Run Adam aims to acquire 2 million sports-users and enable over 500,000 transactions over the next 18 months
Sometimes you are unaware of things that are in store for you until a significant opportunity comes knocking at your door.
Something similar happened with K. Yeragaselvan that led to the formation of Run Adam, a 360 degree sports tech-ecosystem.
How it all started for Run Adam
“It all began with our event management company which got us an opportunity to manage and run the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) team Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in its inaugural edition in 2013,” says K. Yeragaselvan, CEO, and MD of Run Adam.
After CPL, Yeragaselvan and his team got into managing a few international cricketers during their IPL visits.
They subsequently conducted Legends Coaching Camps, bringing the likes of Courtney Walsh and Lance Klusener to train upcoming Indian cricketers.
They also conducted Vishy’s Master Class to help chess aspirants learn chess directly from Viswanathan Anand. Furthermore, the team led a Sports Coaching Camp, onboarding coaches from Spain, USA, Jamaica, Argentina among other countries to coach school students.
“These coaching events gave us access to schools and it is then we realized the need for grass root changes for India to develop world-class sportspersons in a variety of disciplines,” says Yeragaselvan.
Problems of the Sports & Fitness Industry that led to the inception of Run Adam
India’s performance in sports lags because schools don’t have sport-specific coaches and usually one physical education teacher acts as a coach for 3 or 4 sports.
“Schools at one end were complaining that there was a scarcity of specialized coaches, on the other hand, we realized that retired Indian athletes were unable to get sustenance in their own sport,” says Yeragaselvan.
The team started searching for sports-related data and could not find any single resource that either tracked past or current sportspersons.
“We then conceived a digital platform with technology as the backbone which would help solve all these problems of the sports and fitness fraternity and thus Run Adam was born,” adds Yeragaselvan.
Professional Assistance and Guidance on the platform
Run Adam is an online sports platform that brings together and connects various sportspersons, professionals & businesses under a single digital platform.
“While our primary target is the sportsperson and our mission is to help improve their performance and we connect the entire sports ecosystem to achieve that purpose,” says Yeragaselvan.
There are numerous professional athletes, coaches, fitness instructors and nutritionists on Run Adam who regularly share training tips, videos, diet plans and workout regimes on their respective profiles.
“Such content can be viewed and followed by young aspiring sportspersons, which indirectly enables knowledge-sharing within the platform,” says Yeragaselvan.
Young sportspersons can book training classes with specialized coaches and book consultation sessions with sports professionals to train harder.
Sports enthusiasts can book sporting venues to practice their sport and also register for sporting events through the platform.
Run Adam also acts as a social media platform for young and aspiring sportspersons who can create their profiles to showcase their achievements, awards, certificates, experience, their workout routines, their goals, training methodologies etc. to get discovered and identified by the sports & fitness industry.
Growth of Run Adam
While the startup was conceptualized in 2017, it has only begun full transactions on the platform about 6 months ago.
It has organically grown to over 40,000 sportspersons registered on the platform who are already transacting.
From a dozen transactions a month, Run Adam has grown to about 1000 monthly transactions in December.
Dhoni’s role in the startup
Initially when Yeragaselvan approached the former Indian Captain, MS Dhoni with the idea, he shared a lot of his experiences and wanted the team to work on certain aspects for the betterment of the platform.
After Run Adam was ready, Yeragaselvan requested Dhoni to be associated with the platform and he graciously agreed to come on board.
“This is the best thing that has happened to us till date,” says Yeragaselvan.
“MS Dhoni is not only the face of Run Adam but also remains a key influencer and plays a key part in providing his inputs for the company’s growth strategies,” he further adds.
Source of Revenue
Run Adam’s primary revenue will be through advertisements and sponsored listings once the platform reaches 2 million user base across all stakeholders combined.
“We are confident that product and service companies will be eager to advertise to a targeted sports community through the platform,” says Yeragaselvan.
However, revenues on the platform come in the form of transaction commissions from:
- Booking of coaches, venues, events and sports professionals
- Ticketing i.e. buying tickets to large sporting events/shows
- CSR commissions and crowd-funding
- Sponsorship commissions
Future plans
Run Adam is in talks to acquire exclusive ticketing rights of some of the prominent teams in IPL and other leagues.
“We are also targeting to be exclusive ticketing partners for state sports events which will pick up once the Covid-19 pandemic is settled,” informs Yeragaselvan.
In 18 months, the startup is targeting revenues of close to INR 25 crores.
“After that, we are confident that advertising revenues will also contribute to a large share in the coming years,” adds Yeragaselvan.
The startup aims to acquire 2 million sports-users and enable over 500,000 transactions over the next 18 months.
They will also enhance their reach to the hinterlands where most of the sports originate.
