Sathish Chittibabu: Fan is King (Full Transcript)

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Ronen Ainbinder 1:11

Today's Snack features an electric human being, and I'm so excited for being able to share the mic with him!

Originally from India and based today in Chicago, he is an entrepreneur who's the CEO and Co-Founder of a company called Fanisko.

At Fanisko, they aim to help sports brands increase engagement with their fans through digital activations and create new revenue opportunities.

Our guest has a natural passion for providing primary education to financially underprivileged kids through his foundations.

This guy will give us a complete lecture on sports technology, fan engagement, the sports business, and more!

I can't wait to learn from him, so without further ado- allow me to introduce Sathish Chittibabu!

Sathish Chittibabu 1:31

Thanks for having me on your show.

Ronen Ainbinder 1:34

Man. It's my pleasure. How are you, Sathish?

Sathish Chittibabu 1:37

I'm doing good. It's nice weather outside, so I'm trying to get this done and go outside.

Ronen Ainbinder 1:43

All right, all right, we're going to let you go outside in a few minutes right after these Halftime Snacks are over, man, and I was writing these, this icebreaker question. And it's, it's going to sound random. But man, I was so curious. And I want to know what the best sandwich you've ever eaten is?

Sathish Chittibabu 2:06

If you're someone from Philadelphia, they know the Philly cheesesteak sandwich, and I don't eat beef. So I try kind of like a maybe not authentic Philly cheesesteak but a more Philly chicken steak. So you have to have it in Pittsburgh, right or Philadelphia? So you have to have it in some of those places. And that's when you get the authentic one.

Ronen Ainbinder 2:31

Okay, man, that's that I love that answer, man. So make sure if you guys are in Philly or Pittsburgh, grab a sandwich that Sathish is recommending because he's a guy with good taste. But man, let's kick it off right now with some serious questions. The reason why we're here is that we want to talk about technology. We want to talk about finding scope and talk about your story. And so how about you first tell us a little bit about yourself? Where you come from, how you moved to the US, how exactly you started Fanisko? What was the story just to give us a quick two to three-minute introduction to who Sathish is, where he comes from, and where he is right now.

Sathish Chittibabu 3:16

I'm very happy to talk about it, So I am. I grew up in India; I was born and brought up in India in the southern city called Chennai. It's a coastal city. That's one of the places where the Britishers entered India. So in the original name of Chennai, it is called Madras. That's the name the Britishers gave, but the original name is Chennai. So that's the name Everybody goes with. It's a beautiful town, a beautiful city, one of the biggest metropolitan cities in India, and I grew up there and played cricket and tennis. Were two big sports growing up there? Do you remember watching tennis in black and white and there were some tennis legends from Chennai? And cricket has always been a great sport. I don't know, maybe a majority of them. Not No, on this side of the world. But cricket is the second biggest sport in the world, next to soccer. Close to 2 billion people follow it in the world, So Indonesia, and all the Commonwealth countries. And I wanted to be a cricketer. So I guess that always was there. And when you don't become a sports athlete, you end up selling a sports company. So but interestingly, they are like, I came here to do my masters in the US. And then, that's when a couple of my co-founders are the guys with who I went to college. And we went in different directions, But discourse was always a common passion for us. We would meet every year to play fantasy sports. And we always wanted to do something outside of our boring corporate consulting lifestyle. And the common denominator was sports, and we decided to start sports. A sports company and the original version of Fanisko was play by play prediction company, we built it, and we don't have a patent for it. And when we were working on that, we were trying to attack them. The bidding was illegal. So we were trying to work with the big sports teams to sponsor. We were the sponsor for them. And they could not give us an NF ROI from our digital activation standpoint, getting the digital fans for our platform. And that's when we thought about it and said, what, there is an opportunity here, why don't we go and help sports organizations to do better digital fan engagement, So we pivoted as a company we continue to build, and this all happened before COVID.

