Exit Five
Exit Five operates a paid B2B marketing community on Circle with 6,000+ members, complemented by a 40,000+ subscriber newsletter, podcast, CMO Council, job board, and annual Drive conference. Revenue derives from membership subscriptions, sponsorships, and job listings.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersBurlington, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Exit Five does
Exit Five is a B2B marketing membership community and content platform founded in 2018 by Dave Gerhardt and headquartered in Burlington, United States. The company serves B2B marketing professionals ranging from individual contributors to senior CMOs, offering a portfolio of products anchored by a private paid community hosted on the Circle platform (6,000+ members), a weekly newsletter reaching 40,000+ subscribers, a podcast with 300+ episodes, the CMO Council peer advisory group, the annual Drive conference, a job board, and the Marketing Leadership Accelerator cohort program. Its technology stack is assembled entirely from third-party SaaS tools — Circle for community, Knak for email production, and Zuddl for virtual events — with no disclosed proprietary platform components.
The business model is multi-stream and community-led. The primary revenue engine is recurring membership subscriptions billed monthly with a 7-day free trial, augmented by newsletter and event sponsorships from B2B marketing vendors (Knak, Reachdesk, Walnut, Paramark, Zuddl, Clay, Planful), paid job listings on the job board, and ticket revenue from the annual Drive conference. Distribution is fully digital and self-serve, with content marketing (newsletter, podcast, LinkedIn, articles) functioning as the top-of-funnel acquisition engine that converts readers into community members and event attendees.
Operationally, Exit Five is a small, bootstrapped, remote-first team of 1-10 employees, with the founder as the principal public-facing voice. The company has reported 43% year-over-year revenue growth and a two-fold increase in community membership following the migration to Circle, and it has progressively expanded its product surface with the CMO Council, the Marketing Leadership Accelerator, and a scaling Drive conference. There are no disclosed institutional funding rounds, acquisitions, or material leadership changes in the available record.
Exit Five firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Exit Five
- Legal name
- Exit Five
- Website
- https://exitfive.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Exit Five operates a paid B2B marketing community on Circle with 6,000+ members, complemented by a 40,000+ subscriber newsletter, podcast, CMO Council, job board, and annual Drive conference. Revenue derives from membership subscriptions, sponsorships, and job listings.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Exit Five industry classification
Industry- Product category
- B2B Marketing Community & Content Membership
- NAICS
- Business Associations (81391)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)
Keywords
Where Exit Five is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Burlington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Exit Five business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Membership Subscriptions: Exit Five operates a paid membership model where B2B marketers pay for access to the private community, exclusive content, workshops, templates, and peer networking. The membership offers a 7-day free trial with recurring subscription billing.
- Sponsorships and Sponsored Content: Exit Five generates revenue through newsletter sponsorships and sponsored content placements. Companies like Knak, Reachdesk, Walnut, Paramark, and Zuddl have sponsored newsletters and events. The company shares subscriber information (name, email, job title, company) with sponsors for marketing purposes.
- Job Board Listings: Exit Five maintains a job board (jobs.exitfive.com) where companies post open marketing roles. This creates a B2B marketplace connecting employers with the Exit Five community of marketing professionals.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Exit Five Membership with 7-day free trial |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Exit Five product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Exit Five is a paid membership community and content platform built for B2B marketing professionals. It distributes a weekly newsletter, podcast, private Circle community, job board, and CMO peer advisory group, with members paying recurring subscriptions for access to peer networking, templates, workshops, and curated B2B marketing strategies.
Product overview
Exit Five is a B2B marketing membership platform offering a newsletter (40,000+ readers), podcast, private community (5,700+ members on Circle), job board, CMO Council peer group, annual Drive conference, and Marketing Leadership Accelerator program. The platform delivers practical B2B marketing education through multiple content formats and community engagement, targeting marketing professionals from individual contributors to senior CMOs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- CMO Council: A peer advisory group for senior B2B marketing leaders and CMOs.
- Drive
- Marketing Leadership Accelerator
Products and services
- Exit Five Newsletter Weekly email newsletter read by 40,000+ B2B marketing professionals, delivering practical strategies, industry interviews, and AI/demand-gen/brand content.
- Exit Five Podcast Weekly podcast featuring interviews with CMOs, VPs, and marketing leaders on B2B marketing strategies, distributed on Spotify and YouTube.
- Exit Five Community (Paid Membership) Private online community for B2B marketers hosted on Circle, with 6,000+ paying members, peer discussion forums, templates, AMAs, and member networking.
- CMO Council Exclusive peer advisory group for senior B2B marketing leaders and CMOs that provides high-level networking, strategic discussions, and executive retreats.
- Drive Conference Annual in-person B2B marketing conference featuring keynotes, practitioner-led workshops, and networking activities; Drive 2026 scheduled for September 8-10 in Stowe, Vermont.
