Executive: Nick Eubanks
Company: DigiStore24
Industry: All-in-one online sales platform and affiliate marketplace
Company Snapshot: Built for performance-driven entrepreneurs, combining conversion tools, payments, and back-office automation
Format: CMO Journeys Interview
Why It Matters
Nick Eubanks didn’t follow a straight path into marketing. He zigzagged—finance to real estate to a fintech startup to agency life to larger-company leadership. That matters because his view of agency partnerships comes from experience on both sides of the table. He keeps asking one question: what actually moves the work forward?
Their Path, in Short
Nick thought real estate was his future. He went to school for finance at “St. Joe’s in Philadelphia,” earned a finance degree, and spent college in real estate internships.
Then marketing showed up as a left turn. After graduation, he joined a fintech startup in a marketing role. He realized he didn’t like the product, even though he liked the people. So he left and started an agency.
From there, he described his career as “venture after venture,” moving through agency work, software, e-commerce, and other builds. One chapter became Baby Bathwater Institute, a community of entrepreneurs he called “my tribe.” It also shaped how he saw himself, which is why his next move hit hard: he took a job.
Nick joined SEMrush in an entrepreneurial role and worked with a CMO he described as forward-thinking. He said the job gave him a bigger checkbook and a bigger team, and let him do bigger projects without taking the same personal risk. Still, he admitted it triggered an identity crisis. He had tied “entrepreneur” to owning the thing, and he had to rethink that definition.
Big Themes From the Conversation
Nick is drawn to learning that challenges him. He shared advice he credits to Mike Brown: don’t just be open-minded—seek out information that forces you to change your mind.
He also talked about luck without pretending it cancels effort. He referenced the line “the harder you work, the luckier you get,” and still insisted that luck is real. Work hard, stay prepared, and don’t assume you control every variable.
And he’s practical about how he keeps himself moving. Nick talked about running as a way to clear his head and how ideas appear after a few miles. He said he used to forget half of them once he got home. Now he captures them by opening voice notes and ChatGPT and talking straight into it, so the thought becomes something he can actually use.
Watch CMO Journeys Interview
How They Choose the Right Agency Partners
When I asked Nick how he thinks about agencies at DigiStore24, he started with reality. He said it’s common for CMOs to step into a role and bring in agencies they trust, depending on what needs support right away. The goal is speed. You can’t wait for perfect conditions.
His best example was about timing. Someone he met at SEMrush later left and started a PR agency. When she saw Nick had taken the DigiStore24 role, she reached out to catch up. Nick’s response was: “Perfect timing.” As he explained it, there wasn’t a PR function in the U.S., and starting one was on his short list.
He also described using agencies to move fast on foundational work. One area was marketing analytics. He said he wasn’t happy with the marketing analytics configuration, so he brought in someone he trusted to do a full audit and lay out how to clean it up. He named GA4, GTM, and reporting. The point was confidence. If measurement is shaky, every strategy conversation turns into guesswork.
Content is another place he sees agencies earn their keep, but not as “extra hands.” He said the value is bringing in people who know what works and know how to build the content production workflows that are needed. Put workflows in place. Create sample content so the internal team can learn. Leave templates the team can reuse.
Then he named a quieter differentiator: access. Nick said agencies with channel-specific expertise often have relationships a brand can’t get by “going in the front door.” He gave a concrete example: he brought in someone to help with a specific social platform to get paid ads up and running, and that expert could introduce him to the senior brand partner manager and help get set up with a line of credit—something he said wouldn’t have happened if he approached the platform cold.
Nick also spoke to how the agency world is shifting. He said he’s vacillated between the specialist and full-service views over his career, and he believes specialists may need to go deeper in what they deliver. He talked about advising agencies to build AI workflows not just for themselves, but for clients, and he highlighted platform partnerships—saying he was a HubSpot partner at his last agency and expects that model to matter even more in the age of AI.
What Stood Out
The surprising moment wasn’t tactical. It was personal. Nick openly described the identity crisis he felt after taking a job following years of building his own ventures. That kind of honesty is rare, and it explains a lot about how he operates: he keeps learning, keeps moving, and keeps choosing work that feels like building.
Inside Scoop
This article focuses on the journey, the leadership philosophy, and how this CMO works with agency partners. To access the exclusive analysis, including priorities, initiatives, and opportunities, become a NextBigWin Pro member.
