New Host And Guest Kickoff

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you're a fan of the Radically Candid podcast, I may not look like the host that you're used to. Ava Hines has done a great job and recently invited me to take over with the duties of hosting the Radically Candid Podcast. Today is my first episode. My guest is Ruhan Gagnani, and he agreed to join me. Let's get radically candid. Ruhan, welcome. Thank you, Bill.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

You're the first interview as I assume the duties of Radically Candid. The uh podcast interview that the reigns have been passed to me from Ava Hines. She's done a spectacular job. And so why don't we get started? Absolutely.

Career Pivot To A Growing Company

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Tell us a little bit about how you came to cognition.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

All right, my name is Roman. How I came to Cognition. So the last company I worked at, it was going through restructuring and downsizing. And so my role at that time was compromised. I was a business analyst there. And at that time I was like, you know what? I I want to my next role that I go to, I want to look for something that actually drives me every day, and something that I'm more intentional about. I don't want to find a job just for the sake of finding a job. I want to be more intentional about the next role I look for. And so after a couple of couple months of you know looking for a role, I applied and I heard back from Alex Mills. Yeah, we went back and forth. I heard a little bit about the company, met with Matt, the president. I think it was such a such a good dialogue. And what really interested me was the fact that it was only a four to five-year-old company, and it had grown so much over these last couple years, and that excited me. I was like, yes, this seems something like I would love to work with.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Do you remember the conversation you and I had when I considered you as first guest? You mentioned something that impacted you in that interview, the conversation that you had with Matt. Do you mind sharing that?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So the one thing that he did tell me was, then I still remember that. He's like, there's a lot of work here. And I was like, Yeah, absolutely. I if if there's something, if you're telling me that yes, there's a lot of work and there's something that we're working towards, I was very much on board. That excited me. I'm like, absolutely. I want to work in a place that has ambitious people. I don't want to be in a place that's comfortable. Because my last couple roles that I've worked at, I've noticed that people get stagnant, people get too comfortable within their roles, and that limits growth certain times. And when I heard that from Matt, I was like, okay, I'm probably gonna be working with a lot of ambitious people, a lot of people that are, you know, ready to, you know, hustle and grind and make sure things are getting done. And I still appreciate that a lot about this place. I I look around and I'm like always I'm like, oh wow, there's a lot of smart people around here. And that's what I like. I don't like to be the smartest one in the room. I don't think anybody should be the smartest in the room. I think you always gotta surround yourself with people that are smarter than you, and that's what makes you better.

Onboarding And A Typical Day

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Tell us how long you've been here? February. So I want to say five-ish months. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Tell us how that entry transition into the company has been.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

The transition has has been amazing, honestly. With it's not a massive company, so you know, you've seen the same people every every day or every other day. So the transition was pretty smooth. The everybody was so welcoming. Kim did take us for lunch, and it was it was nice to you know understand her perspective and how she wants the team to be and how the teams had been working. So I think it was a very pleasant environment. And then the all hands happened like within two months of me being here, and that's when I got to see everybody in the company. And I was like, wow, this is this is actually amazing. That these are great people to be around. So yeah, the transition was pretty smooth, honestly. We adapted very well to the work that we were given, and we were you know trained well within the first couple of weeks. So it was it was good.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

So without giving away any of the secret sauce that happens here every day, tell us about your day.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Okay, I come here first thing in the morning, grab my cup of coffee. Because you're gonna need that. Like I said, you're gonna need to work a lot. So I do get my cup of coffee, settle down, look at my emails, my messages if I didn't miss anything. If not, then look through what what I have for the day, see how things have been for the past couple of days, just monitor things are going smoothly. Then it's it's about every day is is new. Every every day is is a is a different challenge, I want to say. Because like I said, we're we're still a growing company, so there's always so many things to dabble on, but every day is a new challenge. So I it it depends on what the day brings, but most of the times it's you know, just making sure like you're on top of uh your campaigns and everything.

