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

The CEO should put the Product team and Marketing team together. 

In lock step. 

To drive momentum and success for the company. 

I see so much about Sales and Marketing. 

Not enough about Product and Marketing. 

There should be a vision. And a roadmap. And regular launches. Some small. Some big. And this becomes the operating system for the company. 

You can CREATE momentum for your company by doing this. Deadlines drive actions. 

These regular launches give Marketing and Sales regular opportunities to talk to new customers. 

The CEO should be in the middle of this.

PS. If this topic lands with you and you're a CMO: we've been running a super secret group for CMOs / VP Marketing doing $25M+ ARR at Exit Five over the last few months and we're now accepting new members. Community is more important now than ever and it's all about who is in the room. We have curated the right room for you. If you want a peer group like this you can apply for a spot here: tinyurl.com/23h2c5eh

Founder: Exit Five. Community Builder. Former CMO. Building the top community for B2B marketers right now at exitfive.com

I didn't want my team to publish this talk. It was too good. Should have only been for the memory of the people that went to Drive this year.

But I'm also a marketer and understand the power of social media and free content, so fine. 

We published my pal Harry Dry's talk from Drive 2025 yesterday, and if you missed it he gave a masterclass in storytelling.

The long lost art of conflict and emotion in the world of AI, PLEASE GO LISTEN TO THIS MAN.

The first line of this clip says it all "You should know so much about your category you could write a book on it."

You're not creating a category to fit into Gartner or G2. You are creating a category because you are literally inventing a new of way of doing things!

That's the opportunity.

I'll put the recording in the comments (audio only)

Founder: Exit Five. The top community for B2B marketers.

beehiiv

- Led strategic sales execution from Seed through Series B ($46.5M raised), positioning beehiiv as an industry-leading email platform.
- Scaled sales organization from zero to seven, including three direct reports, building a high-performing team with robust sales discipline.
- Managed and grew an active pipeline exceeding $10M, consistently achieving ambitious monthly and quarterly targets with 15-30% QoQ revenue growth.
- Managed and sourced my own pipeline; closed the largest logos in company history, including TIME Magazine.
- Delivered precise sales forecasts to enable cross-functional strategic planning and alignment.
- Expertly coached team members to master product knowledge, objection handling, and competitive differentiation, significantly boosting win rates.
- Highly active player-coach—personally demoing solutions and driving strategic social selling initiatives to accelerate pipeline generation.
- Launched and grew beehiiv’s community ("hiiv") from inception to over 5,000 highly engaged members.

Senior Manager, Sales

beehiiv is the premier newsletter platform empowering creators and businesses with advanced email solutions designed for scalable audience growth and monetization.

- Directed strategic sales initiatives from Seed through Series A ($17.6M raised), contributing significantly to company valuation and market positioning.
- Closed 300+ accounts totaling over $1.1M in revenue, securing marquee partnerships including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Grit, and Superhuman.
- Developed and implemented a repeatable, scalable, full-cycle enterprise sales model from scratch, streamlining acquisition and revenue acceleration.
- Deployed a best-in-class sales technology stack (Hubspot, Gong, Apollo, Instantly, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Chili Piper, and more), improving sales productivity, pipeline management, and forecasting accuracy.
- Was promoted to Senior Sales Manager.

Account Executive, First Sales Hire

Two Dads in Tech

Listen now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Interested in sponsoring? Email daniel@twodadsintech.com.

Host

Daniel Berk

- Build B2B sales and marketing teams, plus operational strategies for seed, Series A, Series B, and beyond.
- Teach companies how to empower their employees to be brand ambassadors and product evangelists.
- Consult on sales and GTM strategies, as well as content creation across all social media platforms.
- Build, design, and launch highly scalable newsletters.
- Advise on launching and scaling hyperactive communities.

Advisor

Flipside Crypto

- Led the Flipside Crypto community of over 13,000 data analysts (SQL, Python, R) on Discord from all over the world as they queried blockchain data to provide healthy and accurate crypto data to blockchain partners.
- Built content strategies and marketing models for 50k community across Twitter Spaces and Discord.
- Worked closely with the marketing team to gather community engagement insights for continued growth and sustainable educational programs.