Ronen Ainbinder 5:41

What year was this? What year

Sathish Chittibabu 5:44

We started the company in 2014. And then we ran the b2c version of our company until, like, kind of 2019 ish, and then made 2019; we did a pivot, strong pivot to focus on the b2b side. And, 2020, COVID happened, and it's all the more like our business became much more relevant; so earlier, digital was always a low priority for the sports organizations because their revenue was primarily coming from the stadium, beer, hot dog, and tickets and merchandise. So now, the whole COVID, shutdowns and bubbles, the teams are open to hearing more ideas, what, what we can do, and that's where Fanisko comes in. Or we can help sports organizations go from zero mud, digital maturity to, at an ideal digital maturity on the curve quickly, with our products and platform that can embed into theirs, or we can build out a complete platform for them. We are kind of like, help eSports organizations create a digital Stadium, which is an extension of their existing what they do with the physical stadium and all rights or digital stadium is think of it as the place where you can have your fans hang out 24 by seven 365 days. And you can bring in your sponsors to sponsor activations, which becomes a new opportunity for the sports teams. And you can activate your fans with gamification, augmented reality, personalization, unique experiences that will be available only on your platform, not anywhere else. So why chase your fans on different platforms, bring them all, engage them, read them on your platform? That's our overall company. I know what we preach and what we in our technology help them.

Ronen Ainbinder 7:30

It sounds like you're really on top of the game regarding technological improvements and bringing the physical to the digital world. So I wonder, in my mind, what are some of the technologies, emerging technologies, or current technologies that you're most excited about? How are you integrating them into the final score? How are you planning to integrate them into the platform? How are you suggesting teams take a look at that type of technology? So let's talk about that.

Sathish Chittibabu 8:02

Sure, sure. I think that's a great question. And I think, to be honest, I'm very passionate about any new modern technology that can give a unique experience to the fans. Without fans, there is no sport, So I'm firm you've been asking me this question. But what is Fanisko? Fanisko means three parts: Fan is Ko, which means King in the Tamil language is my mother tongue. And I know it's a classical language and ko means King. So the fan is King; you have to treat your man as the King. So what can you do to give that experience to you? It's not that one rich fan, who might buy the collectible, It's the millions of ordinary fans who need the small experiences right every day. Beyond politics, beyond religion, beyond geography, and associate themselves with sports, it's easy to connect with them, irrespective of what work you do, how much money you make a fan is a fan. How do you engage your millions of fans? And that's when sports organizations need to think of eSports as something. How can it reach the masses? And right now, it's kind of like we're that sports organizations don't even know who their fans are. They have some fans coming to the stadium buying tickets, but in reality, How do you know Sathish is a Chicago Bears fan? I know how I want to reach him, and I want to make him happy. Give him that emotion that they can connect in turn, right his loyalty will translate to revenue. Like I may buy a ticket, I may buy merchandise, I may buy a season ticket. I may support the sponsor the base would support right, but I deserve to be heard as a fan. Important for the sports organization. So think to reach that, Sathish everywhere, and kind of see how they can build that relationship with them.

Ronen Ainbinder 10:09

The fan is King. I love the analogy. Do you also say fan? In that language, is fan the same word?

Sathish Chittibabu 10:17

fan means. I didn't; we didn't use it. We wanted it. It was. It was a combination with English.

Ronen Ainbinder 10:28

I love it. I love it. Um, it sounds interesting how you've been thinking about digitizing the whole experience? And, putting the priority on the fan? And what I'm thinking right now is that probably, where we still were stealing the time where teams are not aware of this problem, sports organizations know that they have handled funds online. Still, they're probably not putting enough attention or not dedicating enough resources to them? Or they don't. They don't know; this is an awareness problem. So I wonder, first of all, what has been your experience in making teams and sports organizations? Be aware that there is a problem to solve and that you guys can bring it? And I also wonder if this has been the hardest part of selling the Fanisko solution to those sports companies?

