CogMat - A Digital Media Marketing Agency Working with Clients from India, UAE & Hong Kong
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depends on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining proper questions to ask.” – Albert Einstein.
When it comes to starting a new business, more often than not, people have fancy presentations with business plans and ideas that are full of ‘What the product service is all about? How much revenue it will earn you per quarter? When should you launch it in the market?’ Missing in the process is talking about real core thought to initiate something,
Mitchelle Carvalho believes that to start a new venture, one need to first ask two important questions: Why should I start? Why I think it will work? It’s important to ask the right questions, everything else just falls in place after that.
Born and brought-up in a Middle Class family in a bustling city of Mumbai, Mitchelle is the first generation entrepreneur, and began working at the age of 17. Although in a stable job, it did not bring her the intellectual satisfaction she longed for. So, one day she just walked upto her mother, handed-over all her savings of 80,000 rupees and told her not expect anything from her for a year as she had decided to take plunge and start on her own.
With Business Development as her core strength in Software Services, IT recruitment and Internet Marketing, Mitchelle identified the growing need of social and digital media marketing services by brands and thus co-founded CogMat, in 2010, with her mentor Chirag Purecha. Chirag was also her original investor and kind enough to give her, her first teammate, two systems and a section in his office to function out of; at the outset. With a lot of hard work, passion and creativity, in a short period of 14 months, they received some tremendous business demanding for physical growth and more space. Eventually, what started out as a small department in an IT company, became a full-fledged digital marketing agency as she and her team moved out into the office of CogMat’s own.
Today, Mitchelle is the CEO and leads her team of 50+ at CogMat, which has progressed to providing 360-degree digital solutions, including Social Media Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Search Engine Optimisation, Online Advertising, Affiliate Marketing among Websites and e-commerce design and development. They are successfully doing that for over 30 brands from industries such as Retail, BFSI, Technology and Education in India and Hong Kong.
CogMat derives its name from two words, Cogito and Materius, which when put together simply means ’thoughts to matter’. At CogMat, they are strong believers of Cogito Ergo Sum meaning ‘I think therefore I am’ and bring the same philosophy into their work lives, which in the essence defines what everything at CogMat is all about.
From day one, her roles have been diverse. One day she could be talking to decision-makers and negotiating deals, while on another she could be serving tea and snacks for her team that's staying late in office to meet a project deadline. Her people and her clients sum up her major responsibilities, everything else is simply in between.
Her primary responsibilities include the regular duties of a CEO of any agency, but above all she diligently works at setting up best practices.
At this juncture of her career, the best advice she gives to aspiring entrepreneurs is Plan and have Goals, but don’t get bogged down or disappointed if you don’t meet them. Plans always go awry, goals are more often than not never met; however, it must not slow your pace. If you maintain the fervour and passion, results will show and they will definitely be worth the wait.
Reputation is everything. As an entrepreneur, one’s list of priorities in your set-up should be - Company Reputation, Clients, Employees and Money - necessarily in THAT order. As much as money is important to run the show, if one’s reputation and work don't match up, you won't survive for long.
Invest in a strong work ethic and good people - the return on investment on these two are bountiful.
Mitchelle likes reading on body language and human psychology, learning new languages and travelling the world in her spare time.
