Interview With Raghu Rajaram, Founder of Knowble Minds

1. Describe your Business and founders.

Knowble Minds is in the business of creative designs and digital marketing. We add value in the areas of creative designs, branding, digital marketing, website & mobile app development. We are the trusted agency partners for top brands like Tata Steel, Club Mahindra, Livspace, Featherlite etc.

The company is founded by myself, Raghu Rajaram, an Engineering and MBA degree holder with 12 years of experience in heading marketing for firms such as Cavinkare, Sterling Holidays, Akshaya Pvt Ltd etc.

2. What is the biggest challenge of being a CEO and how do you overcome it?

Being a CEO, you do not have an option to look up to someone in the organization for any guidance. You are the leader and you are the one who will be looked upon. It requires immense mental perseverance and dedication towards your firm to deliver the best always. You will face more failures than successes and more criticisms than praises. To carry the same strength always and move on will be the greatest challenge any 1st gen Entrepreneur would face.

3. Where do you see the company in the next five years and how will you bring about the change?

Physical presence for the brand in all the metros is essential for us to acquire more quality clients. We aspire to be present in at least 4 more metros apart from Chennai in the next five years. It can be achieved by consistently building and associating with a network of talents and business leaders in the geographies of interest. Knowble Minds is a part of leading business networks in India and it is a strategic move towards building the network mentioned.

4. Did you ever feel like giving up on being a CEO and what motivated you to pull this off?

The thought of going back to the lucrative salary yielding Corporate Job will strike you more often in the first 6 months of business operations. That is the time when you are going to miss the ‘Salary Credited’ message every first week of the month and that is the time your business had not started yielding much as expected. Every Entrepreneur goes through this phase. So did I. All I do at those moments is to think of why I started this journey in the first place and whether I would regret the decision of giving up after say 15 years. 

5. Describe your biggest achievement

After facing a series of rejections, for 33 times to be precise, I was able to crack the accounts of Tata Steel, Club Mahindra, Livspace, Featherlite etc. who are dream clients for many established agencies in India. Today we stand with 20+ quality clients in our portfolio and this is definitely an achievement for an organization that is less than 2 years old.

6. From where did you get the idea for a business?

My 12-year stint in the corporate world gave me the confidence and the foundation to start a Marketing Firm on my own. The learnings that I acquired over the years have proved really handy.

7.What was your aim to start the company?

To do what you love and to love what you do is the motto. Not just in business, in life in general. One may not achieve this until he/she creates something on their own.

8.Tell us some of your failures

When I started my journey as an Entrepreneur representing my marketing agency, all my pedigrees including my educational background and work experiences did not matter. It was like starting from scratch. I had to prove my worth all over again. In that process, I had gone through a thorough grind of 33 straight rejections. Looking back at it now, those were the precious learning curves that I had gone through. 

9.What is the role of your family in your successful career?

My parents always had the vision of giving us quality education without any compromise. Even though they did not earn much, they sacrificed their prime time in moulding us (myself and my sister) into youngsters with big ambitions. That paved the way towards my Engineering, MBA and landing good jobs. Now it is my spouse, Deepika, who supports me in this new journey of mine. Regardless of the ups and downs in the business, she has always been encouraging. I am fortunate to have got this support all along.

10.What is your message to the young generations and their parents?

It is not right to expect every student at school or college even, to have a clear vision of where they need to end up. It did not happen to me. It did not happen with many successful people in history. Sometimes it is best to leave them to explore what is best for them until eventually, they figure that out. Giving their kids quality education and freedom to explore extra-curricular activities will certainly help them.

The younger generation needs to have focus and perseverance in whatever they do. No success is achieved overnight. Some take a year, some take a decade. But what is important is to be consistent with the efforts and enjoy the journey. The destination is certainly yours.

7.What was your aim to start the company?
To do what you love and to love what you do is the motto. Not just in business, in life in general. One may not achieve this until he/she creates something on their own.

8.Tell us some of your failures
When I started my journey as an Entrepreneur representing my marketing agency, all my pedigrees including my educational background and work experiences did not matter. It was like starting from scratch. I had to prove my worth all over again. In that process, I had gone through a thorough grind of 33 straight rejections. Looking back at it now, those were the precious learning curves that I had gone through.

9.What is the role of your family in your successful career?
My parents always had the vision of giving us quality education without any compromise. Even though they did not earn much, they sacrificed their prime time in moulding us (myself and my sister) into youngsters with big ambitions. That paved the way towards my Engineering, MBA and landing good jobs. Now it is my spouse, Deepika, who supports me in this new journey of mine. Regardless of the ups and downs in the business, she has always been encouraging. I am fortunate to have got this support all along.

10.What is your message to the young generations and their parents?

It is not right to expect every student at school or college even, to have a clear vision of where they need to end up. It did not happen to me. It did not happen with many successful people in history. Sometimes it is best to leave them to explore what is best for them until eventually, they figure that out. Giving their kids quality education and freedom to explore extra-curricular activities will certainly help them.
The younger generation needs to have focus and perseverance in whatever they do. No success is achieved overnight. Some take a year, some take a decade. But what is important is to be consistent with the efforts and enjoy the journey. The destination is certainly yours.