Shehan De Silva, founder of Lost Craft beer, says the secret to entrepreneurial success lies in boxing.
"When you get knocked down, you get back up and keep fighting," he says of the sport. He's also applied the same ethos to his business.
What began as a venture he ran single-handedly has turned into an award-winning brand in the craft beer industry that now employs 10 people.
In just two years, Lost Craft's European-inspired beers were named best in show at the Ontario Brewing Awards and also called a customer favourite by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
"[I had] no industry connections, no past brewing experience and essentially not a lot of money." To most, it would seem as if De Silva's business would fail, but his determination proved to be the key ingredient.
"It was really just that passion that got us to where we are today," he says in the video above.
Born and raised in Toronto, De Silva studied business at the University of Toronto. After graduation, he secured a bank job but always wanted to start his own business.
"Beer to me was tangible. I came to this realization that I don't really want to create a software that attracts users, that does something I only kind of understand."
After doing research on European-style beers and working with a brewmaster in Toronto, he created his first beverage — Revivale. It's a name that coincidentally captures the spirit of boxing and describes his story.
Watch more of that story above and watch Young Money here.