Built for billions: The story of Trifid Media

Mahdi Shafiei is the Founder and CEO of Trifid Media and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication graduate from Canadian University Dubai. Known for his visionary leadership, he’s a passionate advocate of empowering the Gen Z workforce and promoting work-life harmony. In this interview, Shafiei shares the mindset, decisions, and bold strategies that have fueled his rapid rise in one of the world’s most competitive markets.

The idea for my business actually started while I was still an employee. I pitched it to my boss at the time, but it was shot down. I could have let it go, but instead, I asked myself: Why should I wait for someone else to say yes? If I truly believed in it, I had to make it happen myself. Looking back, that rejection was the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to create something on my own terms, and that’s exactly why I’m here today.

Timing, conviction, and the ability to see opportunities before everyone else. We were among the first movers on TikTok long before it became the powerhouse it is today. While everyone else dismissed it as a dancing app for kids, we saw something different. In 2018, we became the first agency in the region to sign up and start hosting exclusive TikTok workshops. And that’s been the pattern throughout my journey, spotting trends before they explode and acting on them with full conviction.

We’re young, we’re hungry, and we’re built differently. Our team has an average age of just 23, and that’s by design. I believe fresh talent brings fresh ideas. Experience is great, but innovation comes from those who aren’t afraid to question the norm. I believe in building together. The people who give their all, who go beyond expectations, don’t just get a paycheck, they get a stake in the company.

I’ve always said: I’d rather be a billionaire owning 10% of something massive than a millionaire owning 90% of something small.

Entrepreneurship is a crash course in making mistakes. When I started, I thought business was simple; you have an idea, you execute, and you figure out the rest as you go. I believed that anything I didn’t know, I could just Google. But reality hit hard. I struggled to track my numbers because I didn’t have a solid accountant. I lost deals because I didn’t have airtight legal agreements. I learned painfully that having a great product or service isn’t enough. If you don’t have your foundations right, your business is just waiting to collapse. Today, nothing moves in my business without structure.

For me, work isn’t something I have to do, it’s something I get to do. I don’t see a divide between “work” and “life” because I’ve built a life I love, and my work is a big part of that. A happy person is a productive person. If you focus on your well-being first, everything else falls into place. That’s why I believe in harmony, not balance. Balance implies a trade-off, like you’re constantly choosing between work and life. Harmony means alignment, where the two fuel each other.

When I look back, I’m proud of what we’ve built, not just in numbers, but in the impact we’ve made. Over the past five years, we’ve delivered over 10 billion views across social media and generated more than $100 million in sales for our clients. We’re about to hit the 200 full-time team member mark, but what excites me most isn’t just the growth, it’s the quality of that growth.

Looking ahead? We’re focused on continuing this momentum, expanding our reach, and doubling down on innovation. The future is limitless.