Fine I’ll say it: you founder should be on LinkedIn (Exit Five Newsletter)

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TOGETHER WITH REACHDESK

🎁 Do You Even Gift, Bro? 67% of Marketers Say This Channel Amplifies Everything Else

Gifting isn’t just swag anymore. It’s a real GTM channel (and it’s working).

According to Reachdesk’s new State of Gifting 2025 report (based on 1.5M+ sends), corporate gifting just broke into the top 4 most important GTM channels. Right up there with SDR outbound and events.

But here’s the interesting part: it’s not replacing your other channels. It’s making them better.

Teams using strategic gifting are seeing things like:

• 49% exec engagement in ABM campaigns
• 76% higher event attendance
• 25% lift in cold prospect response rates
• 18% better demo show rates when coffee gifts are sent pre-call

The report digs into how gifting acts as a multiplier across your entire GTM motion, with tactical plays for ABM, sales, events, customer marketing, and more.

It also covers integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Outreach, global shipping tips, real campaign examples, and yes, it’s ungated.

Get the full report and see how to build gifting into your strategy, not on top of it.

🧑‍💻 How To Turn Your Founder's LinkedIn Into Your Secret Weapon (Share This With Them If They Don't Believe)

I helped Drift scale from $1 M to $10 M ARR using founder brand as the primary marketing strategy. Not ads. Not demand gen campaigns. The founder's social presence. Then I did the same thing when I was CMO at Privy with the CEO’s LinkedIn presence.

Here's what happened…

• Fortune 500 customers came inbound because they followed the CEO's content
• Top employees joined because they felt connected to the leadership
• Investors reached out for funding rounds
• Speaking opportunities opened doors to enterprise deals
• Every viral post became market research for the next product announcement

My own LinkedIn now has over 185,000 followers and I believe in the power of posting there first‑hand.

LinkedIn is an incredible channel in B2B and your founder’s page is the best way to unlock it. But it’s not just about “building a founder brand.” It’s because today, B2B social media continues to be an underrated marketing channel. This is not 2015. There isn’t “social media” and “marketing” – it’s not some cute little channel you outsource to the CEO’s college intern niece. It is quite literally how humans get information and make buying decisions – and in a world where AI is doing more of the buying journey for your customers, I want every advantage I can get. And building a brand and creating content online can certainly be that.

SO: Here’s how to make LinkedIn work for your business (and figure out if it’s the right move).

Do You Even Need This?

When people ask me what to tell founders who aren't naturally social or don't get it, my response is direct: suck it up, buttercup.

There are so many advantages beyond direct sales. If you run a business, you almost have a responsibility. You want to grow the company, right? Well, there's a channel today that allows you to connect directly with your customers. Doesn't cost a dollar, just costs your mind.

You're already thinking about your business, writing internal memos, talking to employees and customers. LinkedIn is just about taking that stuff and translating it into something for an external audience.

And look, not everyone's going to do it. And that's actually why I think you should, because your competitors probably aren’t.

My Exact System (Stolen From 7 Years of Posts)

The Content Calendar Reality:

• Post once a day, Monday through Friday
• Set daily calendar reminders with the specific topic (posting between 6‑9 am is what I’ve seen work best)
• Don’t use the native LinkedIn scheduler (engagement drops)
• Plan content for the entire week on Sunday

The Stockpile Strategy: Keep a running Google Doc or Note called "LinkedIn Backlog." Every time you have an idea – in meetings, walking to coffee, talking to customers, dump it in there. I have content planned through mid‑January by doing this.

Why this matters: Consistency beats creativity. You need content for the days when inspiration doesn't strike.

The Content Mix Formula:

• 4 out of 5 posts: Industry insights, personal perspective, behind‑the‑scenes
• 1 out of 5 posts: Company/product related content (where you can have an ask)

The Replay Strategy: Go into LinkedIn analytics every few weeks. Find your top‑performing posts from 6+ months ago. Repost them with slight tweaks. I’ve done this with the same post about LinkedIn being great PR for startups and it works every single time.

The Voice Note Hack: Record voice memos throughout the day when ideas hit. Transcribe them later. Your natural speaking voice often translates better to social media than when you try to write.

The ghostwriter approach: Don't start by writing for them. Start by interviewing them. Record a 20‑minute conversation about industry trends. Transcribe it. Turn their actual words into posts. This keeps their authentic voice while giving you raw material.