Putting Ads On Streaming TV

SPEAKER_01 5:07

How would you characterize the overall work that we do?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

At the base level, if I want to tell a five-year-old what we do, is we put ads on TV. We we put ads on TV. There's no five-year-old work. Let's do Tetter. So, you know, at the base level, we put ads on TV, but there's way more to that. There's way many, uh way too many, you know, clients and needs and agencies that we work with. There's the various needs, what channels you work on. There's different teams, there's different departments. So there's the operations team that actually is the one that hands-on is putting the ads on TV, but then there is, I guess, the finance team that's obviously looking at the finances of the company. There's the products team, there's the dev team. So there's a lot that goes towards it. So I'm pretty sure somebody would find what they're looking for because there's just so many vast types of work and experience around us.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Find what they're looking for. There's a key phrase, meaning the environment's probably not for everybody. Help us help us understand the what feeds you. Why do you come to work every day and and have the attitude because you have a great attitude, your teammates see it, you don't always hear the conversations that you know how others feel or think. Describe our environment.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah, no, I appreciate you saying that. I think, like you said, it might not be for everybody. You need to have the right mindset every day. What drives me is the fact that you get to have an impact over here. You're not one in a thousand, you're one in fifty, maybe sixty. So there is huge responsibility on you as well. If you're given certain tasks, there's a huge responsibility on you, and there is a huge responsibility, I guess, even you and yourself about how you show up and how you get things done, because there's a lot of autonomy as well. There, there's different ways. Someone like I could do my job a certain way, but then someone else can come into my exact same role and could do that same role in a completely different way. So there's some people that will, you know, happily take on that challenge. And for me personally, it drives me. I'm like, wow, like I get to have this experience, I get to have these conversations, like I said, with a lot of smart people and hardworking people around me. And that's what drives me as well. I'm like, okay, I can have this impact around and drive the company towards a certain goal. Like that's what motivates me. Is

Big Market Gap And Career Path

SPEAKER_00 7:33

there a clear career path from what you can see at this time? I think so, yeah, absolutely. 100%. I mean, there's we can get the we can pull up the facts. I think we got to reach out to Tim Rowe for the exact facts, but this is such a growing industry. I'm gonna butcher his quote probably, but I think the fact is that there is 15% total people that are spending on streaming TV as opposed to like total ad spend. So there is a huge gap in the market. And there's so many people that are, you know, I mean, if you go on like Netflix and Hulu and oh, and Paramount Plus, like you just if you have the basic version and you look at the ads, you'll realize that there's so many businesses that are not putting ads on there. Like recently, yesterday, I was talking to my girlfriend. We were watching uh HBO Max, we were watching some TV show, and the ads come up, and it's some stupid gambling ads, and that same ad keeps coming up every ad break. So that means there's not enough people advertising, but there's so many other people advertising on different channels, like on YouTube or I guess even like Direct Table. Like you watch the Super Bowl halftime show, there's tons of companies there to advertise, it's just that they're not aware of this specific platform. One, because it's a very new thing, it's it's it's only been around for a couple of years. You're describing the streaming environment, the streaming environment, exactly. So, and this is just something you can see from like you know an outside perspective, but even internally, like you can tell that like there is such a huge market to capitalize. I was talking to Carson, and we were talking about how like we you know maybe work with different types of clients, not just automotive clients, maybe like we have furniture stores or whatever, different verticals. And Carson was telling me, just within the automotive industry, there's a billion dollar potential market, and we have maybe scratched the surface of it. So even internally, we we have so much growth and possibilities. So whoever does decide to join the company, there's so much to look forward to, and there is a clear career path. Like I like I said, everybody has a chance to make an impact.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Kind of going off on a small tangent. What does life look like for Ruhan outside of the office?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Well, I'm not working. I do I do love soccer a lot. So I do catch a lot of soccer games. If I've missed them, I'd go with go watch highlights or something. I love playing soccer as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

So was it your idea or were you one of the people that helped with getting recent World Cup games on the screen in the office? Hey, Matt, Matt is a great guy.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Matt Matt, our president, is a great guy. He he notices talent, he knows what the people need, and he put the games on. That's all I'll say.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Well, there's a lot in that. Meaning, there isn't anybody. I don't want to characterize your thoughts in this. Describe that interaction, not just with Matt, but he's the leader. Yeah, he's he's driving a lot of what we've achieved. And so describe that interaction, the the personal you mentioned it earlier about you got to meet the 50 or 60 people that work here all of your lay at the first all hands. What's

Leadership Access And Feedback Culture

SPEAKER_01 10:53

that day-to-day interaction like?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