Sathish Chittibabu 11:31

Again, another great question, I think we suffer from that awareness problem day in and day out, So sports teams, They have a small back office. So its primary sports are about the players about the sports itself, And of course, the fans, But historically, when you build a stadium, and you have a team. Fans will come and watch; that's been the mindset, But guess what, only 8% 8% of a sports team's fan base goes to watch Game 92% of the fans would not be ever artist now would not even go to watch a game. And there have been studies recently were the big sports like baseballs and footballs, and always the average age of a sports fan is increasing. For example, for baseball, I think I read somewhere it was 56 or 58. That's the age of the average fan. Well, what are we going to do? I grew up watching cricket with my family and friends. So that was a big sport back then. So I'm sure that I know, for example, I have a nine-year-old boy, and we decided not to get him a video game. He can go to his friend's place to play video games, but what we have seen is like he's getting interested in sports. He follows more than me, like we're on football, basketball, and all. But how do we attract a younger audience? So what are the sports teams trying to do to attract the younger audience? So yeah, not all the nine-year-olds can go to the stadium to watch it. That's a completely different experience. And everyone would love to go to the stadium, wearing a jersey and paint their face? And all right, how can you recreate that magic in the living rooms of a fair and keep them feel connected? They are not disregarded. So how do you do that? So now, teams have always kind of like no this problem in a slight manner. But like I said, they are a small back office, and they are hands full with what they can do. And they have invested a lot in player performance analysis and broadcasting, and all right. Still, fan engagement is kind of the trend that teams realize that, Okay, I have to do something. Still, the important thing that teams have to realize is that it's not a single piece of the puzzle. It's an overall puzzle with multiple pieces to it, and all are connected, So you have to solve everything to do it. And you have to think, not think from a short-term tactical thing strategically. Okay, I'll do it for the season. I'll just do it for the playoffs. It is an investment you make. And with returns, you start seeing, in a year or two, right, so that's when you see that fan base, you can make the fan stay connected digitally. And in your digital Stadium, So this must be what we educate, we try to educate, and I guess it just is a game day—all you have to do this.

Ronen Ainbinder 14:35

I am super curious, Sathish, to ask you about the definition of a fan for you because we've talked about it and discussed that a fan is a whole spectrum of different levels of fandom. You have the diehard, the most casual fans, maybe the ones that go to the stadium; we'll have those who don't go to the stratum. They may fall into like 20 different categories, but I want to know what the lowest entry barrier is, at least in your mind, for someone to be called a fan. And what makes one like what is the what do you think is the let's call it a connection that is created probably an insight inside someone's brain that makes him a fine, if that makes any sense.

Sathish Chittibabu 15:25

So I don't know if you saw the news; NBA impacted as a superfan at Toronto Raptors fan. He's an Indian origin person who has lived in Canada for many years. And guess what, right, that guy has not missed a single Raptors game in 25 years. He was a car salesman; he migrated to Canada in the mid-80s. And he struggled and found a job and became a car salesman; he was working so hard. And he wanted a lead-out, and somebody showed him how to play basketball or something. And he got a ticket for it and started following them. And he has not missed a single game, and he is a fan; irrespective of how Raptors do, whether they lose rain or whatever, he will be the last person last fan in the stadium to walk out after a game. And, when the Raptors won the championship last year, or the year before, I think they gave him a ring because they treated him. He's like a super fan, and the NBA, for the first time, inducted him into their Hall of Fame. Okay, he is a super fan, so Everybody connects with sports for some reason or the other. It could be an emotional reason, and it could be great laid out for them and all those things. And in my opinion, Everybody is a fan of something. You are a fan of a movie or entertainment, or sport. But sports is one thing that connects all of us beyond a lot of other differences. It doesn't matter which skin color you are, what language you speak, or what you work and all. So a fan, if he's able to enjoy something from a sports perspective, he connects with it instantly, And then the stories about the player are the stories about the times. It resonates very well with those fans. So naturally, a fan is expected, or maybe a fan by default would be loyal to the team. But unfortunately, I think the teams don't even know that loyal fans, So it's because, to me, to baseball, anybody who has a smartphone in their hand is a fan of a sports team. Because they can get the information they need on the sports team and all those things. All you have to know is, okay, who's that fan? And then how do I connect with them? How do I engage with them on my platform? That's what a digital strategy would help the sports teams achieve.

