Whomever we ask about the history of the company, the first thing they mention is how it started out as a group of friends, which eventually turned into a business group with more than 200 employees. How accurate is this? 

Balázs Kovács, founder: It’s a massive exaggeration, although it does sound good. What’s true is that our work is the only thing the team has always taken seriously, but as we grew in numbers, we had to change and mature as well. 

Does the atmosphere of the first few years need to be preserved? Is that even possible? 

BK: A 200-person company is never going to be the same as one with 6 employees. And both have their own advantages and difficulties. I don’t think anyone would be happy if we still shared a single mobile data subscription in a 60-square-meter flat, and our developers still served as graphic designers and vice versa, like at the beginning of 2008. However, we do invest a lot of effort into gathering similarly talented, independent, bright-eyed people around us like at the beginning. This is something we learned in the first few years and we keep trying to scale our efforts since then. 

What did a dream project look like then and what does it look like now?  

Albert Farkas, founder: Well, I think in the first couple of years, we were happy with anything that was paid within sixty days. But joking aside, getting entrusted with the digital agency tasks of Vodafone or some Coca-Cola campaigns meant a lot in terms of both prestige and challenges. Due to the differences between the business units, today our dream projects vary significantly: designing and perfecting the online interfaces of an airline and thereby generating a profit of millions of euros for them is just as exciting as buying digital billboards in Silicon Valley or making people thirsty with a great beer commercial. 

What were the most important turning points in the life of Mito? Were you aware of being at a turning point at the time? 

Balázs Pőcze, founder: There were many such points; some large ones amid countless smaller ones. It meant a great deal when some inspiring brands, such as OTP Bank, Wizz Air, Telekom, or Borsodi put their trust in us. But in its own way, it was also an important moment when we realized in our third year that we should hire a receptionist because until then the door was always opened by whoever happened to be nearby. However, the only watershed moment we’ve had was the separation of the four business units. 

Did these develop organically?  And how did you find leaders for them?  

AF: For more than ten years, we were able to manage and direct the company in a way that the leaders of the teams always sensed what challenges we needed to head toward. But by 2019, it became clear that the individual fields – planning and developing digital products and interfaces, communication, performance marketing, and marketing automatization – had grown so much that we had to provide them with more independence. This is how Mito Digital, Creative, Performance, and Next came to life. Each is managed by one of our old colleagues as CEOs, and they are so different in terms of product development, sales, and organization that they have practically been given carte blanche regarding these areas.

Does this mean the four companies will keep developing in different directions? 

AF: Not exactly. We talked a lot about this and finally decided that we will outline a framework of values that we all share – all four companies strive to keep up the initial friendly atmosphere, our meritocratic way of working, and our practice of sharing knowledge and nurturing talent. 

We’ve been organizing the only free creative training in the country for more than ten years, we have almost half a dozen intern programs, and many of our colleagues teach at universities – all this goes beyond talent nurturing: it’s part of our mission, a common cause. On the other hand, it’s also apparent that instead of specialized suppliers, more and more clients need a partner who is able to understand and improve their whole value proposition. So while the individual parts of Mito Group keep becoming more separate and independent, the fact they are not alone is going to gain more and more importance in the next fifteen years.