- Exit Five Job Board B2B marketing job board at jobs.exitfive.com where employers post open marketing roles targeted at the Exit Five community.
- Marketing Leadership Accelerator Structured multi-week learning program for marketing leaders with expert-led sessions on planning, budgeting, positioning, hiring, team alignment, social, and metrics.
Companies that use Exit Five
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Exit Five technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability2 records
Exit Five partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- CirclecoreCircle is the community software platform powering Exit Five's private membership community. Exit Five built their global marketing community on Circle, resulting in 43% revenue growth year-over-year and over 6,000 members. The Circle platform enables the peer networking, discussion forums, and member-exclusive content that forms the core of Exit Five's membership offering.
- KnakminorKnak is a newsletter sponsor for Exit Five. Knak helps create email and landing pages without coding. The partnership includes sponsored newsletter placements and promotional content in Exit Five's weekly newsletter reaching 40,000+ B2B marketers.
- ReachdeskminorReachdesk sponsored Exit Five's virtual events and newsletter content. The platform provides ABX and gifting solutions for B2B teams. Sponsored content included ABX Gifting Playbook promotion and event giveaways.
- WalnutminorWalnut sponsored Exit Five newsletter content around generative AI in B2B marketing. Walnut provides AI-powered demo automation tools. The partnership included a sponsored report on the state of generative AI in B2B marketing.
- ParamarkminorParamark sponsored Exit Five newsletter content and podcast episodes. Paramark provides marketing attribution and brand assessment tools. The partnership included free brand assessment offers to Exit Five subscribers.
- PlanfulminorPlanful partnered with Exit Five on a webinar about marketing planning and budget approval. Planful provides marketing planning and financial coordination tools. The partnership included co-branded content and promotional emails to Exit Five subscribers.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Exit Five competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Pavilion: Pavilion (formerly Revenue Collective) is a paid membership community for B2B revenue and marketing leaders, with content, peer groups, and events — directly comparable to Exit Five's model and audience.
- Reforge: Reforge operates a paid, selective membership community and structured learning programs for growth and product professionals — similar community + cohort-based learning model, though focused on growth/product rather than B2B marketing.
- DigitalMarketer: DigitalMarketer offers paid training programs, a community, and certifications for digital marketers — a comparable membership-plus-content business model, though with broader (B2C-inclusive) audience scope.
- CMO Coffee Talk: CMO Coffee Talk is a community and event series specifically targeting CMOs and senior marketing leaders — directly overlapping with Exit Five's CMO Council segment and senior-leader focus.
- Copyblogger: Copyblogger is a long-running content marketing education and community platform — comparable in combining editorial content with a membership model for marketing professionals.
- Animalz: Animalz is a B2B content marketing agency that also publishes educational content for content marketers — comparable audience and content-first brand-building approach, with overlapping topic coverage in B2B marketing strategy.
Broad incumbents
- MarketingProfs: MarketingProfs is a long-established B2B marketing training, community, and events company — the incumbent in the category Exit Five occupies, with broader topic coverage and a more developed paid training catalog.
- Content Marketing Institute: Content Marketing Institute runs training, events (Content Marketing World), and a community for B2B content marketers — an established incumbent in a closely adjacent vertical of Exit Five's audience.
- HubSpot Academy: HubSpot Academy is the free, large-scale education arm of HubSpot offering certifications and courses in B2B marketing — incumbent competitor for the audience's attention, though bundled into a broader platform rather than a standalone community.
Emerging players
- Marketing AI Institute: Marketing AI Institute runs a community, newsletter, and events focused on AI in marketing — an emerging, fast-growing niche player with significant topical overlap with Exit Five's AI-related content.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Exit Five social profiles
Digital presenceExit Five compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Exit Five financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Exit Five leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Exit Five funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Exit Five M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Exit Five
What does Exit Five do?
Exit Five is a paid membership community and content platform built for B2B marketing professionals. It distributes a weekly newsletter, podcast, private Circle community, job board, and CMO peer advisory group, with members paying recurring subscriptions for access to peer networking, templates, workshops, and curated B2B marketing strategies.
Is Exit Five a public or private company?
Exit Five is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Exit Five founded?
Exit Five was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Exit Five based?
Exit Five is headquartered in Burlington, United States, in the North America region.
How does Exit Five make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Membership Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are sponsorships and Sponsored Content and job Board Listings.
Who are Exit Five's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Pavilion, Reforge, DigitalMarketer, CMO Coffee Talk, Copyblogger and Animalz. Broad incumbents are MarketingProfs, Content Marketing Institute and HubSpot Academy. Marketing AI Institute is listed as an emerging player.
Does Exit Five have an API?
No public API is recorded for Exit Five.
What industry is Exit Five in?
Exit Five's product category is B2B Marketing Community & Content Membership. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHACAA, Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies). Its NAICS code is 81391 and its SIC code is 8600.