This episode is from Drive 2024, our first-ever in-person event for B2B marketers in Burlington, Vermont. Peter Mahoney, Chief Commercial Officer at GoTo, and author of The Next CMO, shared strategies for building and leading high-performing marketing organizations.
Peter covers:
- 10 Guidelines for building (or re-building) a marketing organization
- Running marketing: how to build your CMO operating system
- 5 strategies for effectively leading an organization
Timestamps
- (00:00) - - Intro to Peter
- (05:40) - - Are there requirements for being a CMO?
- (10:38) - - Do you really want to be a CMO?
- (11:07) - - How CMOs spend their time
- (11:50) - - 10 Guidelines for building (or re-building) a marketing organization
- (13:37) - - 1. Align to your marketing strategy
- (14:37) - - 2. Ensure the financial model supports your organization
- (16:32) - - 3. Make it simple
- (17:07) - - 4. Build in clear accountability
- (18:23) - - 5. Resist layers
- (20:03) - - 6. Do not design around the individual
- (22:42) - - 7. Clearly define what is a service center and what is an outcome center
- (23:20) - - 8. Build the smallest organization necessary
- (24:31) - - 9. Make a hiring decision as difficult as laying someone off
- (25:31) - - 10. Define your full-time vs. part-time vs. outsource strategy
- (28:19) - - Running marketing: Building your CMO Operating System
- (29:42) - - 5 strategies for leading marketing
- (32:29) - - Q&A
- (39:55) - - Closing Remarks
Join 50,000 people who get our Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/
***
Today’s episode is brought to you by Paramark.
It’s November. 2026 planning is already here. And the stuff you’re doing right now will decide how next year plays out.
But here’s the problem: most teams are still planning next year's marketing strategy based on the WRONG DATA because of broken attribution and a misleading gut feel. And you can’t make smart budget calls if you’re just guessing what’s working, what’s not, and where to put your next dollar.
That’s where Paramark comes in. They help you replace the guesswork with actual insight backed by $2 billion in analyzed marketing data. They’ve figured out what actually drives incremental growth across every channel including LinkedIn, Meta, TikTok, Google, CTV, even OOH.
And right now, they’re offering a private 1:1 consultation with their CEO and CMO, Pranav and Sam, who have led marketing teams at companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Microsoft, and Shutterfly.
In this 45-minute strategy session, they’ll help you measure the real impact of every marketing dollar, pull insights from your current media mix, and design a 2026 roadmap that’s rooted in data, not gut.
This is a heck of an offer. And it’s real. And will go fast. So if you want to future-proof your marketing strategy for 2026, don’t miss out on this offer.
Grab your spot at paramark.com/brand-consult.
***
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