Marketing Manager, Community

LinksDAO

- Led the marketing team to optimize content strategy across media verticals including email newsletters, Twitter Spaces, Discord podiums, social media platforms, and brand partnership packages to deliver valuable content to the LinksDAO community and partners; surpassed 30k Twitter followers, 3k email newsletter subscribers, and 15k Discord members in 3 months.
- Launched The Mulligan, a fintech newsletter focused on golf and web3; implemented growth-based incentive platform (beehiiv); achieved a consistent 60-70% open rate. Proposed the newsletter system and growth incentive budget to team with approved execution.
- Managed editorial calendar and content production strategies as a people manager and individual contributor.

Founding Team, Marketing

Let The Music Pay (d/b/a RCRDSHP)

- Built a B2B and B2C weekly newsletter in Hubspot and A/B tested to 27,000 subscribers using analytics to drive decisions and changes 
- Aligned data from historical purchasing habits with consumer segmentation and SEO strategies that led to an increase in daily active users (DAU).
- Strategically restructured content, marketing, and growth teams to consolidate end-to-end marketing processes and cut down meetings by 75%.
- Performed a company-wide digital health audit to identify key performance metrics for growing new net users.

Director of Marketing, Growth

Tithe.ly

- Led a team of SaaS copywriters and reporters to curate new product releases, including video scripts, SEO optimized web pages, and podcast content curation.
- Founded and launched a B2B business newsletter with Morning Brew style writing and reporting. Used Hubspot + Mailchimp, Sparkloop, Woocommerce, and Printful to create a completely automated subscriber growth referral incentive pipeline with tier-based drop-ship rewards. beehiiv now does all of this in its entirety, and is a much better platform than all the aforementioned for newsletter growth.
- Increased B2B blog traffic by 100,000 views per month by developing a new content strategy, reworking existing web content with relevant longtail keywords, and writing industry topic briefs for SEO/SEM; designed and wrote blog within Webflow.

Managing Editor

Therafin Corporation

- Developed and implemented B2B marketing plans and product release strategies to keep adspend and campaign budget under target; also developed subsequent B2C marketing models for several company subsidiaries
- Monitored costs and budgets across multiple channels of advertising
- Participated in branding initiatives in all five company subsidiaries, including web development/design, social media advertising, copywriting, graphic design, and channel-specific distribution
- Supervised two marketing teams; one in Google/Bing space, and one in Amazon space, including hiring, training, collaboration, and target schedules and deadlines
- Developed sustainable marketing budget to increase ROAS on established campaigns and created strategies for duplicating and scaling successful campaigns across products and platforms
- Demonstrated outstanding communication skills, including C-level negotiations, enterprise relationship nurturing, and interdepartmental cooperation
- Managed agencies, including hiring, contract negotiation, and work management
- Gave expert advice on web design and development, and application integration via 3rd party APIs for seamless internal integration of new system launches

National Sales And Marketing Director

- Built highly skilled sales team of 20+ individuals in the United States; heavy travel required (over 75%)
- Performed over 100 speaking engagements throughout the United States for product education and certified contact-hour teaching for Assistive Technology Professionals (ATPs) in hospitals, rehab clinics, product distributors, and VAs
- Developed new product brand on Amazon Seller Central using FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) and FBS (Fulfilled by Seller) to increase Amazon sales over 20,000% from 2019 - 2021. 
- Expert WordPress developer and web app customizer; built highly customized portals and web app plugins; integrated REST APIs into UI/UX implementations
- Combined use of design skills in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, as well as expertise in 3D Design (Alibre, Solidworks) to fully brand new company subdivisions and subsidiaries

Marketing Manager

- Developed 5+ revenue generating websites, implementing SEO throughout for eCommerce lead conversion; full stack development required for front-end and server-side creation.
- Helped the founding of a new product brand (Gravity) in an unfamiliar marketplace; research, travel, A/B testing, and strategy implementation required for months prior to successful launch
- Regularly used Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator to create website and branding mockups, and to build and maintain a ~150-page product catalog
- Worked collaboratively with product development and sales teams to build content and product strategies for multiple subsidiaries

Marketing Strategist

Websight Clarity

- Designed and created website solutions
- Advised on marketing and growth strategies
- Created and edited social and marketing content

Founder, Marketing

growing beehiiv, the world's most powerful newsletter software

I’m Daniel Berk: beehiiv’s first sales hire-turned-strategist, cofounder of Palmetto Parents, and cohost of the Two Dads in Tech podcast.

