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Meet Aman Goel Co-Founder of Cogno AI

March 3, 2022
8 mins read
Aman Goel Co-Founder of Cogno AI
Aman Goel Co-Founder of Cogno AI

Aman is cofounder of Cogno AI, the most trusted Conversational CX Platform for businesses.

He founded Cogno with Harshita, his cofounder. Aman is a graduate of IIT Bombay.

Aman founded Cogno with virtually no upfront investment. He went on to join some of the most critical Enterprise Clients, build a team of more than 100 members, and lead to the acquisition by Exotel of Congo.

Aman is a Software Engineer at heart and a Businessman by education.

Aman has worked with industry leaders for nearly five years.

What is the story of Cogno AI?

I was in Palo Alto for my tech internship at Rubrik. It took place over June, July, and July 2016.

Rubrik was the best internship opportunity I experienced in my third year.

I worked with the File Systems Team to migrate their backend database from one DBMS into another.

I learned a lot from my team of smart people.

But, during my internship, I learned a few things.

a.) I cannot live without my parents. I should remain in India, as my parents are not planning to move to the US.

b.) I was very impressed with the learning experience at Rubrik and decided to explore my options for starting my own business.

IIT Bombay’s 7th semester began in July 2016. A couple of college friends contacted me to discuss my desire to create my own business.

One of my college friends suggested that I look into DSSE (Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship), IIT Bombay.

I spent three years at IIT Bombay, and I didn’t know DSSE. IIT Bombay boasts a vast academic infrastructure, making it nearly impossible to learn everything the institute has to offer.

I wrote to the Project Manager and Professor in Charge and expressed my desire for a company.

Despite my lateness for the enrollment date, they allowed me to enroll in the ENT101 course – Introduction to Entrepreneurship.

I returned to India in July 2021 and started taking ENT101 classes. I enjoyed every minute of it.

A typical course at an engineering college will include slides, lectures, and assignments.

Pen-paper-based exams are also expected. ENT101 was utterly different.

A senior alumnus of IITs participated in this course.

They were able to explain various concepts about entrepreneurship through their entrepreneurial journey. These professors weren’t academic professors.

These professors were entrepreneurs and startup founders, with some even becoming billionaires. They attended classes to repay the institute.

They did not take exams. The evaluation was designed to assess how much time a student invests in speaking to customers, creating a minimum viable product, then eventually starting their startup. Professors did not focus on writing exams but on the outcome.

I had the opportunity to hear about the successes of both industry veterans and young founders. Mohit, an IITB 2014 batch Alum, was a striking example.

Mohit, who was only three years older than me, had founded a multi-million-dollar company.

His story inspired me tremendously. I thought to myself, “Mohit is only three years older than me.” Why can’t I create a startup like that?

The ENT101 course taught that it is best to partner up with a cofounder when starting a business.

Although solo founders can do well, it is crucial to partner with cofounders.

I began to think about who I wanted to partner with. It was easy to choose someone from my friend circle.

My friends, including myself, came from humble backgrounds.

It was challenging to convince someone to give up the idea of a high-paying job and to start a business.

I realized that no one would think twice about quitting the idea of a job.

Soham, my friend, stayed two rooms from me at Hostel 3 (yes, that Hostel 3 you saw in the movie Chhichhore). Hostel 3 was where I spent three years of my adult life.

Soham was open to the idea when I reached out to him. Both of us had internships at fantastic companies, and both our companies extended pre-placement opportunities to us. We had an entire year (our fourth year) to explore different startup ideas.

We learned that startups are built around solving problems.

Engineers tend to believe that the market will purchase it if they make cool technology. In reality, it is the opposite.

First, one must understand the market and build a product or technology around it.

We both learned a valuable lesson that changed our outlook and started to look for problems.

One interesting issue was that despite so many apps to order food (Swiggy and Zomato), purchase items (Amazon, Flipkart), tickets booking (IRCTC or MMT), parents can’t use these apps well and still rely on their kids.

I experienced this because my parents are always willing to help me with these things.

We talked to many people, including our parents, teachers, and friends.

We discovered that the problem statement was quite large.

This problem statement was validated. The entire problem statement discovery process was part of the course Technology Venture Creation.

This idea was presented as a project for the class.

When we started to think of ways to solve the problem, one idea struck us: We could create an IVR (interphone call) system where parents can call an 1800 number and speak to an intelligent voice assistant.

Natural Language Understanding (NLU), powered by NLU technology, would allow parents to order food, book a taxi, order from Amazon and Flipkart, or book tickets.

This idea was presented in our course Presentation. We received feedback that we would need to work hard to gain customers.

It will also require significant funding. We should license this technology to companies that have already acquired customers.

We found the idea very interesting. Not only would it save us from having to reach customers, but we can also monetize our technology easily.

How do you stay productive?

