PNJXN (https://pnjxn.com/) is a Bangalore-based boutique communications and marketing strategy agency that was founded in January 2019 by Pooja Nataraj Suri and her partner Nandish Ratkal with a handful of clients from the hospitality and healthcare sectors. Within a short span and despite the pandemic, PNJXN has serviced over 50 clients from various sectors, including hospitality, travel, healthcare, celebrities, design consultancy, FnB companies including bakeries, cafes, restaurants and food delivery ventures, FMCG, Consumer Benefits Marketplace providers, various NGOs, startups, educational organisations, manufacturing and EMS among others.
Pooja Nataraj Suri and Nandish Ratkal have worked in disparate fields of hospitality and healthcare, respectively. Although from a science background, both have a keen interest and experiential pedagogy when it comes to art, design, literature creating the perfect blend of data and design analytics for visual, semantic and marketing strategies. After working for over a quarter-century cumulatively, they decided to leap into the entrepreneurial world with PNJXN to bring their unique offering to clients from varied niche and backgrounds. PNJXN is short for PN Junction, the quintessential unit of electronics that has revolutionised the world by bringing us computers. As a private joke, the Founders claim that PN also stands for Pooja and Nandish. The deeper and aspirational interpretation is that the simple diode with its PN junction made the modern-day IoT driven world, so too PNJXN will come to define marketing and communications for ultra-niche segments.
Entrepreneurship and ownership have always been a part of Pooja’s ethos even when she started her career as a hostess at The Earth Italian Kitchen by Moets Group in Gurgaon. Quickly moving through jobs that she was more than qualified to handle, Pooja made her way to Treehouse, a group of value-add hotels in the business and leisure segments, today with a presence all over the country. Although Pooja joined Treehouse Hotels Corporate office as a Sales Coordinator, she soon learnt new skills to bring in-house many of the important marketing and sales activities that were being outsourced, including brochure designs, newsletter creation, webpage updates and many more. During her stint at Treehouse Hotels, Pooja got interested in understanding marketing and sales as a holistic endeavour in tune with the basic tenets of the business. Thereafter, she embarked on a self-learning regime where she devoured all materials on the principles of marketing and mastered the skills and tools as she went along. She made swift advances in her career too, working with companies such as ITC WelcomHeritage Hotels, AB Chapri Retreats and Quo Vadis India before starting PNJXN. In 2019, just as PNJXN was formed, Pooja applied to an Executive Development Programme in IIM Calcutta, called the EPDSMMS – Executive Programme On Digital & Social Media. She was accepted and successfully completed the programme with certifications from Stukent’s Mimic Pro and Mimic Social and holds an alumni status at IIM, Calcutta.
For a long time, Pooja has been an advocate of mental health. It is to be noted that early in her life as a teenager and to this day, Pooja herself suffers from mental health conditions. In the early days of her career, she found it very difficult to find work and attended several interviews in vain, however, she never gave up. Till date, she is very vocal with all her team members about the importance of mental health and that it is sacrosanct to maintain a healthy work-life balance in order to keep one’s mind healthy and do well professionally. Pooja believes that mental health should not be a topic of taboo and everyone should be able to talk about it without having to face consequences at work in particular; such as being ‘underpaid’ or ‘under promoted’. “Communicating and talking about mental health, simply acknowledging it is the first step towards recovery”, said Pooja, when she began the first session of the ‘Mental Health and Me’ session at PNJXN, a support group and an initiative for working professionals, battling mental health problems.
Passionate in Marketing caught up with Ms Pooja Nataraj Suri to know about her entrepreneurial journey, the growth of PNJXN till now, challenges she has faced along the way and her plans for further growth.
- Tell us the facets & achievements about your entrepreneurial journey?
PNJXN started in January 2019 as a full spectrum Digital Identity company providing a coherent online and offline presence with one brand voice that tells the story of the client that resonates with their beliefs and values. It is essential to have a story in place not for the outsiders or target audience but for your own team to rally behind your brand. Time and again we have achieved this for companies of varying sizes instilling a sense of belonging and pride amongst the entire team of the client company. This unique storytelling has done wonders for their business too. It is definitely our best achievement.
That said, our technology is based on the sound and updated practices with all websites, Google Ads, Social Media campaigns, online branding collaterals that deliver the best metrics and ROI.
