John Veichmanis, CEO of Carwow, sees growing momentum for innovation and experimentation across the automotive sector. He tells Lynda Ennis, Co-founder and CEO of Ennis & Co Group, that cultural openness and a willingness to take calculated risks will be essential qualities for future automotive leaders.
You became CEO of Carwow after leadership roles across global businesses such as Expedia and Farfetch, and you’ve now been at the forefront of scaling one of Europe’s leading automotive marketplaces. Could you take us through your career journey?
I think a lot of it was down to luck at the beginning. I studied for a marketing degree and got a call from my university to say they were looking for a marketing graduate to help build their first website. As it turned out, none of my other classmates received the call. The role gave me the opportunity to work online before anyone else and it gave me a real taste for staying ahead of the game, constantly learning and exploring. That early experience gave me confidence to try new things and springboard to interesting jobs.
I’ve always been interested in technology. At university, I learned to code, build databases and work with HTML and Perl. While I’m not an engineer, I developed an appreciation for technology, which led me to spend most of my career in consumer tech companies. I moved to London and was headhunted by Apple to run their online store in Europe, managing the third-party accessory business and I worked on the launch of the iPhone in 2007. It was a role I could hardly have dreamed of, but I suppose curiosity and pushing myself to learn is what really helped me land these opportunities.
Was your career path planned? Did you intentionally map out the organisations you wanted to work for? And how many moves across different roles or companies did it take before you progressed upwards?
Broadly, yes – it was intentional. I’ve always chosen companies that were reshaping how products and services are built and consumed online. Apple is a good example, and I joined Skype when it was still a new concept because I was curious to see if it would work. My focus has always been on businesses leveraging major shifts in consumer behaviour and product interaction.
I’d wanted to be a CEO since childhood. By the time I moved to Farfetch in 2015, I was running marketing at Expedia and had achieved strong results, but I felt a growing desire to help build something from the ground up. Joining Farfetch, which was then still relatively small, was deliberate. I wanted hands-on experience scaling a business and broadening my perspective across different functions before moving into a CEO role.
What’s really helped me as a CEO is understanding how teams connect. Leading effectively requires empathy and appreciation for how different areas of the business intersect. At Expedia, where we were expanding rapidly, I was inspired by the CEO’s ability to keep teams aligned – his grasp of interdependencies was remarkable. I draw on those lessons every day.
I worked across several verticals before joining automotive – travel, consumer tech, fashion – and while each had its own nuances, the fundamentals of building great teams and products are remarkably consistent. At Farfetch, I didn’t have a personal passion for luxury fashion but developed a real appreciation for it. I’ve always loved cars, so moving into automotive felt like coming home.
Even as a consumer, I had some understanding of the automotive industry, but the openness and generosity of partners – manufacturers and dealers alike – has been incredible. There’s a level of collaboration in automotive that you don’t always see elsewhere, and I really value that. Plus, getting to test some of the cars is a definite perk.
Carwow operates across multiple countries and serves diverse markets, each with its own customer expectations and business cultures. How do you adapt your leadership style to succeed in such varied contexts?
For me, listening is the most important aspect of leadership – listening to learn and to understand. Much of my career has been international, and working with people from different markets and cultures has been one of the most valuable learning experiences.
For future leaders, this is even more critical. A CEO provides strategy, direction and conviction. It’s now relatively straightforward to prepare an attractive slide pack, but creating a sense of belief in the strategy is the real challenge. Global awareness and foresight are essential, and trends in other markets often influence local decisions. That’s why I spend time travelling, meeting partners and customers worldwide, observing opportunities and threats and bringing those insights back to guide the team.
Leadership is also about storytelling – communicating experiences in a way that connects, informs and inspires. An international perspective only makes those stories richer and more thought-provoking, enhancing your ability to lead effectively.
Carwow has transformed how people buy and sell cars. From your perspective, what role does leadership play in driving large-scale change in such a traditional industry?
I think the first point for me is that change – in any business, in any category – is inevitable. It’s both an opportunity and a threat. As a leader, the first step is being clear on our destination over the next five years and understanding what’s within our control. We can only control the controllables.
Next, it’s essential to communicate the sequence and rationale behind our actions to the team. Explaining why we’re doing certain things, and in which order, helps avoid the sense of rushing or reacting. Essentially, we’re saying, “We expect the market to look like X, Y, and Z in five years, so we’re going to focus on this set of priorities now”. Change can bring short-term pain, with benefits not immediately visible. Leaders must help the team step back, see the long-term picture and understand that current challenges are anticipated parts of a larger plan.
The biggest risk in transformation is losing confidence in the mission. Leadership in these moments is about reinforcing conviction and resilience, showing the team that while some challenges were unexpected, the strategy can absorb them. When people understand the logic, sequence, and destination, they’re more likely to stay focused and confident.
You’ve come from a marketing background, and we don’t often see CMOs stepping into CEO roles. Why do you think that is? What strengths do you think marketing leaders bring?
I’m really pleased to see more marketers stepping up into big leadership roles. Ultimately, marketing is a social science. It’s all about understanding people, both internally and externally. That connection is so important. If you go back to the basics of being a CEO, you’re fundamentally a people manager, and I think marketers are naturally strong in that space. They’re used to working cross-functionally, leading large, complex teams and bringing together very different disciplines. Many of the skills that make a great CEO – communication, collaboration and clarity – are the same ones that great marketers develop throughout their careers.
