Dan Cobley

Dan Cobley inspires and educates his audiences about how important it is to harness the power of the digital to generate insights, increase sales, and transform culture.  Delivered in his own unique style Dan combines his own personal experience with data-driven information and amusing anecdotes making for truly memorable presentations.  Dan is also a lively discussion partner for a fireside chat or moderated panel on anything related to innovation, disruption, and technology-led change. His ‘second order impacts of technology change’ discussions have led to multiple repeat bookings.

Dan Cobley is an entrepreneur and investor in innovative tech startup businesses, focusing on financial services. He currently leads the FinTech portfolio for Blenheim Chalcot, a long-established London venture builder. Here he has co-founded a number of fast-growth fintech companies including Salary Finance, Koodoo Mortgages and ClearScore.

He has been a non-exec at Admiral, engaged by the board of Santander, and an advisor to Onfido, Liberis, Modulr and Farewill.

Dan Cobley and his time at Google

Until late 2014, Dan spent over 8 years at Google, as Managing Director UK & Ireland and as VP Marketing EMEA. The UK and Ireland is the biggest market for Google outside the US and the most advanced major country in terms of e-commerce and online advertising spending.

There he helped the biggest global advertisers make the most of digital platforms to build their brands and their business online.

Dan was promoted to the UK MD role after five years in marketing, first as Marketing Director, UK, Ireland and Benelux and then as VP Marketing, EMEA. In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of European business and consumer marketing at Google.

Prior to Google Dan Cobley held senior marketing roles with Capital One, Ask Jeeves and Pepsi/Walkers.

Dan has been a speaker at the TED Conference, has appeared as a technology expert on BBC’s Tomorrow’s World and helped Alan Sugar choose his 2014 Apprentice.

He is also a trustee of the Technology Trust, and investor/advisor to a few tech start-ups. He has a first degree in physics from Oxford and a master’s in management from Cambridge.

The Digital Imperative

For organisations seeking to drive digital transformation, Dan will light a fire under the project. With rich data and memorable anecdotes, he will help engage everyone in the room in the cause and give highly practical advice on how to build a culture that can succeed on the journey.

Learning How to Fail

For companies that are seeking a more agile, innovative organisation, learning how to fail (quickly, cheaply and in a way that drives learning) is critical. With lessons from Google and startup land, Dan will make the case for a culture change and give you the tools to make it happen.

Disruption in Financial Services

Financial services are going through a period of dramatic change like never before, with the UK at the vanguard. Drawing on his experience with a number of leading UK fintechs, Dan will explore the drivers of change, the characteristics of winners, and the imperative for everyone in financial services that wants to survive.

Second Order Impacts of Technology

Ideally suited to a fireside chat format, Dan will answer questions on what has driven the massive technology-led disruption of the past decades and how we should have seen it coming. Then he will look ahead at future disruption (AI, autonomous vehicles, etc.) and explore what primary shifts will be and the important second order impacts.