/L results arrived, and I received an opportunity to study Computing and Information Systems (CIS) at Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka.

It was a great opportunity.

But I had another goal in mind.

I decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Computer Science at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) instead.

That decision became one of the biggest turning points in my life.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

University was never just about lectures, assignments, or exams for me.

I wanted to build.

I wanted to compete.

I wanted to solve real problems.

So while studying, I participated in hackathons, datathons, coding competitions, and innovation challenges whenever I had the opportunity.

Some competitions ended with victories.

Others ended with valuable lessons.

Every challenge introduced me to talented people, exposed me to new technologies, and pushed me far beyond what I thought I was capable of.

Outside the classroom, I also started working on client projects.

Each project came with its own unique challenges. Sometimes the requirements changed overnight. Sometimes deadlines felt impossible. Sometimes the solution wasn't obvious.

But every project improved not only my technical skills but also my ability to communicate with clients, understand business needs, and deliver software that people could actually use.

Looking back, those experiences were quietly preparing me for something much bigger.

The Beginning of ClapTac

After years of learning, building, competing, and working on real-world software, one realization became clear.

We didn't just want to build projects.

We wanted to build products.

We wanted to solve real problems.

Most importantly, we wanted to create something of our own.

That idea became ClapTac.

ClapTac wasn't born overnight. It was the result of years of curiosity, countless late nights, failed experiments, hackathons, client work, and continuous learning.

Everything that had happened from the old Pentium III computer, to my first Java project, to working at Cargills, to university life and client projects had quietly been leading to this moment.

Starting a company isn't a finish line.

It's another beginning.

And for us, this is only the first chapter.

The story is just getting started.