The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)

By Exit Five

Interviews with top marketers sharing tactical tips, strategies, and lessons learned to help you grow your business. Hosted by Dave Gerhardt, founder of Exit Five, former CMO, and author of Founder Br... more

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The podcast currently has 403 episodes available.

The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five) episodes:

June 08, 2026Why Marketing Is a Human Profession
#362 | Dave sits down with Eddie Shleyner, founder of VeryGoodCopy.com, to talk about why great marketing copy can't be generated — it has to be written. They get into why AI writing feels flat, what separates copy that moves people from copy that just fills space, and why the process of writing is where the real work happens. Eddie also shares how he accidentally built one of the most-read copywriting newsletters on the internet and what he's learned about writing for humans after years of studying what makes people take action.

Timestamps
(00:00) - - - How Eddie accidentally discovered copywriting while writing job ads
(00:19) - - - Why marketers are starting to push back on AI-generated content
(00:20) - - - Why the best copy gives readers less — and makes them feel more
(00:25) - - - Marketing is a human profession because empathy can't be prompted
(00:34) - - - Where AI actually helps: research, not writing
(00:38) - - - How VeryGoodCopy started as a private Google Doc no one was supposed to see
(00:43) - - - Why AI writing tells you how to feel instead of letting you feel it
(00:44) - - - The experiment: Eddie wrote the same story as AI, word for word, to prove a point
(00:46) - - - What inspired writing has that AI writing doesn't
(00:52) - - - Why shortcuts in the writing process produce worse work, not faster work
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
49min
June 04, 2026How to Win at AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
#361 | In this episode, Matt Carnevale, Head of Community at Exit Five talks with three marketers doing impactful work in AEO. AI search is changing how buyers find products, and most B2B teams are still figuring out where to start. In this session, each marketer shares what's working and wins they’ve experienced — from earned media and technical audits to homepage fixes and tracking AI visibility. Whether you call it AEO, GEO, LLMO, or EIEIO – this one’s for you. This session features guests Matt Dzugan, VP of Data Intelligence at Muckrack, Brett Bernath, Director of Product at Webflow, and Jess Joyce, Founder of Inbound Scope – an SEO and AI Search consultancy.

Timestamps
(00:00) - - - Why 80% of CMOs say AEO is a top priority — and most don't know where to start
(00:09) - - - How Muckrack used original research to get cited in ChatGPT before their product launch
(00:11) - - - Why top-of-funnel content is getting eaten by AI — and where to focus instead
(00:14) - - - Quick win #3: authority — how to show up in Reddit and third-party platforms
(00:17) - - - The sleeper tip: Bing Webmaster Tools is already giving you first-party AI data
(00:28) - - - How to handle competitor comparison content without verifiable claims falling flat
(00:44) - - - The four-bucket AEO maturity model: content, technical, authority, measurement
(00:45) - - - Why your homepage is your worst-performing page for AI discoverability
(00:48) - - - Quick win #1: technical hygiene — schema, meta descriptions, and structured data
(00:49) - - - How to identify which journalists get cited most by AI in your niche
(00:50) - - - Quick win #2: are you actually answering what your customers are asking?
(00:55) - - - Why 1 in 3 B2B SaaS sites have technical blockers killing AI discoverability
(00:57) - - - Why original research is the single best content type for earning AI citations
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
52min
June 01, 2026Why B2B brands should be doing influencer marketing with Ishveen Jolly
#360 | Dave sits down with Ishveen Jolly, founder and CEO of Open Sponsorship, to talk about what influencer and athlete marketing actually looks like for B2B brands — and why it's more accessible than most marketers think. Ishveen breaks down how a $5K March Madness campaign outperformed traditional ads, why your first influencer deal will almost certainly miss on the offer, and how to think about sports sponsorships without a Tommy Fleetwood budget. They get into audience-fit versus story-fit sponsorships, why the goal should never be a landing page click, and why most B2B teams are applying the wrong success metrics from the start. If you've ever wondered how to get into influencer or sports sponsorship marketing without a Fortune 500 budget, this is the episode.

