Cornwill Ventures

Cornwill Ventures

Operator-built businesses. One team that actually runs the numbers.

Cornwill Ventures is the group of businesses founded and led by John Cornwill: a growth consulting and fulfillment firm, and the company behind Bakás, the Filipino human-connection brand.

See the companies ↓

The companies

The Growth Dept. logo

The Growth Department Inc.

An operator-led growth partner, built by a founder who's actually running the numbers.

A fractional growth marketing consultancy working directly with founders and brands on profit recovery, growth strategy, performance marketing and content-led acquisition. Every recommendation is stress-tested against a brand we've built and scaled ourselves.

  • Growth strategy & positioning
  • Performance marketing systems
  • Content-led acquisition & full-funnel content
  • Fractional growth partnership for founder-led brands

E-commerce Fulfillment (3PL)

End-to-end order fulfillment from our own warehouse in Imus City, Cavite, the same operation that ships Bakás.

  • Warehousing & inventory storage
  • Inventory management
  • Pick, pack & ship
  • Order fulfillment for TikTok Shop, Shopee, Lazada and Shopify sellers
  • Courier handoff & last-mile dispatch
  • Returns processing

Core philosophy: “Profit is Peace.”

The Mental Wellness Company logoBakás logo

The Mental Wellness Company Inc.

The company behind Bakás®, making meaningful human connection more accessible through products, content and experiences.

Bakás is best known for Comfort Cards®, conversation decks in Tagalog-English that make the conversations that matter easier to start. Its approach, Comfort Conversations™, was co-developed by co-founders John Cornwill and Camille Velarde-Cornwill.

  • Comfort Cards®, Comfort Journal and Comfort Convos
  • Sold on TikTok Shop, Shopee and bakas.shop
  • Stocked in National Book Store® and But First Coffee® locations

Visit bakas.shop →

Bakás and The Growth Department share one team, with an office and warehouse in Imus City, Cavite, Philippines. The playbooks TGD brings to clients are the ones we run on Bakás every day.

Portrait of John Cornwill

Founder & CEO

John Cornwill

“I break down how businesses really make money, and help founders keep more of it.”

John started as a working student in Tacloban, took a $3-an-hour virtual assistant job, and became a media buyer. He then co-founded Bakás and, as one of the early sellers on TikTok Shop in the Philippines, built it into the #1 shop in TikTok Shop PH's Toys & Hobbies category in 2025, with more than 300,000 products sold.

Today he is founder and CEO of both The Growth Department Inc. and The Mental Wellness Company Inc. He creates content for early-stage founders about how businesses really make money: profit, pricing, and founder sanity.

Nearly 100K
followers on TikTok
15.6K
YouTube subscribers
200K+
followers across Bakás social channels

Case studies from real audits

Client shop audits by The Growth Department, broken down on John's TikTok.

Case studyFragrance brand audit: the platform programs that were quietly costing themTikTok · Jun 2026
Case studyFashion brand audit: profit per sale vs. affiliate commissionsTikTok · Jun 2026
Case studyFood brand audit: sales lost to affiliate and live-selling commissionsTikTok · Jun 2026
Case studyFashion brand: pricing a founder-made productTikTok · Jun 2026

What consulting clients say

“We had no clear direction before. Through Sir John & his team, we found the expenses we weren't noticing that were hurting our business. Now our system is in order and ready to scale.”
Javen & Lois, Founders, Feralde Fragrance
“John really preaches a lot about clarity, and clarity was my number one headache. I feel like he's someone who really understood what us, e-commerce sellers, were experiencing…”
Lea & Bea, Founders, Sohome

Features & interviews

John and Bakás on national TV, in government programs, podcasts and the press.

College Friends, Umasenso dahil sa Viral Comfort CardsDTI Philippines · Asenso Pilipino S3 EP7, with Karen Davila · 2026
Mag-asawang nalugi sa negosyo, bumangon at yumaman sa comfort cards!ABS-CBN News · My Puhunan: Kaya Mo · 2026
Negosyong comfort cards, may kita raw na 5–6 digits araw-araw!GMA Public Affairs · Pera Paraan · 2026
How to practice self-care for better mental health with John CornwillPara Kanino? Podcast · S3 Episode 5 · 2024
Article Bunot, Tanong, Sagot: ‘Kwentuhang Mental Health’ gamit ang Comfort Cards® ng Bakas®, nais sugpuin ang stigma Assortedge · May 2026 · Read →

Bakás, the proof

Bakás is our own brand and our living case study. It nearly closed before Comfort Cards found their market.

300,000+
decks in Filipino homes
#1
cards on TikTok Shop Philippines
30M+
recent monthly views across social media
4.9★
average from 46 reviews on bakas.shop

The range

Shop all at bakas.shop →

Get in touch

For growth consulting or fulfillment with The Growth Department, wholesale and partnerships with Bakás, media, or anything else.

Or email hello@cornwillventures.com · Imus City, Cavite, Philippines · Mon–Fri, 9:00am–6:00pm (PHT)