You are a successful company or startup that is looking to expand rapidly and are evaluating a new geography, market or customer segment. To make things more interesting, that new market is a challenging one like India and you are relatively new to the market. How do you succeed in such a scenario? How do you go about identifying the right person to lead this project? How do you put together a winning team? Are there any fundamental principles that you can draw upon?

We spoke to Ravi Krishnan, currently Co-founder of Stepathlon Lifestyle and formerly Managing Director of IMG South Asia, the global leader in sports, events & media, to discover the secrets of nurturing organizations and projects from 'startup' to successful steady state in new markets. Ravi was part of a three member team that set up IMG's operations in India in 1995. During his 16 year tenure at IMG, Ravi played a key role in the creation and commercialization of some popular sporting and lifestyle events including the Sahara Cup & Indian Premier League (Cricket), Chennai Open (Tennis), and Lakme Fashion Week. These are some of the takeaways from our conversation with Ravi Krishnan.

Finding the Right Person to Lead the Initiative is Key

Some may argue that the way IMG selected Ravi to lead their India growth strategy was fortuitous, but in life and especially successful businesses, there are no simple coincidences.

Ravi was an accomplished sportsman in his junior days in both cricket and tennis. In fact, he played in the Australian Open Juniors in '84 & '85. He may have pursued a career as a professional sportsman had it not been for injury. Ravi then ended up studying law at Australia's prestigious Monash University.

“Early on at law school I knew that I did not want to become a career lawyer. Sports remained my first love and I wrote to IMG London seeking a job," says Ravi. Ravi reasoned that the combination of his sporting and law backgrounds would get him into IMG, but he got only a lukewarm response. Soon, he decided to spread his wings and traveled across the world, teaching English in Korea and teaching tennis at Club Med in Malaysia. There, in a remarkable case of serendipity, he met someone who introduced him to Tim Wright, a senior executive at IMG London. Eight months after he wrote his first letter to IMG, Ravi was in London in May 1995 and met Tim and Andrew Wildblood, and by Oct 1995 he was in India establishing the IMG operations.

“IMG bet on Youth and Global Mindset, and banked on ‘Learnability’ and a Passion for Sports”.tweet

They sensed in Ravi an inquisitive mind that was willing to absorb new experiences and adapt to it. We see many companies nowadays struggling to identify the right candidate to lead their 'digital' initiatives - should they go with established & mature existing leaders or should they hire one of the Millennials? Certainly, there is a lesson to be drawn from IMG's case.

Be Aware of Industry & Market Nuances

One of the characteristics of being dropped into a new and emerging market is the steep experience curve that it provides those at the helm. Starting as a junior member of the IMG India team in '95, Ravi followed a steep trajectory of growth to become its Managing Director in four short and action-filled years. Unlike IMG in other established markets, where he would have got to experience one specific segment, Ravi worked across market segments like cricket, tennis, golf, media and fashion.

India also threw a number of cultural challenges at Ravi. He was born into a traditional South Indian family and had no exposure to the rest of India; he was seen"as this "brown skin with an Australian accent"; being 27 in the '90s in India and with no white hair proved the biggest challenge of all. The Internet boom in the late 90s helped - it made it okay for young executives to be accepted as leaders.

“Sports was a young industry…If we were selling ball-bearings, perhaps it would have been a lot harder," says Ravi. tweet

By dint of hard and smart work, Ravi established several flagship programs in India like the Sahara Cup & Indian Premier League (Cricket), Chennai Open (Tennis), and Lakme Fashion Week.

It Calls for Hunger, And Street Smarts, to Succeed in New Markets

Ravi recounts the way the Lakme Fashion Week came into existence. The Fashion Design Council of India had been meaning to launch an event for a few years. Zubin Sarkari, who later on came to work for Ravi at IMG, had the rights to conduct a Fashion Week for a couple of years but he did not have the money and resources to carry it through. "Ideas are not worth much, unless you can commercialise and execute well," says Ravi.

It was at this juncture that Ravi stepped in, co-opted Zubin and convinced FDCI to grant him 6 months to raise the money. With the backing of a globally renowned firm like IMG and the capabilities of telling a compelling narrative, Ravi persuaded Lakme to become a sponsor and the Lakme India Fashion Week was born.

"In India, You Have to Be A Re-Inventor, Not An Inventor," says Ravi.tweet

Ravi explains how this learning helped him shape the strategy at his venture Stepathlon Lifestyle. The concept behind the company, of people doing 10,000 step challenges is not new. To some, the idea of Stepathlon may not seem different from the idea of a modern day gym. But Ravi has re-invented the idea and sees Stepathlon in the business of changing human behavior.

"India is an 80% country, people do 80% of the work and walk away saying it is good enough. But the commitment to deliver has to be 200%," says Ravi. This is a significant learning that has stayed with Ravi both at IMG and at Stepathlon. He says, "It is easy to promise to deliver but not to deliver. In India, if you hear someone say that they have 'no problem' then you know there is a problem." It took him a couple of years to get his staff to say 'No' when appropriate. Ravi believes that we have to walk the extra mile to deliver - whether it is delivering on the quality of a signage or how you lay down the carpet. He says, "It is not that I got everything right the first time, but unlike people who don't like to accept mistakes, I own up to my mistakes." He suggests that we should approach success & failures with the same degree of integrity.

"Do the one-percenters," says Ravi. tweet One lesson that has stood Ravi in good stead has been to sharply focus on the 1% customers who matter rather than dissipating energy by carpet bombing outreach to the masses. In Stepathlon, rather than sending out mass mailers, he personalized messages to the top 40 customers. The customer response to this level of personalization was fantastic because they see that you are listening to them and care for them.

Keep the Big Picture in Focus, Always

Ravi reflects on his experiences and learnings at IMG and articulates the type of organization he wants to build at Stepathlon. The IMG business model is 'individualized', one that faces the vagaries of and the associated risks of dealing with superstar actors, divas or sports persons. Much of the business is predicated on the cordial personal relationships between agents and the superstars. Business suffers if either one of them leaves. In Stepathlon, Ravi wants to focus on building an IP (intellectual property) driven business, where the value is brought not just by connections but also by the organization processes and systems which form the company's IP. This is one way for him to manage the risks associated with businesses.

The other thought that keeps him awake at night is to build a company that is relevant on a global basis. He wants to make Stepathlon the largest mass participation company in the world.

“The focus is on the end user and on delivering valued outcomes like losing weight, controlling diabetes, reducing CVDs, etc; the focus is not just on technology," says Ravi. To him, Stepathlon is not just a wearables or a devices company. It is in the business of human behaviors, and wants to be the game changer for the average person in health & fitness.

It is also important to Ravi that the company is thoughtful of end-users. From Day 1 of Stepathlon, he has instituted a focus on Corporate Social Responsibility. “Take the case of Type II diabetes in kids. It makes no sense. By being smarter, more knowledgeable and aware it is possible to prevent the onset of the disease," says Ravi.

“I Want to Build a Company that is a Thought-Leader and a Thoughtful Leader”, says Ravi tweet

This user-centric business focus seems to be working, because the Stepathlon model has proved to be very successful, profitable, and positively influences users in 54 countries world-wide. Ravi wants to be in at least 150 countries by 2020.

The case of IMG in India and Ravi Krishnan's business journey provide us with enough take-aways for succeeding in new geographies or markets and with the right team. We would do well to remember what James C. Penney said, "Growth is never by mere chance; It is the result of forces working together."