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

We polled ~100 CMOs at companies $50M - $500M+ ARR on what their top marketing challenges are right now. Here are the top takeaways.

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1. AI. No surprise. 85% said AI adoption is # 1 priority for 2026.

But this goes beyond the cute use cases you see on LinkedIn and from the AI creators showing you all the new things to do with the new tools.

"I need practical use cases and quick wins to show” - VPM $25M ARR

“We are expected to be using AI to scale marketing  efficiently” - VPM $30M ARR

“We are under pressure to demonstrate hard savings and additional value created via AI adoption.” - CMO $450M ARR

“Wondering am I moving fast enough on AI transformation — not just adopting tools, but truly rethinking how marketing works from the ground up.” - CMO $600M ARR

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2. Everyone said some version of this: "We need to grow more, spend less, & prove marketing did it.”

Grow more. Spend less. And PROVE that marketing did it. That is the key word there.

They all talked about revenue growth, but the framing has evolved beyond "drive more MQLs."

The dominant language was:

• Marketing-sourced and marketing-influenced pipeline (not just leads)
• Pipeline quality over volume
• Tying marketing to ACV expansion and retention, not just new logos

“We ned to tie marketing more directly to revenue outcomes — not just MQLs, but marketing-sourced and marketing-influenced pipeline, ACV growth, and expansion revenue” - VPM $85M ARR

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3. The other repeat topics we heard included:

• Team too small for scope of work
• Feeling  caught between strategic work (positioning, GTM, C-suite influence) and heavy day-to-day execution
• Structural misalignment after acquisition or reorg
• AI search disruption
• Moving upmarket
• Moving from single product to multi-product

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PS. We run a private group for in-house B2B marketing leaders. If you're running the marketing team at a company doing $50M+ ARR you should check this group out. Apply here:

exitfive.com/cmo-council

LinkedIn is the number one channel for B2B marketers (for content, social, ads, you know we love it here) so I had LinkedIn VP Marketing Davang Shah on the podcast this week to go right to the source about what's working, what's not, and trends across the platform.

We covered: 

- What actually works with LinkedIn ads right now
- Brand vs performance marketing strategies and how they differ
- How to think about measurement beyond last-click attribution on ads
- Why 95% of your buyers aren't in market at any given time and what to do about it

Davang also shares the data behind thought leader ads, what most marketers get wrong about the buyer journey, and how he's leading his own team through the AI shift at LinkedIn.

Listen here:

https://lnkd.in/erc8w2vM

PS. Did you know the average B2B deal takes 211 days and involves 22 people?

Robin Daniels

Chief Business Officer @ Zensai #HumanSuccess & #AI | 3xCMO | 2.5xIPOs 😆 | Ex @Salesforce @WeWork @LinkedIn @Box @Matterport | LinkedIn Top Voice | Creator of Epic Teams | Dad | Runner | Made in Denmark 🇩🇰

Hi, I'm Robin Daniels, The James Bond of B2B, at least according to one legenday VC 😆

I'm an experienced executive focused on growth, marketing, GTM, product innovation, and leadership development to deliver epic results through ground-breaking, fun, and highly differentiated activities, while empowering people and teams to do the best work of their lives. 

I'm Chief Business Officer for Zensai (zensai.com) - where I run Product, Marketing, Partnerships, and GTM.

Throughout my career I've held executive leadership roles in high growth companies of all sizes, including Matterport (IPO) WeWork (near IPO), Salesforce, LinkedIn, Box (IPO), Veritas, and Vera (acquired).

My areas of expertise include growth strategy, product innovation, marketing, product marketing communications and media, GTM strategies, org design, leadership development, innovation management, mergers & acquisitions, top-level leadership, category-creation, brand building, public speaking, and sales transformation.

Here's more about my life story and journey during the last two decades: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/roadmap-life-love-happiness-robin-daniels/

I spent over 20 years in the US and UK, but I'm from Copenhagen, Denmark and an avid runner and movie nerd.

Founding Member & Advisor

byFounders is an early stage venture fund actively investing in tech startups across the Nordics and Baltics. Made up of some of the region's most accomplished entrepreneurs (Zendesk, Unity, Skype, and more), the byFounders Collective invests in and supports the next generation of globally ambitious founders. I help byFounders portfolio companies with deal sourcing, go-to-market strategy, business development, and fundraising advice.

AI usage in our Learn365 platform has gone up 172% year over year to help our customers learn in the flow of work 🚀 

Our customers are seeing more engaged employees with personalized AI-powered learning paths that we made so every person can experience growth, development, and momentum in their lives in a way that's perfect for them.

Super excited to see Fosway Group, David Wilson and Fiona Leteney recognize how much love, innovation, and focus we put into delivering a platform that our customers love 💙 

Thank you for the partnership and the recognition. I know everyone at Zensai appreciates this 🙏 

Onwards and upwards!

Studied and trusted by EMEA’s learning leaders, the 2026 9-Grid™ for Learning Systems is out today. 

The research shows that the market is growing but uncertainty and complexity remain; nevertheless, vendors are continuing to focus on AI-enabled functionality.

Revealing the market and solution trends in the learning systems market, the 2026 9-Grid™ report shows that:

- While AI is the top priority for the coming year – alongside skills, according to Digital Learning Realities 2025 – staples such as compliance and regulatory training are still critically important but have ceded the spotlight to AI due to the market-wide effectiveness of their delivery in modern learning. 
- The proliferation of AI sees face-to-face, cohort-based learning achieve premium status, with the research noting that “…leadership judgement, surgical precision, craftsmanship, [and] complex negotiation” remain capabilities that need observation and social interaction.

Fiona Leteney, Senior Analyst at Fosway Group, commented on the report’s learning experience insight: "It’s official: The LXP as a standalone category of learning system is finally behind us. Organisations still care deeply about the learning experience, but what used to be differentiators like personalised recommendations, intuitive UX, seamless content access, are now baseline expectations. AI is accelerating this shift, and even potentially transforming the traditional ‘Netflix style’ front door of learning into adaptive, conversational experiences where AI coaches and tutors guide learners in real time."

Myself and Fiona Leteney will take questions on the research in a live online ‘Ask the Analyst’ session on 19 March 2026 at 3pm GMT. Register for your free place here.

There are other market analysis models, but there’s only one 9-Grid™. Examine it today to accelerate your buying knowledge.

The links can be found in the comments below.

#Learning #LearningSystems #AI

Thanks for the great conversation about purpose, sleep, exercise, and happiness. I loved it Eric Bomyea - keep doing awesome work.

Podcaster | B2B Brand Director | Yoga Instructor

You don’t need a perfect sleep routine. You need portable anchors.

You already know the sleep science: 

Same bedtime. 
Same wake time. 
Dark room. 
No screens. 
Total consistency.

But your life moves.

Travel. 
Clients. 
Team dinners.
New beds. 
Different time zones.

So when the routine breaks, you feel behind.

In my conversation with Robin Daniels, he shared two anchors he protects wherever he is:

Sleep as a priority — even when it’s imperfect.
Daily physical regulation — move the stress out.

Two commitments that can travel with you. That reframed how I think about living dynamically, not perfectly. 

If your day goes sideways tomorrow, what would you still protect?

https://lnkd.in/gjpvNeF9

Open video: Stop Chasing Perfect. Lead a Dynamic Life (Without Burning Out) | Robin Daniels on youtube.com

Stop Chasing Perfect. Lead a Dynamic Life (Without Burning Out) | Robin Daniels

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