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

Stop think of "getting your CEO to post on LinkedIn" and start thinking about it like "this is the new PR channel for our company."

When you hire a PR agency, you don't measure the ROI on how many leads you got from their work - because you know PR is about more than that.

The same is true for social media. The ROI comes from testing your messaging, sharing your point of view, connecting with customers, finding new partners, building an attractive employment brand, getting a DM from someone out of the blue.

People buy from people and there continues to be a huge opportunity in B2B to use social media as the main marketing channel.

Yes it takes time
No there are not guaranteed results

But those are often signs that it's worth doing.

Founder: Exit Five. I write about marketing and building my company. Former CMO. Author: Founder Brand.

I feel empty inside. 

That's what it is. It has finally hit me.

There is something soul sucking about being on video calls all day. 

When I hang around people in-person there is a certain energy.  I leave hanging out with friends, neighbors, parents with a GOOD feeling.

I am just a hopeless little knowledge worker in my house in Vermont talking into my MacBook Pro all day and there's no way we were meant to work this way.

Last week a few of the Exit Five team was in town and in a 45 minute car ride to the venue (we were seeing a space for our event) we solved like ... seven problems. And had some laughs.

Note: I also love being home, being around my kids, super lucky for the flexibility. But I am human can hold two different thoughts in my head at once.

I wish I was around the team more!! Playing music in the office. Getting around a whiteboard to draw something out quick.

Just sitting here in between meetings 2:55 PM ET going straight to LinkedIn to pour my heart out...

If I had a good idea on my own — and didn’t generate it via Claude Code … does it still count? 

Am I still going to be relevant here??

I do most of my best thinking here. 

And have for the last 10 years. 

Hope I don’t lose my job to AI …

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As a company grows - what they do becomes harder to explain. 

In the early days - you’re just the email platform. Use us to send emails!

Then, over time you have multiple products, multi personas and you eventually become the “customer growth platform” as an example. 

Which leaves most people wondering what the heck you actually do. 

But the execs like it. Because you are so much more than an email platform, and you can’t have people thinking you just only do email. 

Always the case.

I thought we were in the "knowledge" business but I'm learning we're in the "people" business.

The number one value prop of joining a professional community like Exit Five is connecting with people in your industry.

To have a sounding board, a place to share stories, get feedback, vent. 

This concept is not new. Professional communities and networks have existed for the last 100 years - from the local small business associations, to YPO, to now Exit Five in the niche of B2B marketing execs (vs. YPO = CEOs)

And I am biased because I own the company but I think the timing is on our side: it is more important right NOW more than ever to have a group of real people you can talk to.

You can't hide inside talking to ChatGPT all day.

I am spending so much of my time in AI tools and video meetings and it is SOUL SUCKING. 

We were not meant to spend all of our time like this with no real social interaction -- with real people.

If you are a B2B marketing executive looking for a peer group in 2026 it's a great time to look into Exit Five.

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

Advanced Elements Management Services Co ("AEMS"​)

As Marketing Officer at AEMS, my primary goal is building strong and relevant brand for AEMS among its current and potential partners. This includes all public marketing content.

And as Project Management Officer, my role is to assist our Executive Director with overseeing all active projects and track their progress and updates.

Project Management and Marketing Officer

Curious Man Inc

Founder

MindSmith

Chief of Staff

Nigeria India Business Council

Executive - Administration and corporate communication

Optiblack Media

Co-Founder

Fervent Group

Umpire Strategy and Services

PSBS Advisory Services

Business Consultant

Fruso Beverages

Business Development Associate

Gifts On Air

Assistant Manager Human Resources

National Informatics Centre (MEITY)

Summer Trainee

My motto in life? Be CURIOUS!

In a nutshell, I am a marketer, a copywriter, and a podcaster.

I'll write more, some day.

You have reached the end of this text. But, our conversation can continue.

Let's have a chat! https://calendly.com/nishantgoel

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