- Give us a brief detail about your educational and professional background prior to your entrepreneurial venture.
Pedagogically a student of science, with a major in physics. Art and aesthetics have been a lifelong passion and pursuit. My interest in business strategy developed further during my long distance management programme from IIM Calcutta. Work trajectory took me into the world of hospitality and travel. My interest and knowledge of computers, data analytics and hold on numbers along with a keen eye for design that works provided me with the necessary insights and skillsets to be at the forefront of digital transformations of traditional hospitality and travel companies. After effectively implementing such transformations in many companies, some corporate such as ITC WelcomHeritage, Treehouse, some boutique and niche such as ABChapri Retreats and Quo Vadis, I decided to take the entrepreneurial jump so as to work with a larger base of such traditional companies who need to metamorphose into the digital age.
- What inspired you to take-up entrepreneurship, especially in a populous segment like Demand Generation? And what were the initial challenges that taught you the basic lessons of entrepreneurship and helped you achieve the success that you had in the later phase?
Although Demand Generation is a populous segment, the Long-Tail is where we thrive. Bringing together like-minded businesses and customers/clients is a fulfilling experience at more than one level. When you study the niche carefully, you will be able to glean the opportunities for Demand Generation by simply making the business visible to those seeking these niche.
The initial and continuing challenge is to create content, package and deliver it on proper channels so as to maximize on the Long-Tail audience. So the creative use of popular tools of analytics and marketing for niche businesses has helped us achieve great results for our clients.
On a more personal front, the challenge is to motivate every member of PNJXN team to become micro-entrepreneurs with a view on where exactly they fit and why, enabling them to add more value to processes, refining and redefining them.
- What is the unique proposition your company offers as opposed to competitors in the same space?
Our sectors of focus have been healthcare, hospitality, FnB and Retail. We are looking at foraying into education. Our speciality has been the ability to create a Brand Identity and Voice that brings coherence, online, offline and POS experiences. The power of story-telling has been a tool for team building with employee motivation, satisfaction improving largely.
- In your journey over the past two years, which are the milestones that bestowed you utmost satisfaction – both as an individual and a business owner?
Starting with 2 clients two years ago, we have grown to 40+ and counting. Ironically, for a digitally savvy marketing company, our client acquisition has been exclusively through word of mouth and referrals. As an individual and a business owner, this is the highest accolade and award. Almost all clients we have worked with in the past have referred us to new clients, an almost MLM growth!
- How do you manage to strike a balance between your personal & professional life?
I take the necessary breaks from work and involve myself in my personal life. Apart from that I have two little girls, Baanka and Bella, respectively, who manage to take me away from my work which is much required! Oh btw, they both have beautiful blonde fur, and little black paws!
- What is your take on a Client Pitch?
We follow the inbound marketing method for all business pitches to the dot. Hubspot is a company I personally follow and worship! We do not worry about getting the business when we are set to work on the proposal. Instead we work on a plan of action that the prospective client can use even if they didn’t sign us up. We show a very high level of commitment to proposals which has resulted in a high conversion rate. The Business Pitch also serves as a project plan once we have won the client and makes it easy for the team to pick it up from there. I personally work on every proposal and pitch and this has also resulted in a deep learning, studying businesses from various industries and perspectives.
- Employee Mental Health has been a key focus area for you. Are there any measures you have at the company to help your team deal with depression and anxiety?
For me mental health is top priority and we at PNJXN take it very seriously. To begin with we have a strict 9 – 5 working hour rule and a mandatory off on Saturdays and Sundays. We encourage our team members to bond with their families and pursue their hobbies and interests outside of work. Before the lock down we also had several sessions on Mental Health and conducted activities such as Art Therapy and Team Building games in order to feel light headed and build trust amongst the team. We also have a mandatory evening walk with Baanka and Bella taking the lead.
- Tell us about your hobbies, favourite cuisines, and favourite travel destinations.
Cycling and Swimming are definitely two of my favourite wind downs. Cross country cycling recharges me as nothing else does.
My mum’s Bhindi, Sankethi and North Karnataka cuisines, Momos and Datchi in Yeti, Delhi, Jackfruit Pulao at Comorin, Gurgaon. Pizza at Da Tita in Goa!
