I recently went one on one with Saravana Kumar, founder & CEO of Kovai.co.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?  

Saravana: I was born and raised in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. In 2000, I moved to London after completing my master’s in computer applications. Initially, I worked as a consultant for various firms like Microsoft, Fidelity, etc. During that time, I was working with a Microsoft Technology— Biztalk server. I identified a recurring problem and took it up as a challenge to come up with a solution that could have immense potential in the market. I developed a prototype and soft launched it at a conference where many industry influencers were present. It immediately got their attention, and they even provided some feedback on the product. I worked on some improvements and finally our very first product—BizTalk360 was launched in 2011.   

The initial challenge was with respect to our go-to-market strategy. Building the product was comparatively easy since I know the technical know-how, but I didn’t have experience in sales and marketing. There are a few other challenges too, especially during the early stages like core people leaving at wrong times, wrong hires, people who you trusted leave and they take away a few of your core members.  Despite all the challenges we had, we overcame and moved forward. I’ll say it’s the passion I have for building products and solving user problems. Apart from this, the ability to impact so many people’s lives and create something bigger than me in the community, especially in my hometown Coimbatore, India.   

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?  

Saravana: While I was consulting, I identified the pain points of large enterprise customers and recognized that the solution could benefit the customers and save a lot of time and money for them. For any product to be successful, it must address a problem. All the products we develop here (at Kovai.co) solve at least one user problem. One must be patient and persistent in their approach. It might take a long hard road to finally reach your goal. But until you achieve success, you need to keep pushing forward.   

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?  

Saravana: As I developed a prototype of the product, I demonstrated it to a bunch of MVP peers and other industry influencers. They were really impressed by the product and the potential it has in solving the business problem. With the feedback I received for the product, I fine-tuned the product and launched it in 2011. Within a couple of weeks, we got our first client, all the way from Hong Kong. Simultaneously, I had slowly built a community where I used to frequently publish blogs on BizTalk technology. This has resulted in creating initial hype around the product and garnering inputs that would benefit us in the development stage. So, my advice to fellow entrepreneurs is along with community engagement, always start with a prototype before you even talk about your product to your potential customers. Prototyping helps to validate key scenarios and identify technology stack.   

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?  

Saravana: First and the most important thing is your product, if you have a market-fit product, then half of the job is done. Another aspect is sales and marketing strategy— building a product is comparatively easy if you know the technical expertise. Taking the product to the market is another ball game altogether. One needs to have a concrete business plan to execute strategies at the right time. If things do not work out as planned, there should be a proper plan b to fall back into. And finally, your people. Your people are your assets. Whatever Kovai.co has achieved until now, I owe it to past and current employees.   

Entrepreneurs must be patient with their approach in scaling their business. Most startups fail these days due to pre-mature scaling. For example: Trying to aggressively scale and market your product without a market-fit is a foolish move and will lead to failure. Setting up a strategy in alignment with your goals will benefit when you are managing multiple projects at the same time. It helps to track progress and prioritize things accordingly.  

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?  

Saravana: Nowadays, the main challenge lies in reaching the target market. Brands must come up with innovative ideas to encourage end-users to read, share, or try the product. Taking the product to the market is an overly complex task. You must analyze the market, your end customers, and your competitors to devise a proper sales and marketing strategy. The first step in doing that is developing a market-fit product. The success of your product depends upon the value it brings to the customers.   

Once you have the product that “sells”, narrow down your target audience and start networking with them. Publish thought leadership articles and informative blogs to improve brand visibility within your community. Gather testimonials and feedback from existing customers & showcase this to your target audience. Social media channels are also a low cost but effective way of updating on new products, features and building traction. In addition, search engine optimization can improve visibility in search engine pages which in turn would generate more visitors and leads for your business.  

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?  

Saravana: Leadership is how efficiently someone handles difficult situations. Those who are being led by them shouldn't feel the pressure of it. In my opinion, a good leader should be like a sports leader — passionate, inclusive, and pragmatic.  

Often many young leaders these days, lose patience and give up before reaching their end goal.  A leader has to be very persistent as well as practical in their approach. Sometimes, it takes longer to get to the end of the tunnel. But eventually, things will turn around in your favor when you are patient with your efforts.  

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?  

Saravana: Along with change in the way we work, there is a shift in the way teams are being managed and people are led now. Running a team requires a coordinated effort.  As a growing organization, we realize the need to implement proper systems and have efficient processes in place to manage teams. At Kovai.co, we have organically grown with a people-first mindset. Employees in the company should be happy so that they can contribute to the company’s success.   

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?  

Saravana: Be Persistent, Frugal and a Coach.  

One most important thing to learn in entrepreneurship is to be persistent in our efforts. Always consider the long-term perspective. Business owners should ensure to implement systems that empower employees to work independently. This will allow them to take ownership of the tasks they perform. We at Kovai.co follow the basic mantra “don’t build products that you can’t sell and don’t sell products that you can’t build”. We realized that in business, there is no such thing as theoretical business, the only way to learn is by doing. Here, every situation, success, and failure has imparted learning much more than a B-school could teach you. Therefore, my advice to fellow business owners is to do what they feel is right, learn and make course corrections, whenever required.  

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?  

Saravana: I have a different take when it comes to taking advice. It is always better to follow your hunch and make the right decisions. During my initial days as an entrepreneur, I used to take advice from a lot of people. For example, if there is a problem with an employee, I would immediately call one of my advisors for a chat and blindly follow their advice. And that resulted in losing one of our core employees. Only later, I realized that the advisors will not have all the context and it may lead to unnecessary complexities.   


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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