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David Mahbub

Chief Growth Officer at MACH9

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Overview

David Mahbub serves as Chief Growth Officer at MACH9[1], where Mahbub leads the development of global growth systems that align brand narratives with how culture, technology, and audiences behave[2]. Mahbub has worked across more than 40 markets over two decades, advising Fortune 500 companies and high-growth businesses on building relevance and driving growth in complex and fragmented environments[2]. Prior to the current role, Mahbub held positions including Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer at MACH9 from September 2023 to May 2026[4] and CEO LATAM from July 2022 to September 2023[5]. Mahbub founded Wakkamole, serving as Founder and CEO from January 2013 to July 2022[9], and previously worked as Global Strategy Director at Philip Morris International[10]. Mahbub holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City[13] and completed the Chief Revenue Officer Executive Program at The Wharton School[11].

Profile introduction
Source excerptLinkedIn [2]

David Mahbub is a global strategist, TEDx speaker, and Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer at MACH9, where he leads the development of global growth systems that align brand narratives with how culture, technology, and audiences behave. His work is built on a core belief: growth today is not driven by campaigns, but by systems where narratives are formed, interpreted, and adapted in real time. Over the past two decades, he has worked across more than 40 markets, advising Fortune 500 companies and high-growth businesses on how to build relevance and drive growth in complex and fragmented enviro…

Career history

  1. Chief Growth OfficerMay 2026 to presentMACH9
  2. Chief Strategy & Revenue OfficerSep 2023 to May 2026MACH9
  3. CEO LATAMJul 2022 to Sep 2023MACH9
  4. Business Council MemberOct 2019 to presentForbes Business Development Council
  5. Partner | General Manager Mexico & LATAMJan 2015 to presentField Agent
  6. Council Member - Business Strategy, Commercial Planning, Marketing Specialist. Strategic PlanningNov 2015 to presentGLG (Gerson Lehrman Group)
  7. Founder & CEOJan 2013 to Jul 2022Wakkamole
  8. Global Strategy DirectorJan 2012 to Dec 2012Philip Morris International

Education

  1. Chief Revenue Officer Executive Program, BusinessFeb 2025 - Dec 2025The Wharton School
  2. International Business Management, Business2012 - 2012London School of Business and Finance LSBF
  3. Industrial Engineer, Industrial Engineering at Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México2001 - 2007

Insights & ideas

The through-line

Across a run of Spanish-language business podcasts spanning 2020 to 2024, Mahbub returns again and again to the idea that marketing is a teachable, repeatable system rather than an instinct: a methodology that can move from micro-businesses to Forbes 100 brands without losing its logic. The conversations trace a widening arc, from tactical, consumer-centered sales advice aimed at small businesses [1] to the codified "Marketing Model" methodology used at scale by global brands [4][6][10], and eventually outward into adjacent questions of team culture, curiosity, personal image, and whether artificial intelligence threatens the discipline itself [2][5][11].

On the Marketing Model as a scalable system

The core of Mahbub's public thinking is a named methodology, Marketing Model, presented as the throughline of his career and the reason he is invited onto business shows in the first place. The show notes describe it as a concept and methodology used by more than 2,500 brands and companies, ranging from startups to Forbes 100 names such as The Coca-Cola Company, Biersdorf, and Lego, and frame Mahbub as a disruptor of modern marketing on the strength of it [6][10]. Within this system, a specific position is attributed to him: that marketing's job is convincing strangers why they need your product instead of the one next to it, and that people do not buy products, functions, or attributes but buy transformation [10]. A companion tool, the Brand Relationship Map, is described as having been recognized in international forums as part of a set of best-practice systems [10]. He also frames the methodology explicitly as a long-term strategic planning discipline, positioning it as a way for businesses to build a strategic plan without failing along the way [4].

On consumer-centered strategy for small and micro businesses

Even as his profile grew to include global brand clients, Mahbub's earliest recorded appearance stays close to the practical end of the discipline: strategies for consumer-centered sales that a micro-business owner can actually apply, tactics for gathering market information, advice for making a brand scalable, recommendations for training a team, and ideas for building more effective email strategies [1]. The throughline he draws between this early material and his later, brand-scale work is that the same tools used by large companies to dominate a market are, in his account, available to small businesses too [1].

On disruptive marketing and micro-audiences

Later material shows Mahbub arguing that disruptive marketing is not a buzzword but a genuine tool for transforming businesses, particularly through connecting with specific, narrower audiences. He is described as making the case that in a landscape where micro-audiences carry increasing weight, designing strategies aimed at those specific audiences, rather than broad ones, is what generates real traction [3].

