The Exit Five Podcast

Exit Five

The #1 resource for B2B marketing professionals. Each week, hosts Dave Gerhardt and Dasha Shakov sit down with B2B marketers to break down everything from strategy and leadership to the channels and tactics that drive growth, plus what it takes to build a career in marketing. You'll find real ideas you can put to work right away, and the gut check and inspiration to keep getting better at your job. Get our newsletter and learn more about our community at exitfive . com

  1. 1h ago

    ABM That Works: 4 Marketers Show Their Best Campaigns

    #411 | Dave and Dasha go live with four B2B marketers to walk through ABM campaigns that sales ran - from account selection to pipeline. Joicee Lu, Account Based Marketing Manager at Snowflake, shares how personalized CMO video ads drove 3.3x engagement over static ads and VP+ meetings at 42% of targeted accounts. Jordan Voskuil, VP of Marketing at Amsive, explains how a “random acts of ABM” budget turned one warm intro into a 12-month, one-to-one play built around a single relationship. Jen Leaver, Senior Director of Demand Gen at Recurly, breaks down her “wake the dead” campaign, which reframed a lower-risk offer for closed-lost accounts and opened 20 new opportunities and $3.3M in pipeline in two quarters. Shawn White, Senior Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Lendio, shows how ungated gifts (custom AirPods plus a five-minute AI-generated podcast) turned $8K in spend into $300K in sourced pipeline and a 30% meeting rate with ice-cold accounts. Shawn also takes home the prize of this live session. All speakers also cover how to tier accounts with sales, why a real human beats an AI avatar, and how to pitch ABM internally as a small pilot. Listen in to this recording of our recent live session. Show notes: This live session is brought to you by Vector. Get their report on where ABM programs break down, based on a survey of 200+ marketers: The Reality of ABM Report (https://www.vector.co/guides-and-reports/reality-of-abm-report) The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, the origin of the “dream 100”: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/300195/the-ultimate-sales-machine-by-chet-holmes-with-amanda-holmes-foreword-by-michael-gerber-notes-by-jay-conrad-levinson/9781591842156/Capsule, the video platform Snowflake is using to scale personalized intros: https://capsule.video/Claude, used by Recurly and Lendio for account research and briefs: https://claude.aiNotebookLM, used by Lendio to generate the five-minute account podcasts: https://notebooklm.google.comClay, used by Lendio to find and validate addresses: https://www.clay.com Timestamps (00:00) - Four ABM campaigns that got sales to run them (03:00) - Only 9% of marketers can prove their ABM is working (07:37) - Snowflake: personalized CMO video ads that got VP+ meetings at 42% of accounts (13:59) - Why a real human beats an AI avatar in ABM video (16:39) - Amsive: a "random acts of ABM" budget and a plan built as you go (23:06) - How to know when to ease off an account and when to push (25:28) - Recurly: winning back closed-lost accounts with a lower-risk offer (34:46) - Lendio: ungated gifting that turned $8K into $300K in pipeline (43:19) - The biggest ABM mistake: relying on tech without sales alignment (44:14) - How to get ABM approved: pitch it as a small pilot Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

  2. 3d ago

    Why We’re Retiring Drive, Betting Big on IRL, and Hiring Humans in 2027 (w/Exit Five CEO Dan Murphy)

    #410 | Drive was an extremely popular B2B marketing event for three years straight - it sold out in 24 hours its first year and got 800+ people to come to Vermont. And we’re retiring it anyway. In this rare episode, Dan Murphy (CEO) and Dave Gerhardt (founder) take you behind the scenes of Exit Five’s event strategy and what we’re doing instead of Drive. You'll get a sneak peek into our next big bet: small, intimate events in cities like NYC, SF, Boston, Houston, and Toronto, plus an executive retreat. Dave and Dan also discuss Exit Five's origin story and its growth with no VC money. They also reminisce about the cold email that turned into Dan’s role as CEO. Finally, Dan shares how he runs Exit Five, why he doubled the team in 2026, and why AI won’t replace marketing jobs in the future. Timestamps (00:00) - Why we're retiring our super popular Drive Event (that once sold out in 24 hrs) (04:01) - What we're doing instead in 2027: intimate events in hub cities and an executive retreat (06:22) - Why we didn't turn Drive into a trade show (09:45) - How to know when to kill something that works (13:40) - The cold email that made Dan an accidental CEO (17:48) - Growing with no VC money and doubling the team in 2026 (18:59) - Dan's leadership hacks for running Exit Five (26:28) - Will AI replace marketing jobs? Dan's predictions Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

  3. 4d ago

    Why You Should Slow Down and Market Intentionally to Make an Impact (with Ann Handley)

    #409 | Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs and author of “Everybody Writes”, takes the Drive stage to make the case for slowing down in a marketing world built for speed. Using episode eight of a 1987 Mighty Mouse cartoon as her guide, she contrasts “cow mode” (fast, efficient, easy to measure) with “sloth mode” (slow, deliberate, harder to quantify). Ann argues that AI has scaled marketing’s cow energy as the job shifted from being seen to being chosen. She walks through her ASAP (as slow as possible) matrix for deciding when to move fast and when to slow down, and a “wallop tracker” that measures trust and resonance before a sale shows up. She illustrates her points with the story of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, where one marketer built a devoted following by choosing to matter more instead of mooing harder. Her throughline: when speed is cheap, judgment is what carries the premium. Timestamps: Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