Ronen Ainbinder 17:59

Yeah, it makes sense. Sathish, thank you for answering that. Now I want to create something like a small practice. And I want to do this for, of course, the audience. But let's suppose that I'm right now a sports organization listening to these podcasts. And I want to learn very practical; how do I have to think about fan engagement? And how do I have to think about solving a problem that I didn't know, 25 minutes ago that I had, and now I know? Let's say I'm this sports organization in Brazil. Okay. And so I'm listening to you, and I want to know, what are the questions that I have to ask my organization, my boss, my, my marketing team, what are the things that I have to look at? What were the stats? What are the facts? What are the numbers? What are the things that I have to think about to come up with concrete solutions in terms of knowing who our loyal fans are? Who are the people that follow us anywhere in the world? And what can we also do to start connecting with them more efficiently? So give us a little bit of just a guide, a very overview guide of how sports companies should think about the fan engagement starting from scratch, beginning from everything you have explained until now.

Sathish Chittibabu 19:23

there's no magic pill to solve it But what sports teams can do is they can learn from how other industries have digitally transformed think about it right how banking transform digital, How ecommerce, commerce transform digitally, right how healthcare transformed digitally, So every other industry right have transformed digitally right over a period of time and there's always been that learning that they picked it up So that's one thing Another thing that we have talked with so many sports team, right that one thing we see is so sports teams do not have a strong economic, expanded technology team or anything like that the back office is so small and more the majority of them are sponsorship guys or marketing guys or operations, guys, because that's their main key job, So one of the key elements for sports organizations to think is right, having the right leader inside leader, a visionary tech leader, right, who's able to think who's able to kind of see the, big picture of how I digitally transform my sports organization, from where we are right now, to where we want to be. One of our clients, as a minor league team, we were very surprised with the vision, that he's kind of like the director of everything, Director of Product Marketing and everything, how that guy's vision was right, he said that, hey, even for me selling a $10 bleacher seat is, I don't want to give away $3 in ticket commission, because that's revenue for us, And I'm not the only one. But I want to build this model. And I want to help all the teams in the minor league to see that, hey, this is how you make money, not connecting the information, engaging the fans, and all those things, So you need that visionary leader. Without that, it's going to be hard. We as a business cannot talk to the organization's president; he won't have a clue. We need to talk with somebody, so it will be great when we have that leader who understands and sees that, yep, it makes sense. And this is my priority. And he should be able to go and fight with his management to get the budget needed or get the resources needed. Because without that, it's hard. Like, you can, you can aspire, but without a plan and resource in place, you just cannot do anything, And then the second step would be that you identify a digital partner, And know, which company do I want to work for for for with? So of course, it would be great if at this fancy school library where we can help it but there are companies like you who have to think strategically that, Okay, I need to solve these problems, And what's the big picture? How do I solve this problem? And how do other organizations all know how other industries are solved? Now he gets a picture of the next step. And then they will start drafting, like a plan and say that, Okay, what, I need to do this, it's not going to happen in one month, trust me, it's a commitment that the sports organization needs, or the leader in the sports organization, to do it over a multi-year period because they are not in a race or you're not competing with any other human, you might compete on the field with your rival in the division in the league. But your sports fans are yours; You're not going to go and take away like, for example, that Dodgers LA Dodgers fans are not going to be, they're not going to steal a fan from the New York Yankees, So they're a completely different set. Whatever you do is for your fan; your fans are different culturally, geography right here, and different understand them. I know, like, we have been following the news of what happened. English Premier League right when those big teams wanted to start a league on them revolted, So every fan is different. You have to understand that from your sports base, build that strategy, build a digital strategy, solve the problem one by one, and understand the overall analytics picture and connect the dots. That's kind of like the vision step by step; you have to approach a problem. I did summarize it in very short, but it's a big strategy. It's not like; I just turn on the light; it's going to solve the problem; it's not going to happen. What

Ronen Ainbinder 23:33

What would you advise a company? Do you think so? I think that this is a question that most companies may have. Also, in terms of their budget, but is it more important to outsource a digital team or company that supports their digital strategy, strategy and brings solutions and develops technology for them? Or would you say that it's better to have the in-house development and meaning not outsourcing, but maybe hiring or developing the technology? Through your employees? What are your thoughts on that?

