In a concerted effort to evaluate our mid-year performance and set strategic goals for the rest of the year, the Kovai.co leadership team recently gathered in the UK. Five team members from our India offices traveled to the UK for this meet-up: VP of Growth, Suprej Venkat; Director of Engineering, Manikandan; Director of Product Development, Premkumar Nandagopal; Head of Data Science, Selvaraju Murugesan; and Chief of Staff-CEO’s Office, Saravanan Balakrishnan.
We chose to host our leadership summit in the UK this year to provide our team with an out-of-office mindset and feel. “Last year, we met in Valparai (TN, India) for a weekend, and it was extremely effective and productive. This year, we decided to meet in our London office because our UK team has grown, and we wanted our India team to visit our brand-new office in Swanley,” said Founder and CEO, Saravana Kumar. “Out-of-office summits or retreats make sure the meetings feel different. Our Heads are free of firefighting, day-to-day challenges, and distractions. This way we can focus entirely on the discussions and fully internalize them,” he added.
The team flew into London on a Saturday night. “On Sunday morning, Suprej and I presented a 50+ strategy document encapsulating 100+ metrics computed from Sales, Marketing and product standpoint and projects based on historical trends,” said Saravanan. This was followed by the rest of the team joining them, exploring Saravana’s house, and checking out his supercars and bikes. They were joined by our Manager of Customer Accounts, Kajal Shetty, and her family as they unwound for the evening.
The main team meetings began on Monday But before we got to work, some of us, like Manikandan and I, started our days with early morning walks and jogs in the beautiful countryside of Kent, setting the tone for a full day of strategic discussions and debates at the office – said Suprej Venkat
Monday was allocated to each business unit (BU) head to discuss their progress and learnings at the end of the first half of the year (H1). “We discussed revenue earned so far, customers acquired, leads generated, features built, bugs fixed, etc. Each head also presented the different initiatives they took, what worked, and what did not, leading to the results over the first six months,” said Saravanan. They also took their first look at the targets for the second half of the year (H2).
Tuesday was dedicated to deep dives into our company’s main departments, such as Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, and Engineering. “This day focused on addressing the gaps we found in each of these areas, like improving the quality of leads, improving customer acquisitions costs (CAC), Lifetime Value of customers (LTV), Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) and other critical metrics. At the end of the day, we came up with action items for each area that can be implemented in the second half of the year based on H1’s learnings,” said Saravanan.
Wednesday featured a unique customer experience workshop, where each participant embarked on a customer journey. They adopted different use cases with specific problem statements to study our customer journeys and address any gaps.
The role play was an eye opener on how our website looks and feels from specific use case perspectives – said Manikandan
The UK team, especially the outbound sales team, also enjoyed meeting and interacting with the India team in person. “It gave us a deeper understanding of the product and we could communicate our challenges and asks better,” said Account executive, Calum Gale.
Thursday focused on setting our revenue targets for the second half of the year (H2) and planning how to achieve them. Each department outlined its action items and the roles they would play in achieving the targets. The team also reviewed the key takeaways from the four days of discussions. “The first four days were intense, with discussions starting around 9:30 am and continuing until 10:30 pm, including over meals. But they were extremely productive,” said Selvaraju Murugesan.
The team usually ordered in lunch and spent the evenings enjoying local pubs and diverse cuisines. “The UK team, including our Vice President of Sales and Customer Success, Gowri Ramkumar; CEO and Founder, Saravana; Vice President of Marketing, Sunil Krishna; and Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Cloke, were super hospitable, taking us to a new restaurant or pub every evening,” said Suprej.
Friday was a day off for the visiting team to explore London. While first-time visitors to UK did some sightseeing, including 221B Baker Street, Madame Tussauds, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and the Thames River cruise, others visited Borough Market, Covent Garden, Harrods, did some shopping and relaxed in a few pubs. Premkumar who lived in London for a few months acted as a guide and took some time off to meet with old colleagues and friends.
On Saturday afternoon, the team flew back to Coimbatore and Chennai, wrapping up a week full of productive discussions and strategies to drive us forward over the next six months.
The leadership retreat not only strengthened our strategic planning but also fostered team cohesion and bonding between teams set in two continents setting a strong foundation for the second half of the year.