I think it's amazing. Like, I don't feel like I'm talking to strangers at all. First, that's that's one thing up there. There because I've worked in companies where there's thousands of people in the organization, and you see some people and you're like, wow, I don't think I've ever seen this person. Or if you have, it's like, I don't know what they do, I don't know which team they're in. But here in this environment, I I think everybody's just so welcoming. I think with with Matt, I can I can tell you with Matt since you're brought up with Matt as an example. Obviously, I I I talked to him during the interview, but then after that, too. Like, obviously, I don't talk to him every single day. And he's here to drive goals, he's here to you know make sure we're hitting our targets, we're growing as a company. And there's gonna be times where like you're gonna get some constructive feedback. He's he's gonna tell you, like, hey, why didn't this get done? Or why is this not happening a certain way? But it's up to you and how you take it. I see it in a positive way. I'm like, okay, this is something, uh an area to grow in. And then there's the daily interactions that we have, and he'll he'll come up to me and he'll be like, Hey, so what do you think of that soccer game? And those are the kind of conversations that you know, like build connection and just build a good environment so that I think there's an open two-way channel of feedback with whoever and whoever you could talk to. And I think that's a big compliment for anybody.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

You mentioned with that feedback from everybody or anybody. So you get if I mischaracterize it, but what that says to me is you feel it with the person who's sitting to your left or your right, you feel it with your manager or whoever you're directed to, and through top to bot, is that fair?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

100%, 100%. And I can speak for myself. I I feel comfortable enough to go ahead and talk to anybody. And like I said, like it doesn't even just have to be about work, but the work part is so important in this. If I feel comfortable talking to you about certain things, and you come up to me and you feel comfortable talking about certain things or whatever is on your mind, whenever, like I guess moments get tough, we're very open in communication. And that's what I think is the biggest factor that helps us grow because there's a lot changing, it's a there's a lot of moving pieces. Like I said, every day is a different challenge over here. And so every day there's gonna be so many things thrown at you, but we all have, I feel, a good personal connection that we could be like, hey, like let's make sure we're getting things done, let's make sure this is also getting done. And there's an open two-way feedback and constructive feedback is very important. And I always tell even my you know, direct team lead or managers that hey, if I screw up, please, please, please go ahead and tell me right away so that I don't keep screwing up. And it's the same way he's like, hey, same for me. Like, if you think that I messed up on something, please feel free and go ahead and tell me that this is wrong. We're all learning and growing at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

So expectations around accountability, we all need feedback without it. We could set expectations, but without the feedback and the accountability, we just kind of stay where we go.

DIRT Values And Owning Growth

SPEAKER_01 13:57

So, do you mind sharing the core values and then tell us which one really impacts you?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Core values, dirt. We like to say we like to get dirty around here. Yeah. For those who don't know it, I'll say it again. Dare, innovate, respect, and trust. I think all of them speak to me. And I think all four values are so important. I don't think you can just pick one up in this environment. All of them are very important. Dare, you have to dare to do certain things. Like I said, I could do my job in a certain way. Someone could come the same exact role and do it a completely different way and bring their own touch to this role. And there's certain ways that the company's been working. One thing in my previous roles, I've had this conversation with a bunch of people that a lot of times I don't like it when someone says, Oh, we've been doing this the same way all this time. We've always done it this way. We've always done it this way. I'm like, I do not want to hear that at all. Because that just tells you you're very comfortable in your role, you're not looking to grow. There's always different ideas, and times change a lot. Times do change. So you have to dare to do things differently. You have to innovate because if you're gonna do things differently, you're gonna have to come up with something solid that's better than what's being done. And then while you do it, make sure you still respect and trust your teammates that hey, okay, I want to do it a different way. Don't just crap somebody else for doing it their way. Make sure there's some respect and then trust. There should be a two-way streak. Trust is something that you obviously have to carry both. If you trust your teammates to get things done, they have to trust you and making sure you get things done. And that's what builds our culture here.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

So, in the initial introduction to the idea that uh I invited you as a guest, I don't want to sit here and just dictate questions to you. Did you have any questions for me that might offer more perspective?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Just give me, you know, you've asked me a lot of these questions. I want to hear your perspective about how you see things.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I wouldn't be here sitting in this seat if it weren't for sharing some of the aspects. I'm a little bit older than you, not all that much.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Just a couple years.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

