Dave Gerhardt

Hey I'm Dave Gerhardt. I created Exit Five, which has turned into the top community for B2B marketing professionals. Before starting Exit Five I had a 10 year career in marketing and grew from PR intern to CMO. I even once had hair! My wife says I'm more handsome now though, and she's quite pretty so that means a lot -- but the internet just boxes me in as the typical bald guy tech bro. So oh look, another bald tech guy writing on LinkedIn! whoopty freaking do.

Anyway. Where was I... OH. Receipts! I wanted to talk about receipts, because in a world of fluff and online influencers, I actually have some receipts and I want to tell you about them here because it signals power, credibility, and makes it seem like I'm super rich, so: I used to be pretty good at marketing, and my work as a marketer played a key role (at least I think so) in helping two software companies to successful exits: Drift for $1B+ and Privy for $100M+. I certainly helped the founders make a bunch of money, and I was able to comfortably purchase a brand new Toyota Sienna minivan for my family in 2021.

Today I spend my time working on Exit Five, and it's actually been super fun and given me a bunch of purpose. We're a team of six full-time team members now, and we have a private online community and host in-person events around the world. Plus there's a popular podcast and newsletter for marketers. We reach something like 20 MILLION marketers with our content every year, and we've got a pretty special thing going on. I hope to keep it going. You can learn more about it all at exitfive.com.

I spent most of my life in the Boston area but now live in the woods in Vermont with my wife, two kids, two cats, and one dog.

You can reach me at dave@exitfive.com if you want, but TBD if I reply. Depends on the message. But please don't send me any more swag or books. But if for whatever reason you do want to send me something, I play the ProV1x golf ball and like the low numbers.

PS. Find my podcast “The Dave Gerhardt Show” on Spotify

Founder & CEO

Exit Five is a media company focused on B2B marketing. We help B2B marketers build successful careers through our content and community. Learn more at exitfive.com

Content marketers run modern marketing.

Because almost all marketing today is shaped online.

And online marketing shows up as:

- Ads
- Videos
- Articles
- Podcasts and clips like this with Jess Cook
- Social posts
- Newsletters
- Communities
- Influencers

Different formats. But none of it works without a clear content strategy and strong content marketing.

Jess is a great example of this: she started her career as a copywriter for big CPG brands. She cut her teeth writing 200+ variations of a recipe for Rice Krispie Treats.

Then built a career in content marketing: content market manager, director, VP brand and content.

Then turned that into a Head of Marketing role at a startup and was recently promoted to VP on the heels of her success using - wait for it - content to drive revenue.

Not because Vector's content gets a lot of impressions and their podcast is unique or because their little mascot is cute.

But because it's working! Those things are driving revenue. 

I had a conversation with Jess last week (now out on my podcast) and she shared three key marketing plays that she's run over the past year:

1. Influencer Marketing - how does it work in B2B, how did she find influencers, what did it cost, how much pipeline was generated, how did they measure it

2. Podcasting - why they started a podcast, how their podcast stands out, how they record, when/where, how they prep, how they know it's working

3. LinkedIn - we talk a bit about what content types (and strategy) is working well here today

4. Career Path - her path from content to VP Marketing

Erin on my team messaged me last night and said this was the best interview we've done recently - please go listen if you need some tactical inspiration.

Founder: Exit Five | Community Builder | Former CMO

What events are you going to in Q1? We're hosting the first annual Exit Five Marketing Leadership Retreat in Arizona March 18-20.

This event is exclusively for in-house B2B marketing leaders.

It's all about who's in the room and we've pulled together a great group for this event. 

Here are the sessions we have planned:

1. How to Become the CMO Everyone Wants to Work With (with Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital)

2. Building and Leading a High-Performing Marketing Team (led by Hillary Carpio, VP Growth at Snowflake)

3. Managing Your CFO and Board Relationship (led by Pranav Piyush, Founder at Paramark)

4. Personal Branding for B2B Marketing Leaders (led by Jane Serra, Head of Marketing at MemoryBlue)

5. Ecosystem Marketing as the Next Big Growth Lever (led by Emily Kramer, Founder of MKT1)

6. How Are You Really Using AI? At Work and Personally (led by Katie Miserany, CCO and Head of Marketing at SurveyMonkey) 

And I'm interviewing Kim Storin (CMO at Zoom) about how she does things and what's changing this year.
 
PLUS since it's a "retreat" - we have time for activities like golf, a workout, pool hang, or in-room massage; get lunch, dinner, drinks.
 
Will you join us?

Pass this on to your VP / CMO friends in B2B.

Full details here:

bit.ly/3Lxj75e

Open article: Marketing Leadership Retreat | March 18-20, 2026 by exitfive.com

Marketing Leadership Retreat | March 18-20, 2026

SoMad Partners

Chief Executive Officer

Media OTG

A business has only two functions-marketing and innovation. 

We make it happen.

Director Of Operations

Wellspring Magazine

Operational Director

School

Teaching Language Skills and Composition to High School Girls

Teacher

See results from your marketing immediately. Achieve an 8X ROI with our Fractional CMO services | CEO @ SoMad Partners

Are you an E-Commerce Entrepreneur, or   Healthcare Agency Owner?


You’re ready to invest in your brand.

You know how much sales you want to make📈

You know you want to grow your brand awareness 🎯

Just one thing: 

You don’t know how to start.

You lack a clear strategy.

You try to run in 3 different directions at the same time.

You have no (or very limited) knowledge on marketing.

You feel frustrated with your products not reaching more potential buyers.