From day one at beehiiv, I built our outbound sales engine—recruiting and coaching AEs, exceeding pipeline targets, and architecting GTM plays that grew revenue from under $1M ARR to over $15M ARR and established us as an industry leader.

As a startup and newsletter advisor, I’ve helped founders refine product-led growth initiatives, dismantle organizational silos, and develop targeted go-to-market strategies.

I specialize in combining disciplined sales processes with data-driven content marketing to drive customer acquisition, boost engagement, and deliver sustainable revenue growth. I also produce content for companies pursuing strategic partnerships and advise a limited number of ventures, selecting engagements to match my available bandwidth. 

Outside of work, I am a husband to my incredible wife and a father to two amazing boys.

If you’re ready to scale your newsletter, sharpen your GTM motion, or accelerate your startup’s growth, let’s connect.

Daniel Berk 🐝

I've gone mega viral on Instagram, TikTok, X, and Threads recently, and the algorithm is just better there than here. I have *more* followers here, but less engagement on the content that matters.

Starting to feel "eh" about LinkedIn tbh.

Until LinkedIn puts real product managers on the feed, talking about their product roadmap, the updates they're building, and pushes real employee advocacy from the front lines, it just feels like a dying social platform.

Chief Evangelist @ beehiiv - Host of Two Dads in Tech Podcast

Me sending cold outbound emails from different aliases

No alternative text description for this image

I wish I could regularly give money to someone that knows how to invest and let them choose which stocks to buy for me. 

I would be more than willing to pay a recurring fee.

There has to be a massive untapped opportunity here for the right person.

beehiiv just became the operating system for the content economy, the one tool you need to build a sustainable, content-first business.

You're using way more tools than you need, and beehiiv wants to replace them all.

Me accepting my reward for most viral LinkedIn posts without an ounce of meaning

If you send emails from any of the following platforms, I would love to talk to you.

I want to show you what I've seen done by the most successful newsletter senders and media companies in the world, including specific steps they took to develop their audiences more effectively and make (a lot) more money.

All with simple and repeatable processes that I guarantee you can implement right now.

1. Sailthru
2. Campaign Monitor
3. Active Campaign
4. Mailchimp
5. Salesforce
6. Braze
7. Substack
8. Mailerlite
9. Ghost
10. Iterable
13. Kit

I just blocked off my entire calendar to talk. 

Let's talk.

ChatGPT after I uploaded all of my past LinkedIn content and asked it to find patterns in how I write

If you're building your entire business on a single layer of the internet, you're not going to make it.

There are 28 days until 2026. Now's the time to audit what you're doing and how effective it's going to be as the internet continues to evolve.

Relying on one tool or social platform, one content model, or one channel to generate all your leads, customers, and revenue is a fast track to instability.

Diversification is the only real moat.

Here’s exactly how you should audit your business before the new year hits:

- Own at least one traffic source like an email list, SMS list, or podcast feed
- Show up consistently on multiple platforms, even if one is dominant. I can't stress this enough. Way too many people rely way too much on LinkedIn. The internet is a very big place, and LinkedIn is not everything.
- Make sure you have evergreen content working for you around the clock
- Have a plan in place in case your biggest traffic source gets throttled (e.g. algorithm changes and no one sees your stuff anymore).
- Be discoverable outside of social platforms (go into the real world and shake someone's hand).
- Repurpose everything. Don’t let ideas die after one post. Every time we record an episode of Two Dads in Tech, we turn that one episode into at least 250 pieces of content. 
- Build at least one flagship piece of content that creates long-term trust
- Create content that will still matter a year from now, and combine that with hyper-relevant content that matters now and only now.
- Use AI to scale your output, not replace your voice. You matter more than AI.
- Diversify your income. Even if you're an employee with a W2, find a way to make a little cash on the side. When you do, it completely changes your mindset about what's possible.
- Build at least one revenue stream that doesn’t require your real-time involvement
- Document key processes so someone else could step in if needed
- Get help and stop trying to do it all solo. Cofounders and offshore contractors are amazing. Don't let people convince you that solopreneurship is the defacto right or best way to do it. They're wrong.
- Back up your assets and have redundancies in place. You don't own anything you create online unless it exists offline somewhere as well.
- Know exactly where AI helps you and where it hurts trust
- Build something you'd want to run for the next 3 years. Hard work is 10x harder when you hate doing it.
- Make sure the way you’re showing up online is something your family would respect (or in my case laugh at. My wife lost respect for me years ago but she still thinks I'm funny so that's a win).

