In this exclusive interview with The Executive Magazine, Oli Corkhill, CEO of Viadi Group and Director of the luxury ski company Leo Trippi, shares his remarkable journey from young skier to influential business leader. Oli delves into pivotal moments in his career, the challenges of navigating a global pandemic, and the strategies behind the impressive growth of his companies. Gain insights into his innovative approach to international business, the importance of investing in team morale, and his vision for the future of luxury travel.
- Oli, your journey from a young skier to the Director of an award-winning luxury ski company and CEO of Viadi Group is fascinating. Can you share some pivotal moments in your career that significantly shaped your path to becoming a business leader?
“Starting Alpine Guru back in 2010/11 whilst living out in Verbier (and spending a lot of time skiing) allowed me an opportunity to learn the ropes quickly, as I was responsible for a lot of different business aspects from a (relatively) young age. We made some mistakes along the way, but you learn from these, and crucially, this period enabled me to really learn the ins and outs of the industry. Then, making the move from Alpine Guru to Leo Trippi, came with a different dynamic – suddenly I had a very capable team on board and the opportunity to work with experts across the industry.
“Covid naturally played a factor. I’d recently become CEO of Leo Trippi and I think how we navigated this period was formative for both the company growth and for our culture (protecting our employees, not placing anyone on furlough). Growth for me has really been about taking the opportunity to level up and get outside of my comfort zone, learning as I, and the team, grow.”
- Your early experiences living in diverse countries must have given you a unique perspective on the global market. How have these experiences influenced your approach to international business and expansion?
“Primarily, they’ve given me the appetite to be in what we would view as more emerging and frontier destinations, or markets, to trade in. Whilst we have a strong client base in the USA (and offices in Austin, Texas), I’m drawn to the business opportunities that some of these more emerging markets present, hence our expansion in the UAE, and previously Russia, for example.
“Expanding the business in these markets is more challenging but my early exposure to these different cultures has equipped me with a confidence and appetite for them – they excite me and there’s much to learn here. An emerging market presents an opportunity to influence, build and create. This is what excites us. No risk, no reward.”
- Starting Alpine Guru at the age of 21 and seeing it acquired by Leo Trippi within five years is impressive. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during this transition, and how did you overcome them?
“Starting Alpine Guru from scratch, at a young age with zero funding, and learning the ropes, making mistakes, handling all elements of the business, and later, a global pandemic, were definite learnings. You aren’t necessarily born with patience – but you can learn it, and that has been key in overcoming these challenges. That, coupled with the ability to pivot and the drive to find solutions.
“The dynamic of working very closely with a co-founder is challenging. In the early days of Alpine Guru, as the business evolved we realised we both wanted different things, so navigating that path was a key challenge – without us doing so, the whole business could have fallen apart. The ability and discipline to focus on what we wanted to achieve and the motivation to keep moving towards that was crucial, recognising that results don’t necessarily happen overnight, and as such, persistence and consistency was key. As a result, we were able to take the business from turning over circa $2,000 to $2 million (when acquired by Leo Trippi) in the space of a few years.”
- Leo Trippi navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic without furloughs, retaining all staff. What strategies did you implement to ensure the company’s resilience during such a turbulent period?
“A key strategy for us was to invest in our team. Understanding how the team is feeling – supporting, nurturing and playing to individual strengths in order to get the best out of them – continues to be a primary focus for us.
“During Covid we did our best to maintain team morale – we pivoted to using Slack, had a Friday ‘cocktail hour’, but also, had a Google Meet open daily from 11am for a ‘drop in coffee’ for anyone that wanted to check in. We sought to employ variety and to keep the team engaged, after all, no one was furloughed, so it was about giving people work and a sense of purpose, checking in with everyone and ensuring the team felt supported.
“I also work with a brilliant coach who’s helped me to work on how to deal with stress in business environments and how to better handle my emotions. Credit to my business partner, Auret, who suggested this when we first set up Viadi Group.”
- The Viadi Group has seen tremendous growth in a small space of time. What do you attribute this rapid growth to, and what are your plans for maintaining this momentum?
“The growth comes largely from acquisitions. Viadi was established with the intention of acquiring businesses, and the quickest way to grow is to buy and build, acquiring other companies, provided you’ve got the capital to do it. Our intention is to grow the existing businesses and to complement these with other businesses.
