Pre-Series A Jess once slid a six-figure community sponsorship proposal across the table. Josh fell out of his seat. She had one argument: these are the people we need to be talking to. He signed.
Exit Five was the obvious play, the community every B2B marketer already had open in a tab. Demand Collective was the riskier one: a few hundred vetted demand gen operators, run by a guy in his first full year doing this solo.
Exit Five was the obvious play, the community every B2B marketer already had open in a tab. Demand Collective was the riskier one: a few hundred vetted demand gen operators, run by a guy in his first full year doing this solo.
Plenty of people would've called it reckless. Jess called it marketing.
Hear how a webinar lit up the demo request Slack channel, why two community founders ended up in a rivalry Jess invented, and how Josh's plan to build Vector's own community lasted about four words.
Get to the good stuff:
[00:00] Jess pitches doubling down on communities. Josh puts up exactly one line of resistance before calling Exit Five for the contract
[00:00] Jess pitches doubling down on communities. Josh puts up exactly one line of resistance before calling Exit Five for the contract
[00:44] Jess and Josh's read on community members — "If you're spending your free time in a marketing community, you're probably our customer. Also, touch grass."
[01:55] The two plays. Exit Five, where "all the cool kids hang," and Demand Collective, a few hundred vetted demand gen operators
[04:21] The Exit Five package: media, podcast plugs from founder Dave Gerhardt, customer glow-ups — leading to a demo-request Slack channel chanting "Exit Five webinar."
[08:10] The event side: a bigger Drive sponsorship, a booth, the ghost tour... and a serious discussion about letting people scream inside a Toyota Corolla
[09:16] Vector bet early on Eric Linssen's brand-new community. The Slack channel repeating "Demand Day Summit" back at them said it worked
[11:18] Newsletter, webinar, doesn't matter. Real customers talking shop turned into real leads
[12:45] Jess's rule across communities, events, and influencers: make the customer the rock star, not Vector — a bold philosophy for two people recording a podcast about themselves
[14:31] Positive affirmations. Side effects may include irrational confidence
[15:00] Dave Gerhardt versus Eric Linssen. One made-up competition. Jess has the numbers
[16:34] Community sponsorships went from "nice idea" to "don't you dare cut that."
[17:48] The community organizers write the newsletters, run the interviews, and script the ads. Vector's job is showing up with good customers and a red pen
[19:05] Jess goes shopping for community number three. Turns out the first two still have juice left
[21:50] Community sponsorships became Vector's biggest pipeline channel in nine months. Jess's advice: know exactly who's in the room, then give every community its own job
[23:42] Josh pitches a Vector-owned community. Jess's answer starts with "No..." and somehow gets more negative from there
This Meeting Could’ve Been a Podcast is a Vector production.
Filmed and produced by Sweet Fish.
Editing by Handy Man Edit.
Filmed and produced by Sweet Fish.
Editing by Handy Man Edit.
Show notes by Content 10x.
Music by Peter McIsaac Music.