How YouTooCanRun utilizes SmartTask to conduct Running Events

Managing Race Events End to End with SmartTask

YouTooCanRun is a Mumbai-based running ecosystem company helping convert non-runners into runners through technology, race infrastructure, and tools for event organizers and brands.

Highlights

Challenges

• No single place for work: Tasks lived in conversations and meetings, making it hard to scale operations reliably.
• Status meetings didn’t scale: With dozens of moving parts, critical items would slip because only a subset got discussed.
• Low visibility for leadership: Hard to see priorities, lagging work, ownership, and how time was being spent.
• Accountability for the biggest cost center: Salaries are the biggest expense, but time and effort were not tracked in a decision-ready way.
• Process knowledge was hard to standardize: Best practices were not consistently embedded into day-to-day execution.

Solution

• SmartTask as a company-wide “ERP”: Every business process became a project, powered by templates and repeatable checklists.
• Templates as SOPs: HR, accounts, and race execution were templatized so teams could launch work instantly and follow consistent stages.
• Timesheets connected to profitability: The team tracked time per project and used exports to power BI reporting for cost control and client-level profitability conversations.
• Follower-based visibility: Stakeholders (CEO, HR, functional leads) followed key process projects to stay informed without constant meetings.

Outcome (early, internal estimates)

Within 4–6 months of standardizing operations in SmartTask, YouTooCanRun saw:

✅ 40% fewer status meetings by shifting updates from verbal check-ins to task-level tracking

✅ 29% faster process completion for repeatable functions like compliance and monthly finance workflows

✅ Better delivery consistency across 10–15 concurrent events during peak season, with fewer last-minute surprises

✅ Clearer cost visibility per client and project, supporting more confident pricing and profitability decisions

✅ Higher client confidence by showcasing their race management process and best practices during sales conversations

Building process discipline across HR, finance, and race delivery

As YouTooCanRun scaled, they needed a system that could reliably track hundreds of operational tasks across departments, especially when running multiple events in parallel across stages like initiation, registration launch, marketing, sponsorship, operations, and permissions.

They treated the organization as a “process of processes” and mapped each one into structured projects and templates.

What they tried before SmartTask

• No formal system initially: Work was run through direct check-ins, which worked only while the team was small.
• Tried Trello: But it didn’t have time tracking and reporting views that they needed
• Basecamp was Limiting: It just wasn’t scalable for their business
• Zoho Projects interface was clunky: It slowed them down instead of helping them move fast
• Experimented with tools: They evaluated options like Trello, Asana, Jira, and Basecamp before converging on SmartTask as the best fit for their needs.

What they were looking for

YouTooCanRun wanted one system that could combine:

• Task and project management for cross-functional execution
• Timesheets for measurable accountability and cost visibility
• A practical, scalable setup that teams could adopt without heavy overhead

They also valued SmartTask’s India-first context and economics, alongside functional fit.

The Solution

To bring discipline without slowing teams down, YouTooCanRun built three foundational systems in SmartTask.

Turning templates into SOP-powered execution

Every core function became a reusable template project.

Example: Race Planning

Whenever they onboard a new client, they create a project from a Race Planning Template:

• With each phase defining the progress of the event - Planning, Creatives, Schedules, Marketing, Execution, etc
• Milestones to keep tabs on the progress
• Inviting clients as guest users so they can collaborate with the execution team seamlessly
• Increased visibility with Timeline view along with Critical path and Baseline

If anyone needs historical context later, it is all documented inside the project.

Finance and compliance as repeating accountability loops

They set recurring tasks for obligations like GST, TDS, and other compliance activities so nothing is missed, and leadership gets notified when critical items are completed.

Timesheets as the backbone for ROI and profitability

Timesheets became their most valuable module, powering internal accountability and client-level profitability clarity.

They export timesheet data and feed it into BI (Google Data Studio) to analyze time by project and client, supporting pricing and margin decisions.

Why this mattered for their clients

YouTooCanRun used their process rigor as a competitive advantage in sales.

They even stopped sharing full templates externally after realizing clients could copy best practices, and preferred selective sharing instead.

Advice from Venkatraman to teams implementing SmartTask

User adoption is the make-or-break factor.

He frames process discipline as a growth enabler: documentation makes performance visible, repeatable, and scalable across the team.