The General Director of Sportradar Sportradar sports data, Karsten Kerle told The Ceo Magazine how the business of this company was created and developed and what is the secret of its success. “Bookmakers rating” publishes a translation of this article.

Karsten Kerl: Passion and Innovation – the key to business success

The General Director of Sportradar Sportradar sports data, Karsten Kerle told The Ceo Magazine how the business of this company was created and developed and what is the secret of its success. “Bookmakers rating” publishes a translation of this article.

SPOTRADAR CEO about the secret of the company's success

Karest Kerl is not one of those who can hardly wake up and go to everyday work. What is the secret of his happiness? Passion. “I was lucky to be madly passionate about what I am doing,” says the founder and general director of Sportadar, “it’s not the amount of the company, the number of employees or profit. If we talk about me, then the passion for what I do is more important. I am managing the company, I play sports, I do technology, and we are a global company. This is what is perfect for me. ”

Karsten founded Sportradar in 2001, after two young Norwegian entrepreneurs wrote software that allows you to receive information on bookmakers. From that moment, the company has grown from a start-up-oriented start-up technology located in an office with an area of ​​20 square meters, to a world leader in sports data and audiovisual content. Now the company has more than 20 offices in 15 countries and covers over 300 thousand sporting events annually.

I am managing the company, I play sports, I do technology, and we are a global company. This is what is perfect for me

“Six months later, since we founded, we had a computer network of 40 cars that I walked and marked with different colors to know which type of base and software was installed on a particular device. So we could clearly see our growth on these computers. And they saw that the business grew, and there was a demand for it. This was the starting point, ”Karsten explains.

Bet Win

Karsten leads all aspects of Sportradar, focusing on the strategy, from the moment the project was launched. Identification of demand and forecasting of technological trends related to business are an integral part of its work. Karsten did the same in his previous Betandwin company, an organization (now called Bwin), which he founded and led to one of the most successful placements on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

At that time, the idea of ​​Karsten with Betandwin was so advanced that he had difficulties in finding customers. “It was 1996, the Internet appeared recently,” he recalls.

“We realized that we have no customers, because bookmakers were unsure if the internet was a sustainable channel back then».

“That step into management was invaluable,” Karsten says, “if you manage something, you understand the needs of the industry more. It was the forerunner of the Sportradar. It was at that time that I learned that the betting industry needed a transparent way to get information.”

At that time, I learned that the betting industry needs in a transparent way of obtaining information

The main idea of ​​Sportradar is maximum efficiency and understanding of the power of statistics in sports, a valuable and in many cases fundamental asset of its clients, including sports organizations, media companies and bookmakers. After creating the initial software for Sportradar, drawing on his previous experience, Karsten came to the conclusion that “everything is driven by sports statistics and sports information, and if this information is not available, then you must collect it and make it public. We have launched a highly specialized sports news agency with correspondents around the world, whom we call statistical journalists. Today we have about six thousand statisticians covering 38 sports in almost 95 countries.”.

Sportradar exists thanks to a team of young, loving and knowledgeable sports analysts

Professional sports analysts

The high demand for the unique product that Sportradar offers to the market has led to rapid growth, Carsten explains. The company expanded rapidly, opening offices in Switzerland and Germany, and most recently in the United States. “If you read books about company development, then no author would recommend you open so many offices in so many places,” Karsten says.

“There are many problems of a different nature, including with local laws, this is a kind of synchronization task, but I believe that this is also the strength of our organization. I would say Sportradar exists thanks to a team of young, loving and knowledgeable sports analysts. This is what unites us.

Operating a truly international company with many offices, as well as maintaining a strong corporate culture, is another feat of this business. “Culture is the most important thing,” Karsten says, “our people need team spirit and unity.”

One way to achieve this kind of unity among Sportradar employees across the planet is to organize competitions between offices, including events related to the arts or sports. Along with the standard office communication tools, Karsten also takes a very personal approach to global management, believing that presence in the office is also very important.

I want to communicate with our employees, I want to convey to them what I think, listen to them, and just spend time with them. I think it works pretty well

“In 2016, I traveled approximately 220 days.One of the main reasons for this is that I want to communicate with our employees, I want to convey to them what I think, listen to them, and just spend time with them. I think it works pretty well. ”

Ahead of the game

Sportradar is related to the media, television and radio broadcasting, as well as technical and applied sciences, so the company must be one step ahead of the game in the field of digital broadcasts. Thanks to strong technological foresight and high -quality statistical service, contracts with the NBA and NFL, as well as partnership agreements with Twitter, Google and Facebook were concluded. “The NBA bosses and NFL want to know how to improve their product in the modern world of advanced digital technologies,” explains Karsten, “the older generations are already with them, and now they are eager to lure those who were born in the 2000s.”

“This is possible only if the statistics are in an interesting way,” he says, “and how to do it? You need to go to social networks, use virtual reality, augmented reality and output channel. This is exactly what we do for you possible. Companies such as Google or Facebook can bring statistics to life through their channels. ”

So, how does Karsten balance the existing power of Sportradar with the flexibility of the necessary company to create new exciting tracks against the background of new technologies and opportunities? This is what he says about how to anticipate the development of the market: Somehow you should see the ability to see. See how all this develops, what drives the market. There are certain distinguished megatrends to which we simply must adapt, such as, say, the Internet of things. ”

“You must study the trends and check if you can determine what your client will need in the future. For example, many clubs and federations may face the fact that customers will ask for virtual reality for their sites and stadiums, ”says Karsten.

Karsten Kerl: We need to study every day, and we often have to change our structure

The exponential world

Of course, with all these conversations about 3D-rendering, athletes dressed in uniforms, allowing viewers to see parameters such as the level of energy, the possibilities of virtual reality, making accessible to watch sports matches “with friends” when they are in different parts of the planets, technological Achievements sound exciting.

“It all sounds a little fantastic, but the power of computers is already here, and the video and statistics are also here, just all this should come together so that the process goes. Our organization is arranged in such a way that our people with all the passion strive to use these opportunities that the world market gives, and they understand that technology strengthen them. We adapt well and find our own path. We need to innovate every day and be open to adapt, we need to learn every day and we need to change our structure often».

This unbridled pace at which Karsten and Sportradar are moving is essential today. As he notes, we live in an exponential world: technological capabilities are doubling, data storage is quadrupling, and competitors can copy others in a matter of hours. “A good friend of mine said that what grows linearly in an exponential world falls back exponentially,” Karsten says.

“It drives business. We are like a sailboat: the wind blows powerfully into our sails, but we do not resist; we are moving with great speed, carried forward by this wind. It's in our DNA. The company is growing at 30% to 40% every year and I try to maintain that growth rate. Where there is a market, there is the main growth. You have to be very flexible, and if you are not static, then ready to innovate: this is exactly what drives us.”