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

I help B2B companies /w Revenue Operations & ABM using HubSpot // Executive MBA // HubSpot Certified Trainer // Big fan of sales-free zones.

𝗜𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰? 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗺𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵, 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵.

I know B2B leaders' frustration. Their sales, marketing, and customer success teams are stuck in silos. The result? Sales cycles are slow. Resources are wasted. Every turn blocks the potential revenue.

But what if your teams could move together, like a well-tuned engine on the Autobahn? That’s where we come in.

𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀:

• Everything around HubSpot: Onboarding, Migrations, Audit, Web Dev, Operations
  
• Solution Architecture: Custom RevOps solutions. From design to code.
  
• ABM & Demand Generation Ops: Set up in HubSpot all your allbound campaigns
  
• Account Management, CX Ops: Design and set up all B2B customer success and account management processes in Hubspot.

• Reporting: Get custom reports covering key metrics. We provide accurate data on MRR, ARR, T&M, or capacity. You'll be confident in stakeholder meetings.

We’ve helped companies like Cloudflight, Dun & Bradstreet, The Software House, Amsterdam Standard, DataFeedWatch, Baselinker, Otovo, T-Mobile, Equiem, Coface and many more.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝘆:

"𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘖𝘱𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦. 𝘔𝘈𝘕 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘖𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴-𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴." - 𝙇𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙑𝙖𝙣 𝙊𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣, 𝘾𝙀𝙊 & 𝘾𝙤-𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙢𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙢 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙙

𝗔 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗲:

I’m a big believer in blending technology with human connections. After starting as an AIESEC alum, I spent over a decade in the corporate world with TMI, DHL, Electrolux, and Farnell. I learned to align teams and drive results. In 2016, I founded MAN Digital. It helps B2B companies grow by solving their sales, marketing, and CX operational challenges. In 2023, I earned my Executive MBA at Quantic Business and Technology University. It sharpened my skills in aligning teams and driving revenue.

Today, I run MAN Digital's marketing team. I also host a podcast, "𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗕𝗠 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁." We geek out on all things RevOps. I mentor startups and help them scale. I also speak at tech conferences about RevOps, growth, and tech.

DM me, and let’s explore how we can get your teams moving in the right direction.

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The Battle

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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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