On why businesses fail to train their people

One of the more concrete, data-backed points attributed to Mahbub concerns why companies fail, and it centers on training rather than product or market fit. He committed, in conversation, to sharing statistics drawn from Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited: that 40% of businesses fail within their first year, that 80% of the survivors fail before reaching five years, and that 80% of that remaining group fails before reaching eight years, with the principal cause of failure in that last group being the owner's inability to train their employees [1]. The point folds directly back into his broader training and team-building advice for small businesses [1].

On curiosity as a team and leadership skill

Mahbub is described as treating curiosity as a skill to be deliberately developed within teams rather than a personality trait some people simply have. The framing attributed to him is that something can be learned from every person met, every project, every client, and every team member, and that building a genuine learning culture inside a team means asking questions rather than assuming answers [11].

On personal image in business

One appearance is framed specifically around the topic of professional image in business, discussing how one's image factors into business dealings [5], though the available material does not go beyond identifying this as the episode's subject.

On whether AI will replace marketers

One episode title poses the question of whether AI will replace the listener, with Mahbub as the guest addressing it [2], but the source material does not preserve enough of the actual discussion to state a specific position beyond the fact that he engages with the automation-and-marketing question directly.

Takeaways

  • Mahbub frames marketing as a repeatable, teachable system, the "Marketing Model," used by more than 2,500 brands from startups to Coca-Cola, Biersdorf, and Lego [6][10].
  • His stated core belief is that people buy transformation, not products, functions, or attributes, and that marketing means convincing strangers to choose you over the competitor next door [10].
  • He treats long-term strategic planning as a discrete discipline within marketing, distinct from day-to-day tactics [4].
  • He argues disruptive marketing's real value lies in reaching micro-audiences rather than broad ones [3].
  • He points to Gerber's E-Myth Revisited statistics to argue that most business failure past year one traces back to owners failing to train their employees [1].
  • He treats curiosity as a trainable team skill built by asking questions rather than an innate trait [11].
  • He offers practical, consumer-centered tactics for micro-businesses: market-information gathering, scalability advice, team training, and email strategy [1].

