NerdWallet Picks John Caine as Its New Product Chief

Financial guidance app and website NerdWallet has found its new Chief Product Officer, John Caine, who brings 20 years of experience at companies like Vroom and Priceline.

At NerdWallet, Caine will work with the product and engineering teams to set product strategy, build consumer-first marketplaces and optimize its mobile app experience.

Caine joins the 12-year-old company from Vroom, where he served as the online vehicle marketplace's CPO and Chief Conversion Officer. Before that, he was the CPO at Priceline and was the driving force behind the launch of its mobile business.

In NerdWallet's announcement, the company highlighted Caine's collaboration philosophy to product development. The company's CEO, Tim Chen, added that Caine's experience "along with his passion for fostering a culture of experimentation, aligns perfectly with one of our core values of Informed Risk-Taking, which I think is critical to product development and acceleration."

The addition to NerdWallet's leadership team comes after a year of renewed revenue growth capped by the company's debut on the Nasdaq in early November. In the first six months of 2021, the internet company saw its monthly active visitors jump to 21 million, up from just 16 million in the first half of 2020. This bump in visitors also corresponded with a 32% increase in revenue to $181.6 million between January and June of 2021.

The renewed interest in NerdWallet’s financial advice offerings could be a result of a marketing shift the company made as it faced a downturn earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic. The company shifted its focus to brand building and answering money questions as people return to work and seek out advice on ways to pay off debts or help insulate themselves from future financial instability caused by shock events.

"I have a passion for problem solving to understand the consumer need and develop meaningful consumer products," said Caine. "I am excited to join a very capable team of product developers and engineers who are hyper-focused on delivering the best consumer experience. NerdWallet is helping consumers understand and take control of what is the most complicated, but least optimized part of their lives, and I'm excited to be a part of this next phase of growth."