  4. Oct 26

    Top 5 B2B Webinar Mistakes (and How to Fix Them) with Logan Lyles, DemandShift

    #408 | Dasha talks with Logan Lyles, founder of webinar-as-a-service agency DemandShift, and winner of the Exit Five Live webinar about webinars for this very play! They break down the five mistakes that keep B2B webinars from driving pipeline. Logan shares why emailing only your own list caps your reach, and how email swaps and LinkedIn event invites bring in new audiences. He explains why your thank-you page is a wasted high-intent moment, and how a two-step survey flow books demos before the webinar even start. Logan also shares how to give your live audience a clear next step without getting salesy. They cover smarter follow-up using survey and poll data instead of just attended-versus-not, how to repurpose a webinar into newsletters and interactive lead magnets, and how he uses AI to plan and repurpose content one asset at a time with a human in the loop. Show notes: Paved – newsletter marketplace to find sponsorship fits by ICP/nicheBlazel – LinkedIn tool that gets a whole team active; free personal LinkedIn “report card” (12-month post analysis, benchmarks vs. peers)Impactable – Justin Rowe’s agency; source of the LinkedIn event-invite hackRiverside – recording platform he moved webinars ontoHiggsfield – AI ad-creative tool (Dasha’s mention)Timestamps: Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

  5. Oct 23

    [Best of B2B] Devin Reed on Content Strategy (Founder, The Reeder)

    407 | Original air date: Jun 20, 2023. Devin Reed is the Founder @ The Reeder, previously Director of Content at Clari and Head of Content Strategy at Gong. Dave and Devin talk about his role at Clari and what the content team did. They discuss Gong's early content strategy, how to make long form content work, and what type of content works on LinkedIn today. They also discuss the importance of personal brand, bust some marketing myths, and more. Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

  6. Oct 22

    Dave Unfiltered: How to Market Like You Give a Damn, Pick a Lane, plus Breakfast Ideas (and more)

    406 | In this mailbag “Ask Dave Anything” episode, he gets into your most burning B2B marketing questions, concerns and challenges. There's no playbook for B2B marketing, but you can lean on the pros (like Dave) for advice when you're stuck. He shares his take on prioritizing brand or demand, then explains what he'd do in his first 90 days as a new marketing leader. He also shares his take on AI for outbound, the most underrated marketing investment, community vs. audience and whether AI is a bubble. Timestamps: (00:00) - A solo mailbag: Exit Five members ask, Dave answers (05:42) - The biggest "mistake": narrowing Exit Five's ICP (08:52) - Brand building vs. bottom-of-funnel pressure (11:08) - AI outbound and "why you, why now" (12:58) - The most underrated investment: giving a damn (16:58) - Building community by showing up (10,000 comments) (19:20) - Thinking like an exec: why incentives drive behavior (21:51) - Your first 90 days as head of marketing (26:21) - Life outside B2B: family, exercise, and routine (30:42) - What younger Dave wanted vs. what he doesn't want now Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

  7. Oct 19

    Why the Next Era of ABM Targets the Person, Not the Account (with Casey Patterson, Snowflake)

    #405 | Dasha sits down with Casey Patterson, who runs North American ABM at Snowflake, to talk about what ABM looks like as AI reshapes it - live from Drive. Casey explains why the next era of ABM moves past the account to the individual, how her team goes from an account’s intent spike to a personalized gift in four days, and what she means by “tokenomics,” matching the right AI tool to each job. She shares how she inspires her team to disrupt their work a little every week so they never fall behind. Casey dives into her “database washing machine” project for cleaning expired marketing data and an agent that tells sales which event to invite each account to. In the end, Casey names one thing she won’t let AI replace (the direct sales connection), and her 2027 bets on account-based billboards and CMO-to-CMO video. Timstamps Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

  8. Oct 16

    [Best of B2B] ABM with Hillary Carpio (Head of ABM at Snowflake)

    #404 | Dave chats with Hillary Carpio, VP of Growth Marketing at Snowflake, about account-based marketing. Hillary runs a 20 person team focused on ABM at Snowflake today. They discuss why Snowflake has been an "account-based organization", ABM vs. Demand Generation, how to measure ABM, what an effective ABM campaign looks like, creating a tiered ABM strategy, how marketing exists to support sales at Snowflake and why it works, how tools like ChatGPT and Jasper can help ABM marketers, and more. Timestamps Join 50,0000 people who get The Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Webflow: Webflow helps you get discovered in AI search and build fully custom sites without a developer, and its new Webflow Campaigns turns your brand system into on-brand landing pages and ads. Make your website your biggest growth engine in 2027 at webflow.com/exit-five. Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

4.6
out of 5
50 Ratings

About

The #1 resource for B2B marketing professionals. Each week, hosts Dave Gerhardt and Dasha Shakov sit down with B2B marketers to break down everything from strategy and leadership to the channels and tactics that drive growth, plus what it takes to build a career in marketing. You'll find real ideas you can put to work right away, and the gut check and inspiration to keep getting better at your job. Get our newsletter and learn more about our community at exitfive . com

You Might Also Like