What Actually Happens (Beyond the Metrics)

The ROI conversation is tricky because a lot of the value can't be measured directly. But here's what I’ve seen so many times over the years doing this:

• Inbound partnership opportunities
• Speaking invitations that lead to enterprise deals
• Employee referrals from people who follow the founder's content
• Customer feedback that shapes product development
• Investor interest for funding rounds

You can't put most of this in a spreadsheet. But when a Fortune 500 customer shows up because they've been following your content, or when your best new hire says they joined because of your LinkedIn presence, the metrics questions will stop. I promise.

Common Failures (And How to Avoid Them)

The corporate speak trap: Your founder sounds like a press release. Solution: Record them talking naturally about work, then transcribe and edit.

The everything strategy: Posting about industry trends, company culture, personal life, and product updates all randomly. Solution: Pick one main theme and stick to it.

The one‑and‑done: Posting sporadically when you remember. Solution: Calendar reminders and content stockpiling.

The pitch‑fest: Every post tries to sell something. Solution: Follow the 4:1 ratio of helpful content to promotional content.

Your Next 48 Hours

1. Screenshot your founder's current LinkedIn presence
2. Screenshot your top 3 competitors' founders' LinkedIn presence
3. List 5 strong opinions your founder has about your industry
4. Block 30 minutes with them to discuss this strategy
5. Create a simple content calendar with 5 post ideas

The bottom line? Your founder already has opinions about your industry. They're already talking to customers and employees and investors. They're already the face of your company in most situations. LinkedIn just gives them a megaphone for the conversations they're already having.

The question isn't whether founder content works. It’s whether you're willing to be consistent enough to make it work.

- Dave

PS. The "founder brand" concept works for individual marketers too. The principles are the same whether you're promoting a company or promoting yourself. Also, don't underestimate the power of reading fiction. I've found it makes me a better writer than any business book ever has.

What’s your take on founder content? Who’s doing it best right now? Hit reply and let me know.

OR give me your top objections to doing this at your company and I’ll try to reply and help you overcome them and pitch this idea in your org.

📺 UPCOMING EVENTS

[SEPTEMBER 23RD] Marketing in the Age of AI: CMOs Separating the Hype from What’s Real (Live Discussion)

AI is everywhere in marketing right now. Every tool, every vendor, every headline promises to change the game. But what’s actually working—and what’s just noise?

We wanted to do something different and tapped a group of CMOs to sit down and share what’s actually going on inside of their marketing teams with AI. Have they fired the whole team yet and just used AI agents? Is ChatGPT writing all of their content? Are things running autonomously 24/7? What are some real examples and ways they are using AI as a B2B marketing team?

Dave is hosting Jennifer Delevante-Moulen (CMO, Knak) and Tara Robertson (CMO, Bitly) to have an honest discussion about how to survive the AI hype cycle in marketing (and hopefully leave you with a few real examples of what their orgs are actually doing right now)

They’ll cover:

• Where AI actually accelerates campaign execution
• The creative work that still needs a human touch
• How CMOs should prepare their marketing playbooks for AI
• Plus they’ll be live to take all of your questions so we can do a bit of “marketing therapy” if you want to talk about your challenges right now too

Think of it as a practical guide to navigating AI in marketing without losing sight of what really matters.

Save Your Spot

🏢 Open Roles

Who's hiring right now?

Red Stag Fulfillment is hiring a Director of Growth Operations to design and launch their business development engine, building the database, content, ad strategy, outreach, and prioritization model that fuels long-term pipeline. The ideal candidate is a builder, analytically sharp, and comfortable being both player and coach, turning GTM systems into a scalable growth machine.

Other open roles on the Exit Five job board this week:

• Tatari, Inc. is hiring a Digital Marketing manager
• Enumerate is hiring a Senior Product Marketing Manager
• Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations is hiring a Director of Marketing
• Offsite is hiring a Field Marketing and Partnerships Lead
• BrightHire is hiring a Social and Community Marketing Manager
• Opus is hiring a Senior Manager, B2B Product Marketing

See all open roles

Have an open role and want to make sure the best B2B marketing talent sees it? Just reply to this email and we'll send over more info on how you can post it on our job board + get it in front of 42k+ marketers.

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