David Boston

Founder of Exit Five and former CMO

David Gerhardt is the founder of Exit Five, a prominent community and resource platform dedicated to B2B marketing professionals. He has a notable background in marketing, having previously served as the Chief Brand Officer at Drift, a company that achieved a valuation of over $1 billion, and as the Chief Marketing Officer at Privy, which was acquired for nine figures.

Career Highlights

Founder of Exit Five: Launched in November 2019, Exit Five has grown to become a leading community for B2B marketers, offering resources such as a podcast, job board, newsletter, and a membership base of over 3,500 professionals. The community focuses on sharing insights, strategies, and support among marketers to enhance their careers and skills.1 2
Previous Roles:
- Drift: Gerhardt played a crucial role in marketing strategies that contributed to Drift's rapid growth and market presence. He joined as a Senior Marketing Manager and was promoted to Director of Marketing and then to VP of Marketing during his tenure.1 2
- Privy: As CMO, he was instrumental in the company's marketing efforts leading to its successful acquisition.1
Author and Speaker: Gerhardt authored the book Founder Brand, which became an Amazon bestseller in marketing shortly after its release in 2022. He is also a sought-after speaker, having lectured at institutions like Harvard Business School and participated in various industry events.1 2 3

Community and Media Initiatives

Exit Five started as the Dave Gerhardt Marketing Group (DGMG) and has transformed into a comprehensive platform that not only shares marketing knowledge but also fosters a supportive community for B2B marketers. The platform includes articles, videos, templates, and a podcast that features discussions with industry leaders on various aspects of B2B marketing.1 4

Gerhardt's influence in the marketing community is significant, with a strong following across social media platforms, where he shares insights and engages with fellow marketers.2 5

Highlights

Yesterday · twitter

Wrapping up a great week on the road in Austin for Exit Five with a workout before we fly home.

We talked about building Exit Five and marketing while getting a lift in at Lift ATX.

There is no better medicine after a long week of travel and events than a workout. It’s the one thing I can control each morning.

Some highlights from Austin:

• Hanging with the Exit Five team and planning for 2025 • Going to visit Ryan Deiss with the team for a lunch and learn • Dinner with a great group of local B2B CMOs and marketing founders in Austin • 110 people showed up in person out of 125 registered for our Austin meetup • Made connections with 3 great CMOs in awesome on our panel and heard what’s working for them right now (and what isn’t) • I have had so much brisket, pulled pork, steak, and peach cobbler • I have no voice left • I’m exhausted, miss my kids, and I don’t get in until midnight on a Friday night • But we are building something awesome, have community members from all of the world and we’re just getting going

Hope you had a good week wherever you are.

Get out there and go meet people. Don’t rely on Zoom calls. Sometimes you need to get on a plane.

Nov 14 · twitter

We hosted 110 B2B marketers from around the Exit Five community in Austin last night.

• We did an hour of "speed dating" networking. Every five minutes you move and go meet someone else. I met a dozen new people from around Austin and the world of B2B marketing.

• Then we did a panel with three top CMOs in Austin (Ido Mart, CMO at ManyChat, Kim Storin, CMO at Zayo Group, Megan Lueders, CMO at Sonatype) talking about what's working right now, what's not working that used to work, and questions about strategy and how to be a high performing marketing leader.

• We had an amazing sponsors. The crew at @CustomerIO came in with food, cupcakes, and gave away a paddle board, Yeti cooler, Tecovas (which I now know how to pronounce; that good a good giggle from the locals) and I decided to rep the brand to the max and wear the Customer . io t-shirt.

• Met so many people from our community, people I've only met on LinkedIn, and even got out for a run early this morning with Mr. Founder Brand himself Adam Robinson and he was nice enough to give me a lift back to my hotel before the Exit Five team spends the rest of the day planning 2025.

We're building the top community for B2B marketers that want to grow their skills and advance their careers.

And having a blast doing it.

Super proud of this community and the Exit Five team we've built.

It pays to get on a plane.