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?

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

I have an employee at SoMad Partners who started - his first job ever - 9 months ago and is already making WAY MORE!

Why?

Because his work ethic is amazing and he takes complete ownership of the job.

I hired him with zero experience - but I saw raw talent and grabbed him. 

He’s 
- A hustler 
- Energetic 
- Wants to learn and figure it out 
- Asked about his potential and wanted a clear path 
- Totally owns his work 
- He applied himself 100% 
- He has a great attitude and he’s a pleasure to be around 

Like they say, hire for personality and train for skills. That’s definitely what happened here. 

I won’t shout him out by name but I’m grateful to stand aside and watch him grow and grow and grow.

Digital Marketing to take your company to the next level while maximizing every dollar in ad spend // Fractional CMO Services to guide you to success // CEO @ SoMad Partners 👉 Success is measured in new sales🔥

I love getting these. It never gets old. 

ABA agencies... you CAN get clients at a rate that works for you.

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