Getting the opportunity to work at Zomato was one of the best achievements Mihir Samir Verma achieved. His journey doesn’t begin here, but way back when he decided to make productive use of his time by joining FLAME. It was then that the now-alumnus was already brimming with a passion to explore avenues that interested him.
His journey that commenced at FLAME endowed Mihir with the opportunity to take part in the undergraduate program. He was the second student from FLAME to be part of the student exchange program at the State University of New York Fredonia. It allowed him to work and collaborate in a global setup, explore cultural nuances, and enjoy the experience while discovering his interests and dislikes.
Mihir’s Bachelor’s degree in Marketing helped him learn the significance of holistic knowledge. During the course of earning this degree, he was exposed to interconnecting subjects that related to consumer psychology, geo-political trends, and economic variables. This holistic mindset helped him make better decisions as his career progressed.
Always an advocate of exploring his career options, Mihir jumped at the idea of discovering his chances in three different professions. For instance, as a sales executive, Mihir was humbled by the experience he received, learning humility in the workplace. It was an exhilarating experience for him as he worked through stretched deadlines and targets. Further on, Mihir also tried his hand at client servicing and copywriting, giving him the chance to experiment with his creative side. He recalls those late-evening client meetings, discussing prospective brand campaigns and writing copy while burning the midnight candle.
As Mihir sharpened his skills and progressed, he was led to work with Zomato. It fit well with his working ethos as it paved the way for the roles he could take up in the future. When Mihir joined Zomato, it was a company in its nascent stage set out to experience radical growth. Mihir was part of the initial core team responsible for launching and scaling the online ordering business in India. His responsibilities varied from ensuring that merchants (food outlets) maintained order acceptance and delivery standards to working towards improving customer experience and maintaining user retention. Furthermore, Mihir worked on the Zomato Gold product, which was a dine-in membership program. His primary role revolved around setting up the operations team for the product and ensuring that his core KPIs were in line with the benchmarks he had set for customer and merchant experience.
That said, Mihir’s extensive journey at ESSEC MBA set him apart, where he enjoyed a digital native, agile, connected, and innovative experience. Through this program, he was able to adapt and pursue digital trends, build digitally disruptive products and services, and make the shift at an organizational level from Zero to One.
When asked about his association with Junglee Games that spanned over three years, Mihir gets candid about his experience. He worked with the team to set up automated solutions to tackle customer issues on the platform while also ensuring a robust backend system for internal teams to make better decisions. He worked on introducing newer forms of technology to reduce customer churn at several drop-off points. He then transitioned into writing feature specifications for new sections of the app, such as digital identity, user profile management, and the help center. Over the last 10 months, Mihir has been working in the CEO’s office to build a strategic roadmap for the organization, M&A opportunities, competitive research and market intelligence, program management, exploring new product lines, and maintaining the operational rhythm of the business.
Mihir is optimistic about the future because he set his foundation right from the beginning. He advocates following the thought leaders of the industry to learn from their work. He follows the top marketing mavericks like Seth Godin, Olivier Blanchard, and Robert B. Cialdini.
Mihir’s message to young aspiring marketers is to focus on skills that have elements of behavioral psychology, product management, and analytics. He believes that the way marketers operate today and the tools they utilize are distinct from what was used even five years ago. He rightly points out how data will play a huge role in terms of formulating marketing decisions and the kind of A/B testing that needs to be done. He strongly recommends enjoying the process of learning as marketing has so many facets attached to it as a field. It is a part of everyday life, regardless of your profession or background. It holds the ability to understand the psyche of a consumer and execute digital programs with positive returns.