28 days left in the year. Now is the time to fix the cracks before 2026 magnifies them. 

I fear most people aren't even remotely tuned into how much the internet changed this year, and even more aren't prepared for how it will continue to evolve next year.

Be prepared. Do the hard work while it's optional so you aren't forced to do it later.

Aaron has no idea I am posting this— please blow it up. Give it so much attention that he can’t possibly fulfill all the orders he receives.

This is amazing. Go buy one for you and everyone in your family. Perfect stocking stuffers.

Aaron also has a YouTube channel with *many millions* of views doing cinematic Lego stop motion films, and they are very, very good.

After you buy a custom Lego, go watch his stuff (he has no idea I’m posting this).

https://lnkd.in/ey5J-474

Don’t let me down LinkedIn.

Want a one-of-a-kind Christmas gift? 🎁 I’m making personalized LEGO minifigures custom-matched to your face, hairstyle, outfit, hobbies, job, or any special moment 📸 DM me to order! 📦 Free Shipping!

🟨 Single figure w/ 1-2 accessories = $35
🟥 Additional figure +$25
🟦 Small scene +$15
🟩 Large scene +$35

BREAKING: Netflix is acquiring Warner Bros, HBO, and HBO Max for $82.7 billion.

That was not on my 2025 bingo card.

You guys.

A year ago I had an idea to start a podcast.

And since then we have recorded and produced an episode of Two Dads in Tech every single week, 52 weeks in a row.

We’ve had all star guests from Sam Parr to Tyler Denk 🐝 to Anthony Natoli and 🏄🏼‍♂️ Scott Leese and Brian LaManna, Nir Eyal and others. 

We’ve discussed topics most people wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.

We’ve laughed.

We’ve cried.

We’ve come a long, long way, and we are barely scratching the surface of what’s coming.

Find us on YouTube and follow our journey. 

2026 is going to be insane.

**Enormous shoutout to LoopLabs Co for being the legendary team behind our podcast production and short form creation. We would not have survived an entire year without them. And this year end highlight video was a surprise and you guys 😭😭😭

Going viral is all just a game. If you know how to play the game by the rules, you can go viral. 

It’s all just a game. 

Some people are playing the game, and other people are watching the game.

But everyone’s in the same stadium.

I have a YouTube team for the podcast and they come up with the short form overlays and look what they did to me

Most Slack organizations are really bloated without any rhyme or reason to new channel creation.

That’s why I create a new company wide channel every time I DM anyone in the organization.

New 1:1 DM? #daniel-brian channel created.

New 3-way DM? #daniel-brian-jake channel created.

Any combination of any conversation with any person in the organization gets its own dedicated channel.

This way all conversations are easily searchable by other people in the Slack, and anyone can join other people’s DMs freely and at will.

I’ve created 9,186 channels this year and am on track to triple that in 2026.

I don’t know why more people don’t do this.

head of people @ beehiiv | clinical therapist (MHC-LP)

I AM SO HAPPY TO SHARE I'M FINALLY EXPANDING MY LITTLE TEAM OF ONE! 👋🏽 

Looking to hire a mid-level People Operations Manager (3-5 years) with an operations focus. 

What I really, truly need: 
- experience in labor law and compliance, both internationally and within the U.S. 
- has worked with PEOs and EORs
- ok with autonomy but also recognizes I just need to know everything, too (it's the Virgo rising in me)
- empathic and can handle a variety of situations with grace and professional demeanor 
- works fast and gets things done 
- has worked at a startup previously, so you understand what velocity can entail 
- wants to work with me because, duh, and the amazing employees at beehiiv 

Just a reminder, as much as I would love to chat and get to know each other, unfortunately, I don't have the bandwidth to connect outside the hiring process right now. If you meet the criteria above, I’ll be in touch soon! 〰️ 

PS - would love to get more POC into tech! Holler at me.

Open article: BambooHR by beehiiv.bamboohr.com

taplio

The Battle

Dave Gerhardt

Daniel Berk 🐝

Followers

Posts

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Likes

Performance ScoreDave Gerhardt's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDaniel Berk 🐝's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Dave Gerhardt

Daniel Berk 🐝

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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

Performance ScoreDaniel Berk 🐝's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDave Gerhardt's LinkedIn Performance