Getting to know… Danny Sullivan

In the latest instalment of Bdaily’s Getting to know... feature, which looks at the person behind the business profile, Danny Sullivan, founder and chief executive of York-based B2B search and cross-platform visibility agency Nomada Digital, talks about swapping advertising ambitions for a maths degree, chasing down a snowboarding trick for a whole season and building an agency that works with clients on both sides of the Atlantic.

We know you as the founder and chief executive of Nomada Digital, but who is the person behind the title? Tell us a little about what makes you tick…

A big part of it is the job itself – there’s nothing like watching a client get great results and knowing we made that happen. 

Outside of work, it’s usually travel-related.

Family time is important too; being with my wife and our three-year-old son, with a second on the way, which should keep us busy.

Did you always want to work in marketing?

I liked the idea of going into advertising, but I also enjoyed maths, so I went with a degree in that, figuring it could take me in a few different directions.

My first role ended up being in marketing, which felt like a good bridge into advertising, and it was in travel, which was perfect. 

The person who hired me later told me the maths degree was actually why I got the interview; they thought it meant I’d be a good problem-solver. 

Funny how that came full circle.

What’s the best bit about your job? And the worst?

The best part is getting great results for clients – seeing them surprised by how quickly growth happens, or turning around a business that was in a tricky spot never gets old. 

We recently took one of our SaaS clients from zero per cent to 25 per cent ChatGPT visibility in under two weeks, and landed three top citations in Google’s AI Overview. 

Building a remote-first agency where the whole team can work from anywhere was important to me too; it is one of the best things about our model.

The trickiest part is that no two clients are the same.

You’re always adjusting to different personalities and expectations, but that variety is a lot of why I enjoy it too.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Work-wise, it’s building a company that great people want to be part of; something started in York that now works with clients across the UK and in New York. 

Personally, it’s having a wonderful family and seeing a good amount of the world. 

And if you’d asked me straight after my last ski season, I’d have said landing a 720 – I spent the whole season chasing that trick.

How do you relax outside of work?

I relax by staying on the go – whether that’s work or planning the next trip – but the real downtime is with my family and getting away somewhere I can surf or snowboard.

What makes Yorkshire such a great place to live and work?

The people. 

There’s a warmth and straight-talking honesty to Yorkshire people that you don’t find everywhere. 

And that no-nonsense way of doing things is baked into how we run the agency.

Tell us something about you we didn’t know...

I’ve got a very loose family claim to fame.

My grandma’s cousin is Mick Hucknall from Simply Red. 

I’ve never actually met him, but it’s a decent bit of pub quiz trivia.

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