007 John Hills
VP Marketing, Crowdcube
John Hills is VP of Marketing at Crowdcube, Europe’s leading equity crowdfunding platform. He’s been with the business for over three years. If you want to go deep with John, I’d recommend his episode of In Growth We Trust (shout-out Yoann Pavy) where he gets into how equity crowdfunding doubles up as a marketing channel.
“Because everyone thinks they know how to do it until it doesn’t work. Then it’s your fault, obviously.”
The interview
What’s your coffee ritual?
Strong black coffee just before 7am. The day is a battle and caffeine is your first weapon. For the coffee nerds out there my stack is Pact Coffee | B Corp™ for beans, Sage Appliances for grinding, Bialetti for boiling.
What was your first marketing job?
Pulling pints in a pub. I learned the art of upselling crisps and that happy hour is just rebranding for slow Tuesday afternoons.
What finance apps do you have on your home screen?
Prosper for pretending I’m an investment guru, Wise for moving money without feeling robbed, and Crowdcube because I believe in ownership. And also because they pay me.
Which newsletter, podcast, or book do you recommend most?
Newsletters: my man Adam Goyette for general marketing smarts and Wes Kao for how to navigate work in 2025 advice.
Pod: Dear Marketers by Emily Kramer and anything produced by Caspian Studios.
Book: Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick. A refreshing signal through all the noise on what AI actually means for your life and work.
What’s an underrated growth channel in fintech?
Referral. Easy to talk about but very hard to get right. If your product is truly good then people will talk about it. So figure out how to incentivise that.
What keeps you up at night?
The creeping suspicion that we’re one algorithm update away from irrelevance. And the strong black coffees from 7am.
What are the most useful measurement tools you use in your work?
The simple ones: traffic, conversions, and, increasingly, my own gut (seasoned by a decade of KPIs, pivots, and ‘just one more dashboard’ - all praise to the BI teams out there!).
What’s one fintech brand (other than your own) that’s getting marketing right?
Wise. They found a real problem, told the truth about it, and repeated that truth until the market listened. I am a happy user who has saved hundreds (maybe even thousands) thanks to them.
Why is marketing so hard?
Because everyone thinks they know how to do it until it doesn’t work. Then it’s your fault, obviously.