A typical day begins with:

a.) Getting up around 7 AM.
b.) After running and exercising for a while, you can have breakfast.
c.) Reading books (I own a library! ), listening to podcasts and audiobooks.
d.) Around 10 AM, the Day begins. This includes reviewing calls, customer calls, and handling escalations. Interviews are also conducted.
e.) Day ends around 8 PM.
f.) I spend the evening with my parents, have dinner, and take a walk.
g.) I go to bed at 11.30 PM.

To make my Day productive, I like to:

1.) To track your work, you can use various software and tools.
2.) 2.) Take lots of notes.
3.) 3.) Delegate non-core tasks.

​How do you bring ideas to life?​

When I wake up, I am flooded with thoughts and ideas.

These ideas can be about anything, from improving communication to better team management and better metrics tracking in the business.

It all depends on what book I am reading.

During my evening walks, I choose one of these ideas then dig deeper until I conclude how this idea might be used.

If I learn about a way of better tracking the productivity of my team members through a book, then I will continue to think about how it could benefit our group during the evening walks.

I have enough time to study the details because I walk for around an hour.

Usually, by the end of the walk, I have clarity on proceeding.

I write down my thoughts in an email the next Day and forward them to the interested person.

What’s your favorite trend?

Large enterprises are adopting SaaS-based offerings at an alarming rate.

It has excellent potential as large companies shift from custom-built static software on-premise to cloud-based software.

​What habits make you productive?

Focus.

Many entrepreneurs get distracted by the shiny things around them and lose focus.

Many entrepreneurs will look at TechCrunch posts and think, “Woah, that sector is overgrowing, and that startup just received $50M funding.” What are you doing with your life?

Then they lose sight of what they are doing and begin to chase the “shiny object.”

This causes a constant fundamental change within the business, increasing its chance of failing.

Every “overnight” success story has a long history that we don’t know. Entrepreneurs must understand what to avoid and what to do.

What’s your advice for the Noob?

Do not lose sight of the goal. See results, make bold decisions, and stay with them for three to five years. Don’t get impatient.

What is one thing we can all agree on?

Fear of failure is why many people avoid starting a business or don’t want to join one.

Many people believe that startups are too risky and that society will view them negatively if they fail.

A failure is not something that happens until someone quits.

​What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?

Focus, focus, focus. It is better to be less than more.

As much as I can, I try to take on a few tasks as possible.

Although each job may be significant, the total number of functions should be smaller.

It can be complicated to switch between tasks.

The brain takes a long time to process, leading to wasted time and mental energy.

It is better to do less than you can do.

What’s your rich strategy?

Concentrate on one sector: Financial Services.

Businesses can use the Customer Experience Platform from all industries.

We didn’t have the resources to compete with large incumbents.

We decided to forget about all other sectors and concentrate on BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance).

Our efforts to convert our platform into a BFSI-specific product offer paid off.

We could win prominent players simply because we focused on a specific problem statement (Customer experience for BFSI). And it was a great solution.

How do you overcome Failure?

My cofounder resigned from the company in August 2018 with barely two days’ notice.

It was a challenging situation, and I was left with one employee and one intern.

An early-stage startup is not able to afford a cofounder who goes. That was the moment I almost quit.

But I decided not to give up and continue my journey. Harshita, my college friend, called me and explained the situation.

After much convincing, she finally agreed to quit her Citibank job and join me as a cofounder. Today, there are nearly 110 Cogno members.

​Can you share a business idea?​

What about a tool that automates campus recruitment?

Companies currently recruit from campus campuses by connecting with multiple colleges and sharing details and job openings.

The campus then communicates information about the candidates, including their joining dates.

Next, the placement coordinator will work with students and the recruiting team to arrange interviews.

The software can automate this process and save you a lot of time.

What’s your recent best buy? ​

Recently, I purchased a lot of books and now spend time reading them.

These self-improvement books include Hit Refresh, Tools of Titans, and The One Thing.

These books taught me many skills that I need to be a better person and, even more importantly, a better entrepreneur.

What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?

Amazon Audible is amazing. It allows me to listen to many books. A physical book is challenging to transport.

It is also difficult to read on a mobile device as it strains your eyes.

Audible has solved the problem by making it easy to plug in the earphones and then listen to the best books.

It is a great product that I have used extensively.

Which book would you recommend?

Atomic Habits James Clear.

Habits are a way to perform tasks subconsciously.

The conscious and subconscious minds are the two parts of our brain.

The bandwidth of our subconscious mind is almost infinite, but that of the conscious mind is finite.

If the subconscious mind can complete a task by building a habit, it will free up space in the conscious mind.

This allows our conscious mind to take on more critical tasks, which will help us increase productivity.

This book will show you how to do what I have already mentioned.

​What’s your favorite quote?​

Talent is not a substitute for hard work.

Key Learnings:

  • To be able do more, focus on what you can do less.
  • To become a better person, and an even better entrepreneur, you should read a lot of self improvement books.
  • Don’t quit.

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