Our Journey
20 years and counting
The Early Years -
HR Solutions for
Growth and Performance
Cocoon was conceptualised in 2000, amidst the buzzing entrepreneurial climate in Bangalore. It was an inspiring time and felt right to set up a firm that would help to incubate the growth of organisations through HR solutions.
Our early years saw us working with clients that embodied this trend – a distance learning company, a design studio, a group of scientists, and more. Previous employers and networks also extended support and we started working with large MNCs in addition to start-ups and mid-sized companies.
We were curious about businesses, how they worked, what drove them, and what held them back. We asked questions (and continue to do so) with an intent to understand what would create impact and help build better businesses and leaders. Design and implementation of structure, people processes, and learning and development solutions formed a large part of our work in those years.
As we crossed the 2-year mark, we expanded the firm’s practice to Mumbai and strengthened our team to include people with business expertise and experience across different industries and disciplines. This enabled us to extend our work in newer areas such as organisation design, culture and values, coaching and leadership development.
The Growing Years -
Building Better Businesses,
Teams and Leaders
Our work extended across industry sectors and businesses. As we approached the 10-year mark, we had many new clients across India, and our work started getting attention outside of India as well. This marked the beginning of our work in leadership development (assessment and design of development journeys) and financial inclusion, both of which took us across Asia, Europe and LATAM.
Our work moved well beyond people processes and into the realm of enabling transitions. These years were marked by working closely with business teams and leaders to drive and implement change (through 1-3 year cycles) and going back to work with the same clients over and over again as new agendas and challenges emerged for them.
We helped many of them to reconfigure key elements of their organisational system (culture, leadership, structure, identity, HR, etc.) to enable their big shifts and growth goals. The scale and impact of our work also shifted dramatically as the team grew more experienced and multidisciplinary.
The Transformative Years -
Enabling Transitions for
Businesses and Leaders
Our passion for business and purpose to build better organisations found stronger expression as we approached our 15th year. We had worked with over 150 companies across industries, geographies, and stages of growth by then.
Our identity evolved into a firm that helps organisations, leaders and teams make diverse transitions. We consistently see our work translate into impact for the business, teams, and leaders. We continue to work with business leaders and CEOs to help them on their transition journeys. We work with Boards to support succession planning, managing key transitions and enhance their own effectiveness.
Cocoon has evolved into a vibrant community of individuals and firms across India and Asia who collaborate with each other, bringing diverse expertise to our clients, helping us go beyond the boundaries of a classic consulting organisation. Our collaborations have included experts in neuroscience, governance, design thinking, to name a few. Today, we stand deeply grateful for these relationships, the work and the learning that has come our way. We remain committed to making organisations, teams, and leaders stronger to achieve the greater good for all.
