Why Distilled

We're not an agency. We're not offshore staffing. We're building a new category.

Distilled Experts: full-time performance marketers who work like in-house, at better economics, sourced from the best talent markets across APAC & EMEA.

100+ embedded experts $200M+ revenue scaled 18-mo retention
13 yrs
Building teams
3
Continents
$200M+
Revenue scaled
Founder Story

Why Mehdi built Distilled

After 13+ years building and scaling marketing teams across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe: at Daraz (Alibaba / Rocket Internet), Careem (Uber), Jumia and HelloFresh, I kept hitting the same wall. Agencies were misaligned and split across ten clients. In-house meant $80–120K salaries and months of onboarding. Contractors churned every 90 days. Offshore meant management overhead and inconsistent quality.

None of the existing categories worked. So I built a new one: Distilled Experts: pre-vetted senior performance marketers who work like in-house, at far better economics, from the talent markets I'd seen compete globally for years.

2012–2019 · Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Myanmar
Daraz · Alibaba · Rocket Internet

From Marketing Analyst to CMO. Built and scaled marketing across South Asia, through the Rocket Internet years and the Alibaba acquisition.

2016–2017 · Pakistan & Dubai
Careem · Uber

Head of Marketing: growth across the ride-hailing market.

2019–2023 · Dubai · Africa
Jumia Group

Regional Marketing Director → Group VP, Marketing Performance across African markets.

2024–2025 · Berlin · Europe
HelloFresh

Marketing Director: scaled performance across European markets.

2025 · Dubai
Founded Distilled

Mehdi Raza, Founder

Book a 15-min chat with Mehdi
The Category

Why the existing options
don't work

Agencies
In-House
Contractors
Distilled
Time commitment
10–15 hrs/wk
Full-time
10–20 hrs/wk
40 hrs/wk
Clients at once
5–15
You only
3–5+
1 (you only)
Avg. retention
12 months
12 months
3–6 months
18+ months
Monthly cost
$10K–$30K
$7K–$10K+
$4K–$12K
~$3K
Quality control
Limited
Yes
None
Vetted 1-in-400
The Talent

Where we find world-class
marketers

We source from fast-growing talent markets with a proven track record of delivering for global brands.

Pakistan
Distilled HQ · Karachi

220M people, 65% under 30. British-system English. Alumni of Uber, Daraz & Delivery Hero. Full overlap with MENA & Europe.

Egypt
Cairo

Arabic + English fluency and deep MENA context. Alumni of Jumia, Swvl & Talabat. Full overlap with Europe & MENA.

Philippines
Manila

American-English fluency and a strong remote-work culture. Execution-first mindset. Overlap with US & APAC hours.

South Africa
Cape Town · Johannesburg

Native English speakers with strong agency & startup pedigree. 5+ yrs average experience. Full overlap with Europe & MENA.

Our Distilled Experts have scaled $200M+ in revenue for global brands.

The Difference

Six principles that define
our model

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The Vision

Distilled is building distribution
infrastructure for emerging markets

As AI commoditizes content and code, distribution becomes the moat. Talent placement is layer one. More are coming.

Distilled Experts2025 · Live worldwide
Hookd · Creator marketplaceLive in MENAP
Founder-Led MarketingComing soon
AI SolutionsComing soon

See if Distilled is the
right fit for you

A 15-minute call with Mehdi. No pressure, no sales pitch, just an honest conversation.

Get matched