The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

Category Creation Playbook: How to Be Irreplaceable in B2B Marketing (with Josh Lowman)


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#252 Category Creation | Dave is joined by Josh Lowman, Founder and Creative Director of Gold Front, a category design studio that’s worked with brands like Uber, Notion, and Qualtrics. Josh is a leading voice in strategic brand positioning and category creation. He’s spent over a decade helping high-growth B2B companies define what makes them irreplaceable in crowded markets.


Dave and Josh cover:

  • Why most category creation efforts fail (and what to do instead)
  • The four real paths to category leadership: create, transform, niche, or go solo
  • How B2B marketers can align product, brand, and messaging around a single strategy to stand out and scale


Whether you're launching a new product or repositioning an existing one, this episode is a masterclass in strategic clarity.


Timestamps

  • (00:00) - – Intro
  • (03:04) - – Josh’s backstory and founding Gold Front
  • (06:19) - – How Gold Front became a category design studio
  • (08:34) - – What “category creation” really means
  • (11:49) - – Why being irreplaceable is the real goal
  • (14:54) - – The four paths to category leadership
  • (18:39) - – Why Drift didn’t succeed in creating a true category
  • (22:34) - – Clay and Notion as category-of-one examples
  • (25:24) - – Marketing vs. actual customer perception
  • (31:05) - – Can Exit Five be more than the “Dave Gerhardt community”?
  • (34:00) - – How to scale brand DNA beyond the founder
  • (36:50) - – Defining Exit Five’s ethos as a company
  • (39:10) - – Strategy as a company-wide unifier
  • (42:00) - – Advice for CMOs on driving strategy with CEOs
  • (44:35) - – Why strategy is always the root cause
  • (46:05) - – Vibe marketing and the rise of right-brain thinking
  • (48:50) - – Josh’s mental health journey and long-term therapy
  • (52:20) - – LinkedIn, self-worth, and staying grounded
  • (54:50) - – Weightlifting, discipline, and mental clarity
  • (57:50) - – Daily habits that improve mindset
  • (01:01:05) - – What 30 days of silent meditation does to your brain
  • (01:05:50) - – Final thoughts on presence, self-work, and leadership

  • Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected]
    Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
    Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
    Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

    ***

    Today’s episode is brought to you by Zuddl.

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    Events are a core part of our playbook this year at Exit Five. So far, we’ve hosted two virtual sessions each month, one large virtual event, one in-person meetup, and we’re deep in the weeds planning our Drive conference coming back to Vermont this September.

    Zuddl helps us run a smarter event strategy - from driving registrations, managing invites, automating comms, reminders, analytics, tracking. Their Salesforce integration also makes it simple to report on pipeline and revenue from events without pulling in ops.

    On top of that, the differentiator with Zuddl is how their team is insanely good at supporting us. They always go above and beyond for us - and that’s how we’ve been able to keep the momentum going with 12+ events already this year, with plenty more to come.


    If events are part of your marketing strategy, you need to look at Zuddl to see how companies like Zillow, CrowdStrike, and Iterable are using the top event platform for Business events in 2025. 

    Head over to zuddl.com/exitfive to learn more. 


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    The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)By Dave Gerhardt

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