I’ve spent most of my career in performance marketing, so I’ve always been close to the numbers. You’re constantly accountable for measurable outcomes, which gives you strong commercial grounding and P&L literacy. I’m very comfortable talking to investors about performance and financials because of that background.
Beyond the numbers, storytelling is such an important leadership skill. As a young marketer, I could stand up and present, but I probably lacked a bit of conviction and energy. To become a CMO, you have to be phenomenal at storytelling – not just in building campaigns but in articulating a clear, inspiring narrative for your people. People want clarity and context, but they also need to feel excited about where the business is going. Storytelling isn’t about making stuff up. It’s about being clear, energetic and enthusiastic about what you’re collectively trying to achieve. Marketers, by nature, are well placed to do that, and I think that’s why we’ll continue to see more of them progressing into CEO roles.
LE: The industry is evolving rapidly with EV adoption, new ownership models and digital-first retailing. What leadership qualities do you think will be most critical for the next generation of leaders in automotive?
I think cultural openness and a willingness to take calculated risks will be essential.
Being adaptable, curious and alert to disruption is key. You need to have one foot in the areas where change is happening, or at least enough exposure to respond quickly. Healthy scepticism is fine, but not at the expense of progress.
Resilience, though, is probably the most important quality of all. As a CEO, you want your teams to innovate, and that means some ideas won’t work. When things fail, the responsibility ultimately sits with you, and that tests your nerve. You have to stay calm, hold your conviction and keep moving forward. The reality is that being a CEO involves a huge amount of unseen work: reading, thinking, connecting dots across teams and making big calls. You can’t fit that into a neat seven-hour day, and you always need to be visible and accessible. So, for me, the essential leadership traits are resilience, discipline and openness to change.
Carwow has achieved exceptional growth, with revenue up 55% in 2024 and ambitions to break through the £100m barrier. How do you balance delivering commercial performance with staying true to the company’s purpose and values?
I actually think the two are completely connected. The way we think about our culture at Carwow is that we are very deliberately a growth business. We’re in a hurry because we’re in a unique position: there’s no other marketplace like Carwow in Europe, and we want to be number one in our category. That pace, that sense of urgency, is built into our values – the way we think and the way we hire.
So, for me, culture and commercial growth go hand in hand. We set that expectation very clearly from the start. When I talk to people, I’ll say, ‘The business is growing quickly, and that creates new opportunities for everyone – new roles, new challenges, chances to try new things. That’s one of the biggest perks of being here. But it’s hard work and agility is critical as the business can pivot quickly based on performance.
If the culture is set up that way from day one, right from the interview process, people know what they’re signing up for, whether they are in a junior or senior role. We’re a fast-moving, high-growth business, and it’s not for everyone. Growth companies can look shiny and exciting from the outside, and they are, but they’re also demanding. We’re clear about that because it’s part of who we are.
Throughout your career, you’ve worked alongside some highly influential leaders. Who has had the biggest impact on your leadership style?
My boss at Apple had a huge impact on me. He took a risk in hiring me, and I was always massively grateful for that. He saw my natural curiosity and energy to join Apple, and he became probably the best coach I’ve ever had. He really invested in my career – not just as a manager, but as a coach. That made such a difference, and it inspired me to go the extra mile for him. It taught me a lot about the power of investing time and trust in people.
I also really enjoyed watching Dara Khosrowshahi operate when I was at Expedia. The business was growing rapidly and was incredibly complex – truly global in scale – and his depth of insight was extraordinary. The way he could line everything up across such a vast organisation was like watching someone conduct an orchestra. That’s ultimately what the role of a CEO is about: bringing all the different parts together, in sync, to deliver something cohesive. His attention to detail and precision was remarkable, and it was genuinely inspiring to watch and learn from that.
LE: What are some of your priorities as a leader? What does a successful leader look like to you?
One of the nice things about being a CEO in a venture capital environment is that you get to spend a lot of time with other CEOs, which I find hugely valuable. It gives you the chance to talk through challenges, compare approaches and share ideas. I’ve learned the most from leaders who spend a lot of time listening, and who have the generosity to share their learnings and perspectives openly.
From my experience, leaders in the US are particularly good at this. They’re much more inclined to talk to peers across industries, to document what they’ve learned and to share that knowledge more systematically, not just over informal chats. I’ve taken a lot from that approach, and I’ve realised how important it is to make the effort to engage in those kinds of exchanges.
Being a CEO can be lonely at times, but spending time with others who are equally immersed in similar challenges really helps. I try to connect with people who share similar values, as well as those who bring completely different perspectives. Both are valuable in different ways. Most CEOs are incredibly generous with their time, particularly when it comes to helping others progress into senior leadership. That’s something I’ve become really passionate about – supporting and developing the next generation of leaders and helping them navigate their own journeys towards becoming CEOs.
You have a strong tech background. What’s the next big thing we should all be paying attention to, and how do you see it changing the way we work?
The obvious answer is AI, but I don’t think most people are taking it as seriously as they should. If you use a computer for work, the next 3 years will be hugely transformative. I genuinely believe we’re about to see the biggest shift in white-collar work we’ve ever experienced. Too often, AI is seen as something only the engineering team handles, but everyone in an organisation, whatever their role, should be exploring how to use these tools to improve their contribution. With the right tools, everyone can perform at an exceptionally high level.
There is a flip side, though. Limited access to these technologies could widen inequality, so leaders need to ensure fair access and help people adapt. Many people’s first reaction to AI is fear. I see it even among students worried about their future roles. Our responsibility is to help people embrace the opportunities AI brings rather than fear them, and to make sure everyone can use these tools to reach their full potential.
