Dave Gerhardt

Owner of @exitfivemedia. Before: CMO in tech. Dad and stuff.

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

hit 4 years of working on Exit Five (@exitfivemedia) this week.

We will reach 12M marketers through our content this year.

Two big in-peson events with NPS scores above 80.

An amazing team of 7 teammates that I wish I saw more.

Thousands of members and people in our community (I consider anyone on the newsletter, listening to the podcast, or in the community part of the “community”)

We will reach $5M revenue this year which is awesome.

But the impact we are making and the connections we are helping to make happen — that’s the whole thing right there. That’s what has made this super fun and more rewarding than I ever expected. Beyond "it's just B2B marketing, bro."

I could make a list right not of dozens of people with stories of promotions, raises, leaving a shit job, bad boss, making new friends, hanging out outside of work.

It’s about more than B2B marketing. But that’s where it starts. Come to learn more about the job, the craft of marketing - and stay because you made some worthwhile connections

Thanks for all of the support.

Tell someone about Exit Five or get our emails here:

https://t.co/ofER2DU5ec

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@freddydoubles funny there's a fitness/bio hacking trend of ppl saying "how can we be scared of the sun it literally gives us life" and how bad sunscreen is for you ..

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

So you can just ask AI to do everything for you at work. Then at home you just stick yourself with a needle and magically get in shape now too. SMH

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@KylePorterNS One of us

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@harrydry @exitfivemedia love u

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

I think we need to get back to reality, so I invited two of my marketing idols and OGs to Drive 2026 (our annual event for @exitfivemedia)

September 8-10 The Lodge at Spruce Peak in Stowe, VT

We need the timeless lessons now more than ever.

I've found myself citing more Seth Godin (books that date back to the late 90's) so many times during the last two years that I knew I needed to email him and see if he'd come to Drive 2026.

Ann Handley, heck she was building MarketingProfs into a B2B media empire when I was an intern with a full head of hair reading every email and going to every webinar.

Then there's a Kara Hardin (Founder of The Practice Lab; and a registered psychotherapist and former corporate lawyer) to help us in between the ears. I am seeing a lot of nonsense about work life balance, burnout, and Kara has been super helpful in helping high-achieving professionals think about ambition and overwhelm.

And of course Louis Grenier who has made a career out of helping B2B companies stand out. Can he help them cut through the AI slop? I had him on my podcast earlier this year and he went above and beyond (mailed 10 boxes gift wrapped to my house, we opened each on the podcast with a story) and thought - he would be great for Drive...

SO: we just released details for the first batch of speakers for our annual event in Stowe, VT this fall and have the full lineup to share in a few weeks.

Year 1 NPS was 88

Year 2 NPS was 79

Year 3 - those are going to be tough to beat but wait until you see this venue and Vermont in September.

Hope to see if you at Drive if you work in B2B marketing!

And a huge shoutout to the Exit Five team for already knocking out of the park with another event; I dont want to rush the summer (my kids are *still* little and I am very emotional lately so trying to take things one day at a time) but Drive is probably going to be awesome again.

Heck staying at this resort alone is a win.

Full details here; also we're marketers so today is the last day to save a bunch of money on tickets and we're doing one of those "early access" ticket things so we're less stressed about ticket sales all summer.

Get your tickets here:

https://t.co/hUP1ANEHjT

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

"write it again, but this time make sure it doesn't sound like AI"

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

the state of knowledge work right now

[Boring_Business @BoringBiz_]

My body is a machine that transfers comments from my Managing Director to Claude and then back to my Managing Director

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

I'd make this the website. Perfectly explains the value of a peer community like Exit Five.

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

Steal this master prompt and you will have perfect copy every time from Claude.

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@steveMmattison good call, updated

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@CPowers14 great tweet

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

You might be in a job you don't love right now. For many reasons. The company is a mess. The product stinks. Your boss is a dork. There's not enough kombucha on tap. Wrong market. Wrong timing. The vibes are not right. Whatever the reason.

But the company you're at is (most likely) never going to be perfect. The grass is always greener.

Someone says "omg you work at Apple, wow" another one says "I worked at Apple, worst job of my life."

Years ago - when stuck in a job I was not happy at and felt like I could be doing more - a mentor encouraged me to stick it out. See what I could learn. You're getting paid to learn on the job.

Today, you could be getting paid on the job, in your current role to really understand AI and what it can do for the role of marketing. Go figure it out. Learn and build. Do some great work you can show. Then 6-12 months from now you can go explore new opportunities with these newly acquired skills. OR maybe this works helps change things at the current company and new opportunities present themselves to you.

The game has changed. We're not going back.

This is on a job listing for a marketing role at Ramp - one of the fastest growing tech companies today:

"And if AI is something you've been meaning to get around to, we're not the place to figure it out. You should be experimenting and building already."

You can go do that now, regardless of how you feel about your current job.

I'm trying to do this too.

My thinking is this: imagine I can take everything I've learned about marketing over the last 15 years and now also get to use AI to help me? That's how I am approaching this wave.

This one feels different than a few years ago when everyone was buying those monkey cartoons.

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@Top100Rick this would be a great ad

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@TourSwingsTommy this is what makes the masters so fun to watch vs. regular week pga tour - the number of those types of shots

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@MediaKing done. i'm not selling.

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@TrungTPhan From Fahrenheit 451 in 1950

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@TourSwingsTommy “Just bow the left wrist, hold the face and hit pull cuts”

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

@KylePorterNS @Garmin Even just having their own media arm where they actually tell stories about the players. All we want: who is this guy, why is he interesting, what does he play, some trackman data, swing thoughts, etc.

[Kyle Porter @KylePorterNS]

We've been having a ton of fun with the Normal Sport newsletter recently. If you're looking for a less toxic, more delightful place to read about (and sometimes laugh at) everything going on in the golf world right now, you should sign up for free at the link in my bio.

[Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt]

Sometimes you forget that this is the whole point ❤️