Timestamps
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
40min
May 28, 2026How Snowflake Runs ABM with Casey Patterson
#359 | Dave sits down with Casey Patterson, Director of ABM at Snowflake, to talk about what ABM actually looks like inside one of the biggest companies in enterprise software. Casey breaks down how she cold LinkedIn messaged her now-boss Hillary to get her ABM decks reviewed before ever working together, why ABM works best when marketing stops thinking about credit and just focuses on helping sales get into accounts, and how she's thinking about the shift from traditional ABM plays to agent-driven ABM. They also get into geo-fenced out-of-home advertising, one-to-one field marketing plays, and why the future of ABM looks more like Netflix than a campaign calendar. Plus a surprisingly good tangent on finding mentors and how to actually get one.
Timestamps
(00:00) - - How Casey cold LinkedIn messaged her way into a mentorship
(06:03) - - What a mentor actually is and how to find one
(13:02) - - Why delusional confidence is underrated in marketing
(17:33) - - The crux of ABM: sales alignment or nothing
(20:40) - - ABM is not running digital ads to a list of accounts
(26:05) - - How Casey thinks about running a team of 23 ABM marketers
(29:00) - - A real ABM play: field event, OOH, gifting, and email at once
(35:27) - - How to figure out the right number of accounts to target
(40:28) - - Agent ABM: the three phases Casey is building toward
(43:44) - - The future of ABM: reaching people in their preferred channels
(45:46) - - How Dave uses AI to write his newsletter
(52:29) - - The bull case for marketers in the age of AI
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
59min
May 25, 2026What’s Actually Working in B2B Email Right Now
#358 | Ben Wallis (Customer Lifecycle Manager, Quo), Jaina Mistry (Director of Brand and Content Marketing, Knak), Kremi Mestanova (B2B Content and Growth Strategist, Kremi Marketing), and Tyler Cook (Head of Email Marketing, Hypermedia Marketing) join Dave for an Exit Five live session on what's actually working in email right now. Ben shows how Quo built a Spotify Wrapped-style year-in-review campaign with fully personalized GIFs and real usage data for every customer. Jaina makes the case for why B2B newsletters are one of the most slept-on trust-building channels in marketing, and breaks down the operating model that makes it sustainable. Tyler Cook shares his five-step AI-powered newsjacking system that goes from trend to sent email in under an hour, including a real example that got a 67% open rate. And Kremi walks through how she restructured email programs for two very different B2B brands and cut unsubscribe rates by 20% while lifting click-through rates by 40%.

Timestamps
(00:00) - - Intro
(04:14) - - Ben Wallis: personalized year-in-review email campaign for every customer
(14:43) - - Jaina Mistry: why B2B newsletters are the most slept-on trust channel
(25:00) - - The operating model that makes publishing 52 newsletters a year sustainable
(25:20) - - Tyler Cook: the AI-powered newsjacking system that goes from trend to sent in under an hour
(37:02) - - Kremi Mestanova: restructuring email programs for two very different B2B brands
(46:20) - - Live Q&A
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
49min
May 21, 2026How Ramp Is Rebuilding Marketing Around AI Agents
#357 | Dave sits down with George Bonaci, VP of Growth at Ramp, to talk about what growth actually looks like at one of the most talked-about brands in B2B. George breaks down why Ramp has no CMO and why he thinks that's a feature, not a bug. He makes the case for attention as the new moat when execution gets commoditized, and shares how he went from hardcore attribution obsessive to betting on stunts with no direct attribution. They also get into Project Glass, Ramp's internal AI tool that reads every Slack channel, preps his meetings, and diagnosed a reporting issue in 15 minutes that would have taken two weeks to investigate. And George shares why he thinks marketers now have two jobs: marketing to humans and marketing to machines.

Timestamps
(00:00) - - George's background: from biochemist to accidental marketer
(04:45) - - How marketing is structured at Ramp (no CMO)
(07:00) - - Why brand is the growth lever
(11:15) - - AI and the death of functional marketing roles
(12:30) - - Ramp's hub and spoke model for AI
(13:50) - - Building autonomous go-to-market workflows
(15:00) - - How the team responded to going agent-first
(18:40) - - The J curve of productivity
(20:00) - - Are marketing jobs safe?
(21:45) - - Marketing to machines: Ramp's two jobs
(23:00) - - Offering $3,000 bonuses to AI agents
(25:20) - - Project Glass: Ramp's internal AI tool
(31:00) - - Attention as the new moat
(32:50) - - How to measure attention without direct attribution
(38:00) - - Why taste matters more than ever in direct mail and events
(39:00) - - How George went from "measure everything" to betting on stunts
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
45min
May 18, 2026How to Think About AEO with Brett Domeny (Director of Product Management at Webflow)
#356 | Dave sits down with Brett Domeny, product lead at Webflow focused on AEO, to talk about what it actually takes to show up in AI search. Brett breaks down Webflow's AEO maturity model — four core areas that actually matter: content, technical structure, authority, and measurement — and why most of AEO is just good SEO done right. They get into how LLM crawlers work and what your site needs to do to be discoverable, why Reddit and community platforms have outsized influence on AI citations, and how to measure whether any of it is working.

Check out Webflow's free AEO assessment here.
Timestamps
(00:00) - - Intro and Brett's background
(02:00) - - The state of search and why CMOs are worried
(04:00) - - Webflow's AEO maturity model
(05:30) - - Why AEO is an evolution of SEO, not a replacement
(06:30) - - Technical: how LLM crawlers work
(16:00) - - Content: optimize for questions, not keywords
(19:00) - - Does authentic content still win in an AI world?
(26:00) - - Measurement: the three-bucket framework
(30:00) - - How accurate are the prompt visibility tools?
(37:00) - - How to show your boss AEO is working
(40:00) - - Authority: why Reddit has outsized influence on AI citations
(43:00) - - Why Brett has stayed at Webflow for six years
...more
47min
May 14, 2026Should You Run Marketing Like a Product Team?
#355 | Dave sits down with Maria Scheifler to talk about why your marketing team might be getting less done as it grows — and what to do about it. Maria makes the case for running marketing like a product team: two-week sprints, a prioritized backlog, and a lightweight intake process that kills approval bottlenecks without losing control. She walks through the context-switching exercise that proves multitasking is destroying your output, how to push back on random requests from across the company without saying no, and why getting team buy-in before rolling out any operational changes is the step most marketing leaders skip.

