Sharanyan Sharma, founder of Prime One Global, built a performance marketing firm with international reach from a small town in Northern Sri Lanka. What began as freelance work on a borrowed computer and a dial-up connection grew into a structured business serving clients across the US, the UK, and Europe.
The company’s evolution from project-based digital services to data-driven performance marketing reflects broader shifts in the industry. In this interview, Sharma shares how necessity, rather than strategy, can drive early decisions, and how growth often follows from adapting to changing expectations around accountability, outcomes and operational discipline.
What motivated you to start Extreme SEO, and how did that early phase shape your approach to business?
I didn’t launch Extreme SEO with a fancy business plan or a corner office. It began with a borrowed Pentium IV computer, a dial-up connection that buzzed and clicked, and a desperate need to carve out a better life. Back then, I was a young undergraduate in Colombo, working toward my BSc in IT at SLIIT. Days were spent in lecture halls; nights were for driving a van part-time to cover tuition and rent. It wasn’t a startup dream. It was survival.
But in that grind, I stumbled onto something transformative: the internet. It wasn’t just a tool; it was a bridge. Living in a Northern Sri Lankan town still healing from years of conflict, I saw how it could connect me to clients I would never meet, in places I would never be. Extreme SEO started as a solo gig, a freelancer delivering projects with nothing but hustle and a shaky connection. Every deadline met was a small victory; every client email a lifeline.
Those early days taught me more than any degree ever could.
What prompted the strategic pivot to Prime One Global, and how did that redefine your vision?
Extreme SEO was picking up speed, but I noticed a disconnect. We were getting bigger, sure, but not smarter. Clients weren’t just happy with website traffic anymore. They wanted to know what it meant for their bottom line. “What’s my return?” they’d ask. “How do we grow beyond clicks?” I could feel the shift: visibility wasn’t enough. They needed results they could measure, outcomes they could bank on.
That’s when we pivoted to Prime One Global. It wasn’t a flashy rebrand. It was a complete rethink. We moved from digital marketing to performance marketing, where every campaign had to prove its worth. The business realigned around three words: precision, performance, and partnerships.
We tailored our approach to different markets: In the U.S., Prime One Global LLC zeroes in on B2B performance marketing, helping tech companies shrink customer acquisition costs and speed up sales cycles. In the U.K., we tackle e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands, fusing bold creativity with data-driven conversions. In Europe, ALTI2UDE 1 OÜ emerged as our hub for business intelligence and MarTech automation, turning raw data into real-time growth strategies.
This shift wasn’t about following trends; it was about digging deeper. We stopped promising vague successes and started delivering results clients could see, track, and build on. My vision evolved from creating a company to crafting a system where every move mattered, every outcome counted.
Can you share a failure that tested your resilience and how you navigated through it?
There’s this trap in entrepreneurship: you think strong sales mean a strong business. I fell into it hard. During a stretch of rapid growth, things looked solid: revenue was climbing, campaigns were humming, and clients were smiling. But I was blind to what was brewing underneath. I hadn’t mastered the financial side. Margins were fuzzy, cash flow was a guessing game, and I was still running things like a scrappy founder, not a strategic leader.
Then a big client hit pause on a major campaign. The rug got pulled out, and I saw how fragile we were. It wasn’t just a money problem. It was a mirror. I’d been coasting on momentum, not building a foundation. That moment stung, but it also woke me up.
I didn’t shy away from it. I dug into financial management, reading case studies, talking to mentors, and learning what I’d ignored. We overhauled everything: services got productized, cash cycles got tracked, and teams got tied to profit-and-loss goals. Finance stopped being a chore and became a tool.
What key decisions enabled you to scale globally from Sri Lanka in the performance marketing space?
Scaling from Northern Sri Lanka to a global stage wasn’t luck—it was intention. The first big move was productizing our services. We ditched billing by the hour and started offering clear outcomes—specific deliverables, measurable results, and set prices. It made us scalable overnight, easy for clients anywhere to say yes.
But the real engine? Credibility. We didn’t buy our way into markets with ads—we earned it with results. A startup in London sees ROI and tells their peers in Toronto. A brand in Berlin trusts us, and the Nordics open up. Referrals became our rocket fuel.
Right now, I’m thrilled about our neuromarketing push in Canada and the Baltics, mixing behavioural science with pinpoint targeting. It’s not about being the loudest in the room; it’s about being the most useful. That’s how we went global: solving problems, showing up reliably, and never stopping asking “What’s next?”
Any final thoughts?
For every budding entrepreneur wondering where to start, every business owner feeling stuck, every student dreaming of impact, every marketer chasing the next big idea: you don’t need a silver spoon or a straight path. You need grit, curiosity, and a willingness to learn as you go. The road won’t be easy. It’ll test you, trip you, and teach you. But that’s the beauty of it—every stumble is a step, every lesson a brick in something lasting. Start small, stay humble, and keep pushing. Your story’s just beginning.