But the uh, yeah, there you go. But having met Matt, Carson, Adam, the founders that are with the company several years ago, watching them experience this amazing growth had nothing to do with me. I was remote, I was an outside advisor, and deciding to make the move to come to Jacksonville, mainly to get out of the cold weather of Ohio in the winter. But the offer to come and and join the company assume a role that the leadership felt might be helpful. I don't know if there's anything more gratifying than that in life. And seeing experiencing being a small part of what's accomplished by people like yourself taking the opportunity that they're handed and literally running with it. I mean, it's a it's a fast-paced environment. Yeah. You

Fulfillment, Instant Wins, And Closing

SPEAKER_01 17:05

mentioned something earlier, and I relate a lot of things to the gratification of mowing the yard. I love to mow my yard because it's the instant gratification. I don't have a big yard, it's it's not that bad mowing in the heat. But it's that feeling, that sense of accomplishment. Can you uh express that from what you experience or have experienced here and what you look forward to in the future?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

That is actually such a good point you bring up about the instant gratification. Because there is certain organizations you'll work in and you'll won't see the fruit of your labor for ages. But here I feel like since it is a fast-paced environment, since there is a lot of moving pieces, you could do things and you will, like you said, get noticed. You'll get handed things or responsibilities that align more with what you're looking for. And as long as you show that you're capable in certain ways, I think there is a lot of opportunities over here. Yeah, that's been my experience. I feel like I've I've done certain things. I I haven't, you know, I haven't limited myself within certain car trails because a lot of times people could, you know, come over here. That's one thing. People could come here and be like, hey, this this these were my job responsibilities, these were my job roles. Anything outside of that, that's not my job. That's another thing I don't like. Hey, that that's that's not that that's not my job. I I don't like that phrase either. Because everything is supposed to be your job, technically. Like if there's a need, you gotta feel the need. And I don't mean that in like you do everything, but there's like always like things that come up. Like I said, every day is a different challenge. Like things could come up, and you just have to, you know, get things done. There's a lot of things you you can notice as a person. Everybody has different perspectives, and everything everybody can notice, like, hey, I feel like this could improve, I feel like this thing could improve over here. I feel like something else over there could improve, and it's on you to go explore that and see how you could, you know, help the company grow in that aspect. And you know, and that goes again with our core values dare, innovate, respect, and trust with everything you explore. And I think that is that is a that is a huge privilege. And I'm I think it's a very unique environment you probably couldn't get in a lot of places. I talked to Parker, my team lead, about a lot of these things. That this is a unique environment that you don't really get every place you work. Because I mean, think about any like organization you could work in. Like a lot of these are huge established organizations, a lot of these organizations, you could just be just one, you know, one out of a thousand, one piece in the in the whole you know, unit that's just there and could be easily replaced. I mean, sure, like you could still be replaced. And I I use the reference of sports a lot. The greatest, I'm a soccer guy, Messi. He's the greatest to ever play the sport. He will still be replaced. There's still another person, another person that's gonna come in, like he's gonna require, and there's still somebody else that's gonna come in and fill out his shoes. But he, the impact he left on that organization or that team is massive, and he did it in his own unique way. He got fans along with along his side, and that goes with a lot of different things. And on a soccer team, there's like 11 people, and he's one of 11 people, and he made such a huge impact across you know, decades, and that goes with our organization too. Like, we're not one in one million or one in one thousand, we're one in like fifty, sixty, and hopefully that keeps growing too, with that sort of attitude be a part of this growth. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Ruan, I can't thank you enough being radically candid today and appreciate your time. Look forward to whatever the future brings here.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Well, thank you. Thank you so much, Joe. It's it's been a it's been a pleasure, and I appreciate you calling me up to be your your your first guest. So that's an honor. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Great podcast. I think this broadcast has a lot to look forward to as well.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Well, let's give credit where credit's due. Ava's done an amazing job taking it from the idea into this. She herself is another example of somebody who joined us in one role that has created, literally created opportunity out of the work that she's done. I think that's a resonant piece that matches some of what you've shared. Don't put limitations on yourself. I love that part. That's a mindset piece that is so critical. Well, we better wrap this up and get onto the work day and get dirty. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Bill.