Necessity has always led to innovative solutions. One such leader who turned her necessity into an opportunity to launch an innovative platform is Marina Tognetti, the Founder and CEO of mYngle. China has always been the port of opportunities and back then everybody wanted to enter the Chinese market. The only obstacle that Marina encountered was the language barrier. Being busy as a manager, it was difficult to find an easy way to learn the language. She could not find good teachers and thus the process went on to be frustrating. Internet and technology were disrupting the business platforms. Marina utilized the internet and tech advancements to launch a platform where teachers and students can connect and learn. Thus, leading to the establishment of mYngle.
mYngle offers personalized language training programs through video conferencing in 45 different languages anytime, anywhere. The company was built on the customer requirements, by understanding the unique customer needs the terms like teacher-content-frequency were diversified and expanded. Under the leadership of Marina, the platform became one of the pioneering language training platforms. Her innovative solutions and ferocious attitude make her one of the leading CEOs to watch out for in the industry. In a talk with Mirror Review, Marina elaborates on her experiences and shares her opinions on recent advancements in the language industry. Here are the snippets,
Founder of an Innovative Company
How did you decide to commence your entrepreneurial journey? Is there any notable proud achievement of the journey so far?
I am the founder of mYngle, but the passion for entrepreneurship came later on in my career. I built first a successful career by large multinationals, Procter & Gamble, Philips, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group and eBay; living and working in different countries, and got an MBA from INSEAD. It was when working as a consultant on a project on internet strategy that I first saw the potential of the internet to disrupt entire industries and change forever the way we buy, sell, and interact. I had to be part of that! That was the driver to start an innovative company as mYngle.
The proudest achievement for me is starting an innovative company as mYngle! When we started, we were pioneering, amongst the first to provide one-to-one teaching of all languages over the internet. Now online language education is setting the standards in terms of quality and flexibility. And we have been part of that!
Stereotypes and Other Complexities
What were the initial hurdles in building your business and how did you overcome them? Â
Building a business from scratch is always challenging. We started our journey more than a decade ago which made it more challenging to build a tech start-up disrupting an industry as traditional as that of education. There were all sorts of resistances – those of a still immature market- that we had to bypass, especially those from the stereotypes that consumers had in their minds about education.
In order to overcome the initial hurdles, I had to remember myself that, no matter what challenges I was going to meet along the way, I could always find a solution. I believe that complexity is the sum of simpler problems, all (or most) of which are solvable.
Steering the company through the challenges
What is your role in mYngle? And what is your motivation mantra for the team?Â
When we started, back in 2008, the concept was considered quite disruptive. That means that as a leader I had to set the vision for completely new business and drive the company towards it. I also need to keep a clear vision now, as CEO of a growing company, to steer the company through the challenges we meet along the way. At the same time, I guide and align the team towards the common goal.
My motivation mantra for the team is probably best summarized in the story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree, which I also share as the introduction I do to all new employees. Had the tree not developed a strong unseen foundation, it could not have sustained its life as it grew. I believe that the same principle is true for a company and its people.
Obsession for Customer Satisfaction
According to you, what is the most influential factor in your business’ success?     Â
I think for us it’s the obsession for customer satisfaction, and this is also one of our key strengths. We look to continuously improve our service. We do so by constantly listening to users’ feedback and improving accordingly, as well as leveraging new technologies at our advantage.
This is also reflected in our internal evaluation systems and how we assess our job. We constantly monitor our users’ reactions and try to adjust accordingly, using adapted versions of NPS (Net Promoter Score), which defines that only excellence counts. Our average lessons’ scores are 4.9/5.0. To summarize, results speak for themselves!
A Career That Fulfills the Desire for Adventure and Discovery
If you had not become a business leader, what else had you dreamt of?
I like challenges, in everything I do. Entrepreneurship, especially in tech, actually allows you to look far ahead, innovate, change traditional business models and disrupt industries. That is where my drive for challenges and adventure is at its best. So, if I had to change something, I would probably have become an entrepreneur earlier in my career.
If I had to take another direction, it might have been outside of business, but- like entrepreneurship- always something satisfying my desire for adventure and discovery. I am inspired overall by people who dare to push the limits and get out of their comfort zones. I am talking about innovators, explorers, even athletes of extreme sports.