“How we maintain this momentum really comes down to us investing in and acquiring more businesses; organic growth (investing in those businesses we own currently); and the cross-pollination opportunities between these businesses and the clients that we have long-standing relationships with.
- As a company specialising in acquisitions and investments in high-end travel businesses, what key factors do you consider when evaluating potential acquisitions?
“Market positioning: is the business complementary to our existing plans? Ideally there needs to be an opportunity where we can see an existing client in our portfolio travelling with that business also.
“Or, ‘stepping stone’ clients. We’re after owner-managed, founder-led businesses. With the exception of Edge Retreats (since this was a more opportunistic move), other businesses that we have acquired and invested in have a solid, loyal client base, are profitable, and have expert teams, whilst also presenting the opportunity for us to add value to them.”
- With Viadi Group’s presence in multiple countries, including the UK, USA, Switzerland, South Africa, and the UAE, how do you manage and integrate diverse teams and cultures within the organisation?
“Learning the art of communicating across borders and ensuring everyone is brought in and aware of what is happening across the business has been key here.
“From an employee standpoint, we regularly organise team-building and coaching sessions (recently we had Kenton Cool who has summited Everest 18 times come visit our Cotswolds office) and where we can, we bring people together from overseas e.g. from the UAE to the UK.
“Investing in the team is essential, whether supporting them travelling or investing in the tech to support a growing, global team. For example, we recently moved to using the Owl Labs Meeting Owl – an intelligent team meeting conference system that actually means our team can properly hear, understand, and therefore engage in our global team meetings, removing other barriers and ameliorating our comms.”
- The luxury travel sector is constantly evolving. What emerging trends do you foresee in the industry, and how is Viadi Group positioning itself to stay ahead of these trends?
“AI is an interesting one and we’ll be looking at how it can help us build a profile on people based on their search behaviour and preferences.
“Rather than emerging trends, I’d like to think a trend that’s here to stay is the way people are choosing to holiday as they seek holidays with more meaning and a greater sense of purpose. Time is the greatest luxury of all, and rightly, people want precious time to have meaning.
“One of the travel brands within the Viadi portfolio, Explorations Company, has this ‘trend’ nailed. Experiences and trips with Explorations focus on transformational travel, leaving a place better off than when you found it. That could be visiting a local community school in Nepal, assisting with rhino translocation in Kenya, or conservation efforts in the Amazon.
“The Viadi collection of travel brands offers hyper-personalised experiences, whether ski, safari, sailing or the ultimate villa retreat – and this is a trend I also expect we’ll be seeing more of.”
- Established business leaders sometimes face the challenge of sustaining growth while innovating. What strategies have you employed to ensure that Viadi Group continues to innovate and stay competitive in the luxury travel market?
“The key to being innovative is the team and the people in the business, we’re focusing on developing our team, enhancing organisational alignment/culture and creating more of a structure. When we went from 15 people to 50 people we weren’t set up as a business (structurally) for that number of people so now we’re trying to put in a framework that’s ready for 100 people so that when we get there it’s well prepared. Creating the time and headspace for the team to innovate, come up with new ideas (as well as for us as the leaders of the business) is critical.
“Alongside this we are exploring new product, new areas and regions. We’re trying to set the standard in terms of how we communicate to our customers, how we explore what they want and focus on/invest in relationship building with our clients/guests to ensure we are front of their minds.
“Technology/brand – we’re investing heavily – constantly refreshing websites and trying to push how things are done within each niche that we operate in as well as exploring new ones.”
- Looking ahead, what are your long-term visions for both Leo Trippi and Viadi Group? How do you plan to innovate and lead these companies into the future?
“Our long term vision is to keep building on what we have, buy/invest in more businesses and grow all of the current portfolio. We will probably start one or two more brands internally as well.
“Leadership: constantly looking at how best to organise the business, who do we need to bring in / how do we all need to develop and not getting caught up in my own shadow. I was always taught to try and make myself redundant which sounded counterintuitive at first but now I am really starting to understand how that can propel the business forward. Giving the space to work on new projects, client relationships, business development and the culture of the business.
“Innovation: All of the above in terms of developing the business and the team. I think innovation is more key in cultural terms and a mindset. For everyone to strive towards a growth mindset and focus on incremental gains each day. That approach yields the most development and change within a business.”