Media & appearances

  • In Pursuit of DevelopmentApple Podcasts
    Six economists and the making of modern development | David EngermanIn this episode of In Pursuit of Development, Dan Banik speaks with Yale historian David Engerman about how “development” became one of the most powerful and contested ideas of the modern era. Drawing on Engerman’s 2025 book Apostles of Developmen
  • Mentores EmprendedoresApple Podcasts
    96. El poder del marketing disruptivo y las micro audiencias con David MahbubEl marketing disruptivo es mucho más que una palabra de moda: es una herramienta clave para transformar negocios y conectar con audiencias específicas. En un mundo donde las micro audiencias tienen cada vez más relevancia, diseñar estrategias que g
  • Portfolio Career PodcastApple Podcasts
    The Way Forward book chat with Samanee MahbubAre you look to improve your relationships in 2024? Samanee Mahbub and I both read The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo and discussed the core ideas in the book. There are three main themes around improving your relationship with yourself, with others, and wh
  • MENTES EXCEPCIONALES, EL PODCASTApple Podcasts
    T2 EP05.- Como construir un imperio en el mundo del marketing | David Mahbub en Mentes Excepcionales, El Podcast con Ángel MendozaBienvenid@s a un nuevo episodio de Mentes Excepcionales, El Podcast con Ángel Mendoza!El día de hoy está con nosotros David Mahbub: Empresario miembro del Consejo de Negocios de Forbes desde 2019. Creador del exitoso concepto y metodología “Marketing Model” el cual hoy en día es utilizado por más de 2,500 marcas y compañías como Coca-Cola Company, Brierdsdorf y LEGO. Fundador de “Wakkamole”, firma de estrategias de marketing. Actualmente se desempeña como Chief Strategy Officer y CEO en MACH9 Latinoamérica. David es reconocido como un disruptor del Marketing Moderno.
  • Portfolio Career PodcastApple Podcasts
    Community and Relationship Building with Samanee MahbubWhen Samanee Mahbub was in college at Brown University, she learned about the importance of relationship building. She has continued that through her many experiences, travels, and now living in New York. Given her love of stories and storytelling, she
  • NO ME ESCUCHESApple Podcasts
    009 | David Mahbub | Tu imagen en los negociosDavid Mahbub CEO Latam y Chief Strategy Officer de MACH9 Digital, Fundador de Wakkamole y miembro del Business Council Forbes. Si quieres saber más de David, clic aquí. Suscríbete aquí para recibir las notas del episodio. Síguenos también en Instagram para ver piezas de contenido resumido de cada episodio y para estar al pudiente de nuestras dinámicas. Si quieres compartir algo con nosotros, hacernos un comentario o recomendarnos a nuestro siguiente invitado, escríbenos aquí. Contacto de David. Sitio web Instagram Twitter Linkedin
  • Publicidad y MercadeoApple Podcasts
    Marketing Model ¿Cómo hacer un plan estratégico a largo plazo y no morir en el intento? con David Mahbub - Ep.58Revista P&M: Para el episodi tuvimos como invitado a David Mahbub, fundador y CEO de Wakkamole para hablar sobre su metódología: Marketing Model.
  • Estrategia, Negocios y Dinero PodcastApple Podcasts
    David Mahbub - Hablemos de MarketingDavid Mahbub creó el concepto y la metodología de Marketing Model® más exitoso en la actualidad con más de 2,500 marcas y empresas que lo utilizan, desde startups hasta compañías Forbes 100 como The Coca-Cola Company, Biersdorf y Lego. Ha trabajado en más de 41 mercados diferentes en sus 20 años de experiencia en diversos roles comerciales. Pensador estratégico a largo plazo con renombre. CEO y fundador de Wakkamole Inc y socio de Field Agent. Miembro del Consejo Empresarial de Forbes desde 2019. Ponente público y principal en conferencias y foros de todo el mundo. Altavoz certificado por Exma®. Experto en negocios y asesor de diversas Juntas Ejecutivas. David ha estado involucrado en el éxito estratégico de muchas empresas de Forbes 500. Su concepto y metodología de Marketing Model® han sido registrados y ejecutados en más de 2,500 marcas y proyectos, desde startups hasta bienes de consumo globales en diferentes industrias y mercados. Su metodología ha hecho evolucionar a sus clientes a un esquema de marketing moderno. Un disruptor del marketing moderno. Su Brand Relationship Map® ha sido reconocido en foros internacionales como una parte de sus sistemas de mejores prácticas. Marketing consiste en convencer a los extraños de por qué necesitan su producto en lugar del que está al lado. La gente no compra productos, funciones o atributos; la gente compra transformación.
  • Radio13 DigitalApple Podcasts
    Verdades Encontradas: Las Verdades del Marketing (David Mahbub)Radio13 Digital presenta: Verdades Encontradas. Acompaña a Marimar Cosio, Susi Cueto y Guadalupe Loops en una mesa redonda de temas modulares, que pocos se atreven a debatir, todos los Miércoles en punto de las 09:00 horas por IGTV, Facebook Live, Youtube y Twitch. ¡No se lo pierdan!
  • Estrategia, Negocios y Dinero PodcastApple Podcasts
    Episodio 12. Entrevista con David Mahbub, Estratega de Modelos de Mercadotecnia con enfoque en el consumidor.CEO de Wakkamole Group. Una agencia de marketing estratégico que ha combinado sus talentos con su experiencia, creando un modelo de marketing efectivo para acelerar el crecimiento de las marca de sus clientes las mismas herramientas y estrategias que utilizan las grandes empresas para dominar el mercado. En esta conversación, David nos hablo de las ventas centradas en el consumidor dándonos estrategias de como aplicarlas en nuestras micro empresas. Compartió sus tácticas para recompilar información de nuestro mercado. Nos dio consejos para hacer que nuestra marca sea escalable. Enumero recomendaciones para entrenar a nuestro equipo. Dio ideas para crear estrategias de email más efectivas. En verdad, te recomiendo esta entrevista sin importar en que etapa de desarrollo esta tu empresa. TAREA#1: Durante nuestra conversación, me comprometí con ustedes a poner en las notas del podcast las estadísticas que nos ofrece Gerber en su libro The E-Myth Revisited y son las siguientes, 40% de los negocios fallan en el 1 año que se establecieron. De las empresas que sobreviven el 1er año, el 80% fracasará antes de cumplir 5 años y de esas empresas que sobrevivieron, el 80% va a fracasar antes de cumplir 8 años y en este ultimo grupo, la principal razón del fracaso es la incapacidad del propietario para entrenar a sus empleados.
  • LinkedIn PerúLinkedIn
    #256: The Miracle Skill of Curiosity | David MahbubWhat can I learn from every person I meet, every project, client, team member. We can learn something from every person and situation. Great 30-minute podcast talking about developing the skill of curiosity with their teams. Create a learning culture by asking questions. Talk like you
  • YouTube
    EP15. ¿LA IA TE VA A REEMPLAZAR? | David Mahbub en Mentes ...Bienvenid@s a un nuevo episodio de Mentes Excepcionales, El Podcast con Ángel Mendoza. El día de hoy está con nosotros David Mahbub, empresario miembro del C...

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