John Parnell.

From events
to revenue.

John’s route into marketing was hands on. He ran events in Ipswich for more than five years, spent three years as a digital marketing executive at Mercedes-Benz Vans UK, then worked in business development in Sydney before coming home to Suffolk.

In February 2019 he founded Generate Leads Online. Two years later it was named Start-Up Business of the Year at the Suffolk Business Awards, where the judges called it “a model for any entrepreneur”. In 2022 it joined the Future 50 programme.

He also runs lead generation as a business in its own right. Loft Insulation Installer, the inbound platform he started at the end of 2021, has produced more than 5,050 leads and £1.21M in attributed revenue for its accredited installation partner. Read the case study.

In 2026 he launched GRO, Generate Revenue Online, to close the loop: the same team, with every campaign connected to the CRM, the sales process and the revenue it brings in, then fed back to the platforms that found it.

On the rare occasion he can be convinced to take a break from the business, John loves socialising with like-minded people, watching rugby and trying to keep fit.