David Aobadia
Growth, Marketing and Commercial Director. I help owner-managed businesses work out why growth has flattened, and what to fix first
I have spent twenty years building things that did not exist yet: marketing functions, commercial pipelines, new market entries, and once, a consultancy of my own that I built and sold.
Most of that work has been in businesses where growth had stopped being predictable. Sometimes the strategy was wrong. More often the strategy was fine and the business could not carry it, which is a very different problem and needs a very different answer.
That distinction is why the Growth Readiness Index exists.
What I've actually done
Seven years at Sylvania, the global professional lighting business, where I grew the central marketing team from one person to eight, acted as Marketing Director through a post-acquisition integration, and built the strategy for the 2018 Light + Building fair that delivered a €2.5m sales pipeline.
A run of fractional and interim roles since: launching a French 3D rendering agency into the UK from zero to a £600K order book, writing the business plan that triggered a £350K seed round for a fintech, repositioning an eBike manufacturer for a 15% sales lift, and leading marketing and sales for a demi-fine jewellery brand.
Most recently, ten months building a growth-advisory practice from nothing inside Menzies, a Top 20 UK accountancy firm. I defined the proposition and pricing, launched it across the firm in six weeks, ran an adoption roadshow through eleven offices, and built a live pipeline of 43 opportunities worth over £300K across ten sectors. The first signed engagement was a growth diagnostic for one of London's most recognisable historical landmarks, which went on to a second phase.
That last role is where the Index came from. I had ninety partners to persuade and no authority over any of them, which teaches you very quickly that a plan people agree with and a plan people actually carry out are two different things.
Credentials
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Executive MBA, Bayes Business School (Merit) — dissertation on the impact of digitalisation on FTSE 100 performance
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MA European Marketing and Management, IDRAC Business School, Lyon
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Mindshop accredited: Problem Solver, Strategic Planning, Business Advisory Fundamentals
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Visiting lecturer since 2022 at French business schools and incubators including ISG, Ascencia, and X-Up at Polytechnique
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English and French to native level. Fluent Spanish, intermediate Italian.
Where I am strongest
Manufacturing and industrial B2B, professional services, and property and construction. I work outside those sectors too — the method travels — but in those three I can tell within a conversation whether what you are describing is normal or a warning sign.
What working together looks like
I start with evidence rather than opinion. That is what the Index is for.
I will tell you if I think you do not need me. It happens, and saying so is cheaper for both of us than three months of finding out.
I work on a three-month minimum because below that I would be selling activity rather than results.
I am direct. If you want someone to agree with the plan you have already made, I am the wrong choice.