As a result, you miss out on:

→ market share
→ sales
→ brand awareness


In short: You are not profiting as much as you should.


Not a position you want to stay in.
Right?

Yet, you always feel like your competitor is ahead of the game and does better, looks better, and has a better product

It’s time to take action.

What if you knew exactly what to do…

By having someone in your corner you can always share ideas with…and come up with new ideas since we come with data driven and consumer interested ideas.

Someone that provides you with relevant data essential in the decision-making process...

And, someone who knows how each dollar can be spent well to bring in a higher return...

How powerful would this be?

With a unique, customized strategy with an all-in-one agency, this becomes possible.

How much brand awareness and sales would you be able to generate?

8X.

That’s the average ROI clients achieve working together with me.

We at SoMad serve B2C and Healthcare clients with Fractional CMO services:

Combining the benefits of outsourcing with the advantages of in-house service.

Providing the most powerful strategy to convert traffic to buyers (digital marketing, print, social media, omnichannel, and more).

 We can serve on your advisory board, and internal meetings, and serves as an external C-Suite member of your team.

In short: Fractional CMO services are both strategy and marketing implementation. 

If you’re a company that’s;

✅Ready to go-to-market
✅That doesn't want to stop growing

The time to act is NOW.

Send me a DM, or head over to my Featured Section to book a discovery call.

Contact: https://somadpartners.com/ or +1-212-223-8245

Estie Rubin

This is really a crazy story. 

An owner of an ABA company came to me in tears. This company made a lot of noise on social media and everyone wanted to “be like them”. 

I want to tell you accurately that they had a total of 8 active clients. After $20k per month in Google ads. Unfortunately, this company was a total disaster. 

There was something fundamentally very wrong and I committed to finding out what it was. 

I spent 4 weeks diving into marketing, intake, retention, and quality control. 

I called BCBAs and made intake so crazy that I had to start calling from different numbers😄

Then we sat down and created a step by step plan for every single department. 

No more focusing on 5 states at once - we build out one state right and replicate from there. 

I want to tell you that Jan 1st was the one year anniversary of them reaching out to us -

And they finished the year with 89 clients and
- 50% reduction in costs
- a new internal structure
- a smaller intake department 

All this with the same team of RBTs and BCBAs!
 
Schools, doctors, and social workers are reaching out to them. Referrals are happening constantly. 

I’ll be honest that I’m very proud of this story and wanted to tell it so not leaving any lesson here:) 


#Marketing #ABA

Increase sales exponentially while saving time and money. | Achieve an 8X ROI with our Fractional CMO and digital marketing services | CEO @ SoMad Partners

A recovery center owner came to us after buying a rehab in a rural area - a consultant had told him that people wanted to recover “in the wild”. 

But 
- beds were empty 
- client acquisition was $18k 
- the were losing money fast 

We went to work redesigning the entire funnel - where they had been going after everyone, we started targeting only people who were a perfect fit. 

The first thing that happened is that leads dropped.

The second thing was admissions happening much faster because people calling were a fit. 

Normally, they’d reach out to one facility and while that process was taking its time, they would check out others and shop around. 

But people weren’t doing that because they’d found the right place. 

Within 4 months, they were at 90% capacity and cost per acquisition was… 

$10k! Down from $18k. 

Be brave enough to identify YOUR target and go after them - the reward for doing this right is everything happening right. 


#Marketing #RehabMarketing #SUDMarketing

Here’s who I want to target on LinkedIn: 

People who know marketing works and are looking for a partner to execute it. 

They may have been burned in the past. I know most people were burned by “marketers” at some point. 

Some people throw in the towel, but some realize that marketing is really the key to success. And you have to keep looking to find the right people to partner with and get it right. 

These people realize that growth is a long game. They’re not asking questions like “how many leads can you get me in two months?” How many beds can you fill in 90 days?”

That all WILL happen, but not with a quick-fix mindset. 

They really want to know who can work with them for years, take the marketing department off their head, and do it right in a way that builds a company for decades to come. 

This, to me, is what serious people look like and those are the ones we’re often equipped to bring great success to through marketing expertise. 

So now it’s your turn! 

Who are you targeting on LinkedIn?

Behavioral health is one of the most misunderstood industries when it comes to “easy money.”



I spent yesterday at the Evive Show, and that misconception came up again and again — indirectly.

From the outside, people think this space is simple.

That once you have demand, everything else just works.

It doesn’t.

The overhead is massive.

The stress is constant.

And every decision feels high-stakes because it is.

Most conversations I had weren’t about chasing growth.

They were about uncertainty.

“I think things are working… but I’m not completely sure.”

“We’re spending a lot, and I don’t know what’s actually driving results.”

“I don’t want to break what’s working — but I also don’t want to ignore problems.”

And just to be clear — if you’re happy with your current vendor, you should stay.

I didn’t go to Evive to poach clients or sell something people don’t need.

Where we’re often most helpful is simply reviewing what already exists.

If everything checks out, great.

You walk away with clarity and confidence.
If something’s off, at least you know where,
and you can make informed decisions instead of guessing.

We also ran a drawing for 3 months of free marketing (a $27k value), and you can still enter.

But the real reason I show up to events like this is simple:

I want people in this space to know where to find me when they need help —
not when someone is trying to convince them to buy something they don’t need.

No lesson here. Just sharing what I saw.

#BehavioralHealthMarketing #Evive #Networking

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The Battle

Dave Gerhardt

Estie Rubin

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dave Gerhardt's LinkedIn Performance

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