Timestamps
(00:00) - - Intro: the problem isn't your strategy, it's your operating system
(02:23) - - Maria's background
(05:23) - - Why teams get bigger and somehow get less done
(07:52) - - The multitasking exercise that proves context switching kills output
(15:21) - - Running marketing like a product team: the mindset shift
(18:09) - - Building a working agreement with your team
(20:41) - - The experimentation guardrail template: killing approval bottlenecks without losing control
(25:06) - - Building a prioritized backlog
(29:27) - - How the backlog helps you push back without saying no
(36:16) - - Two-week sprints: how to plan, commit, and ship
(38:28) - - Daily standups: how to keep them short and useful
(39:19) - - Sprint reviews: showing the rest of the company what marketing does
(41:00) - - Retrospectives
(42:59) - - Where to start on Monday
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
48min
May 11, 2026Customer Marketing Deep Dive
#354 | Sue (Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Monarch Money), Jonathan (VP of Marketing, Seamless.AI), and Naomi (Senior Product Marketing Manager, Customer.io) join Dan for a live Exit Five session on customer marketing. Sue breaks down how Monarch discovered that the best time to promote their referral program was during trial and the data behind a 64% lift in referral shares and half a million dollars in incremental ARR. Jonathan shares how Seamless.AI stopped treating customer engagement like a campaign and built a full 365-day behavioral program, including an AI chatbot that deflected 55% of support tickets and live trainings that flattened their churn curve. Then Naomi walks through how she uses plain-text emails asking for replies to close the feedback loop on new features and shape the product roadmap.

Timestamps
(00:00) - - Intro
(05:00) - - Sue: Why the best time to promote a referral program is during trial, not after
(08:00) - - The results: 64% lift in referral shares and $500K in incremental ARR
(15:00) - - Sue's background: 16 years in lifecycle marketing from online dating to Calm to Monarch
(18:00) - - Jonathan: Stopping treating customer engagement like a campaign
(24:00) - - Building a 365-day behavioral multi-channel customer engagement program
(25:00) - - The AI chatbot that deflected 55% of support tickets
(32:00) - - Live customer training 4x a week and how it flattened the churn curve
(37:00) - - Growth plays for NRR: marketing to users inside existing accounts
(39:00) - - Jonathan's results: 24% decrease in cancellations year over year
(40:00) - - Naomi: Using lifecycle marketing to close the product feedback loop
(46:00) - - The MCP server onboarding flow and why she asks for replies instead of clicks
(53:00) - - Using beta email campaigns to shape the product roadmap
(56:00) - - Live Q&A
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
55min
May 07, 2026How CMOs Are Deploying AI Across Marketing
#353 | Tara (CMO, Optimizely), Julia (Director of AI Adoption, Optimizely), Lily (CMO, Three Play Media), Pejman (CMO, Menlo Security), and Kevin (CMO, CompTIA) join Dave for a live Exit Five session on how real marketing teams are actually using AI right now. Lily shows how she replaced two BDR headcount with a HubSpot prospecting agent and went from an 18% to 46% response rate on inbound leads. Julia walks through how Optimizely's marketing team embedded AI agents directly into their content workflow, from briefing to brand voice checking to traffic monitoring, without anyone having to leave the platform. Pejman shares the framework his team uses to map workflows and find the highest-ROI AI opportunities, plus a custom brand tone tool that turns hours of manual review into minutes. And Kevin talks through what it actually looks like to lead an AI culture change on a small team with limited resources.

Timestamps
(00:00) - - Intro
(04:40) - - Guest intros: Tara, Julia, Lily, Pejman, and Kevin
(09:49) - - Tara on why AI adoption needs an internal owner and how to govern it without squashing enthusiasm
(12:47) - - Lily: why their first AI initiative failed and what they did differently
(15:00) - - How Lovable kicked off team-wide AI excitement at Three Play Media
(17:22) - - Lily's HubSpot prospecting agent: 18% to 46% response rate on inbound leads
(21:04) - - Julia: embedding AI agents into Optimizely's content workflow
(28:00) - - Using AI to monitor content performance and auto-assign optimization work
(30:04) - - Pejman: mapping workflows to find the highest-ROI AI opportunities
(32:35) - - Building a brand tone checker that scores and rewrites content against brand guidelines
(36:35) - - Kevin: making AI a mandate on a small team and building a culture of learning
(40:46) - - Group Q&A: optimizing spend vs. shipping faster, budget shifts, and new KPIs
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's 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 - A website platform built for the agentic web, letting modern marketing teams build fully custom sites that perform in AI search with no developer needed. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
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.

***

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
...more
47min

FAQs about The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five):

How many episodes does The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five) have?

The podcast currently has 403 episodes available.

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