Ryan Nesharatnam is the founder and CEO of Infinite Corporation, a software-market
ing company serving an array of big name clientele such as Hoops Sports Bar & Grill, ThaiOneOn, York/Woodside Cinemas and Cellular Point. He has received critical acclaim for his company and has received awards such as CTYA’s Young Entrepreneur Award.
Up until the age of 18, Ryan only saw himself becoming a computer engineer. This perspective soon changed when he landed a retail job with Apple Canada as the youngest employee in the company. Having been so young, Ryan felt a lot of pressure to meet their expectations, which ended up motivating him and propelled him upwards. Ryan soon realized his stellar sales potential, his aptitude for communicating his ideas, and building trust with new customers. Unfortunately, his career at Apple was cut short with the 2008 recession. He was one of the many part-time employees of Apple to be laid-off. Ryan turned this lay off into something positive, as he made it into the perfect opportunity to utilize his natural sales ability to become an entrepreneur.
His company started with a simple idea to build a bridge between software programming and marketing. “When I initially thought of the MultiAD concept, I immediately started programming it with the limited programming knowledge I had. Within a few weeks, I had built my first Digital Signage product.” With that, he started his software-marketing company, Infinite Corporation. Being 19 at the time, Ryan’s biggest challenge was gaining clients’ trust, given his lack of substantial experience and age. “Criticisms were high at first. Being 19 and trying to build a business with no start-up capital is extremely difficult,” says Ryan.
Fortunately, he was able to secure a few clients that were willing to give him a chance and help build his portfolio. These few clients who believed in Ryan were a major motivating factor for him. In addition, seeing his team grow, learn and create alongside him only made Ryan want to work harder. Infinite Corporation is now an exclusive software-marketing company serving many notable brands in the hospitality industry in Toronto. To date, their three most valued products are SelfieShootr, SmartClocker and MultiAD. SelfieShootr was the first ever life sized photo kiosk to be designed and manufactured completely in Canada. SmartClocker uses facial recognition and intelligent cloud based technology to reinvent the way employees clock-in and out of work. Finally, MultiAD is a digital signage advertising platform built to target niche market multicultural communities.
On a day to day basis, Ryan is mostly involved with the sales department of his company. Most of his days involve juggling meetings with current clients and potential clients, while also working with his programmers and designers. Ryan considers the relationships he builds with clients as a very important aspect to his business. He says, “it’s something I really value because it’s not only based on our company but also a personal trust with our sales team.” His team also has regular meetings to brainstorm ideas, solve problems and make breakthrough innovations that have yet to be seen on the market.
Working for himself, Ryan says there are both pros and cons. Some of the pros include making your own schedule, pursuing your dreams, making decisions that control your future and being independent. Some cons are that you need to sacrifice a lot to get your business to move upward and it’s hard to keep motivated when things don’t go as planned. However, he says that the pros strongly outweigh the cons and he couldn’t possibly imagine working for someone else again.
“As an entrepreneur, every day is a challenge and the challenge to work harder and reach your goals is always on your mind. Being an entrepreneur is more of a lifestyle than a job. It isn’t something you leave on your desk for the next day. Everyday isn’t going to be better than the last. Sometimes you get hit with obstacles that seem impossible to overcome. If everything went according to plan, being an entrepreneur would be simple. I’ve learned to expect nothing to go according to plan and steer the ship in the direction I want to go, no matter how hard the waves hit me. Being an entrepreneur is 100% believing in yourself and in what you are doing. Over time, you will learn that you just have to keep going, with your goals on your mind.”– Ryan Nesharatnam
For any further questions or inquiries on Infinite Corporation, Ryan can be contacted at [email protected].
If you have any recommendations or suggestions for individuals to be featured in our Munnetram Series, please e-mail us at [email protected] .