Sathish Chittibabu 24:11

Well, I think sports, I don't think we are in the business of technology. But they are in the business of engagement. Right, so they should. In my opinion, they're better off outsourcing it, either a product, buying a tech stack, and integrated or canonical digital partner. But it's important that, of course, we see that every sports team has some digital presence, they have some digital leaders and but unfortunately, they don't get the budget and attention needed from the overall grand scheme of things; I'm hoping this whole COVID and the situation until they can convince their management to create that budget and create the plan. So, that's, I always feel bad for those technology leaders in the sports organizations because they've always been like, Okay, what that's like number 20 on the priority list, But now I'm sure that it has moved up. The Alex in the top five, okay, we have to do these things, Because eventually, the sponsor is also going to come in, the right sponsor is also going to say that, hey, I need this digital activation. The sports teams cannot go and hire a person to do that. It's an activation. So they need to say that, okay, hey, this technology, landscape changes. But I'm okay with outsourcing to the right partner. And if there is a new requirement, new requests, right, so let the partner solve it for you, So the partners would love to solve it, because, they are in that business of, like, for example, for us, I find a scope, we work with clients, we have a product, we sell a platform that we sell, but in addition, we also decided that, hey, we just cannot sell a platform and expect the teams to use it. They, they just need some extra support. We also offer many services where we help them solve other problems. So other technology needs, So it's always important when they work with an external firm. It takes a lot more value because they just can't hire people forever. If, for example, a bank, right, they have like, 1000s of technology folks working for a bank, back office, A sports organizations, I don't think they can afford to hire like 100 technology resources so that they will have probably, like, maybe two or five Max, like the digital guy, they call it digital who wear multiple hats, So obviously, they need a stronger technology to outsource.

Ronen Ainbinder 26:34

Man, what a great answer. I can feel your passion for your words and the things that you're explaining. And I'm learning so much while I watch that, man, I was losing track of time while you were speaking; it is a lot to digest Sathish. Great answer, man? Well, I can talk about this for a couple of hours,? Sadly, this is only a halftime snack. So we got to wrap it up, man. But before we leave Sathish, I want to ask you one last and personal question, man. And that is, who is one person that you admire? And why.

Sathish Chittibabu 27:16

Yeah, I admire a great leader who died 60, 70 years ago is Mahatma Gandhi. I think he was one person who created a change when Everybody would fight a battle or a war with guns and swords to get freedom. He just told people that follow nonviolence. And he convinced 300 million people just to follow normal islands and not be treated as a to me. I admire him every day because to change, how do you convince people to believe in your vision? His vision was this is the way you cannot. A gun is not a fight, as an answer to another gun. I know, like, so he was able to convince me with his vision, that to me, he is one of the greatest leaders, both from politics or all from business. So I think that if I'm able to kind of do what he had done, I know it will be a great achievement in my life.

Ronen Ainbinder 28:19

Too bad that he was not a cricket player as you'd be a big fan, huh?

Sathish Chittibabu 28:25

Absolutely!

Ronen Ainbinder 28:27

I want to thank you so much for coming to the Halftime Snacks. Man, it has been such a pleasure to host you. I'm telling you that I'm still thinking about all the things that you said. And I'm going to think about them for a couple of months because it has been a massive, massive episode. Thank you so much for coming for your insights and everything you mentioned; man, I wish nothing but the best for you and Fanisko. I'm sure that you guys will get far, and I can't wait to see it, man. But for now, thank you so much for coming to the Halftime Snacks.