MANAN MEHTA
My Story

Manan Mehta: The Virtual CMO Who Has Built Marketing Ecosystems for 100+ Brands Across India, UK & the UAE

Ten years of building, breaking, and learning. Three companies along the way. A few hundred brands I've been lucky to work with. This is how I got here.

2014 to 2019

I started a restaurant

Straight out of St. Xavier's, two of my closest friends and I started American Joint, an Indo-American fusion restaurant in Mumbai. We scaled to three outlets, hit a $4M valuation, and were lucky enough to win the Mid-Day Young Achievers Award. Bombay Times and Mid-Day both wrote about the places I was part of. Covers, margins, wastage, a bad Saturday, a great review: everything I know about how a real business actually feels came from that room, not from a marketing course.

The American Joint logo The American Joint, Mumbai
The full MarketinCrew crew MarketinCrew, today
2019

I started an agency

I ended up marketing the restaurants myself because nobody I hired understood the business well enough. Other owners asked me to do theirs, and three years of that turned into a calling. I started MarketinCrew with one intern and a photographer. Today it's around sixty people across Mumbai, Lyon, Paris and Toronto, delivering branding, content, performance marketing, and AI workflows for hundreds of clients all over the world.

Since 2021

I started teaching

YNOV Campus in Lyon asked me to teach Search Engine Marketing and Social Ads to their Masters students. Standing in front of a room that asks why forces you to defend every framework you use, in plain language, with no slide to hide behind. It made the client work sharper, and I have not stopped since.

Manan Mehta leading a marketing workshop at a table with six participants Marketing workshop, at the table
Manan Mehta speaking at a guest session Guest session, India
2023

I became a Virtual CMO

It was then I discovered my true calling: working closely with founders, sitting inside their businesses, helping them shape the marketing rather than just renting it out as a service. Helping brands reach their potential and bringing their unique selling points to life online. This is the work I love most.

Today

I work with founders and host a podcast

MarketinCrew (the agency), AI Crew (the AI consultancy), Lyon Marketing Co (the French arm), MK Studios (the podcast and video studio), and The Marketin Podcast (the show). The show came out of the same instinct as teaching: the fastest way to understand an industry is to sit across from the people running it and ask better questions. I split my time between Lyon, Mumbai, and wherever clients need me. Everything I recommend, I've tested in my own businesses first.

I also keep a Travel Diaries page, for the moments from the road that end up shaping how I think about markets.

Manan Mehta at an outdoor restaurant table with four people over lunch The MarketinCrew crew, Mumbai
My journey so far

Ten years, three companies, hundreds of brands.

100+Founders I've worked with
60+Websites delivered
500+Videos & design projects
10Years in marketing
The crew

It stopped being a one man job

MarketinCrew is a team of specialists in Mumbai. Strategy, design, performance, content and video, in one room, shipping every week.

The MarketinCrew team
Where I've operated

Six countries. One operating philosophy.

India

Mumbai is home base for most of the MarketinCrew delivery team. We work with fashion houses, jewellery brands, F&B groups, B2B manufacturers, and healthcare chains across the country.

France

Lyon is where I live. European clients, NRI founders, and a few wonderful partnerships with French operators.

United States

Healthcare practices in New York and Pennsylvania. Service businesses in Virginia. A growing network of NRI founders running US-based brands.

United Kingdom

London fashion clients and NRI founders running UK-based businesses across food, wellness, and professional services.

UAE

Dubai-based brands across hospitality, luxury, and personal services. A strong NRI entrepreneur network calls this region home.

Canada

A portion of the MarketinCrew team is based in Canada. We work with clients across services, hospitality, and personal brands here too.

In the press

Featured in

Press

Mid-Day

Young Achievers Award. Coverage of American Joint and the early restaurant years.

Press

Hindustan Times

"Organic vegetarianism comes to Borivali", feature on the second outlet launch.

Podcast

The Marketin Podcast

A show I'm grateful to host. Conversations with founders, marketers, and operators from around the world.

Podcast

Industry podcasts

Guest appearances on marketing, entrepreneurship, and NRI business podcasts.

Want to work together?

30-minute discovery call. No deck, no pitch. You tell me about the business, I ask questions, we see if it makes sense.

Book a discovery call

Or email manan.mehta@marketincrew.com