Why Marketing Is Back In The Driver Seat (with Maura Rivera, CMO at Qualified)
The Dave Gerhardt Show
Outro
Dave closes the episode, promotes Exit Five community, additional sponsors, and thanks listeners.
#310 Leadership & Strategy | I sat down with Maura Rivera, CMO at Qualified, to talk about what it’s like leading marketing at one company for six years (and why most of her team has been there just as long). We got into how product launches are the glue that hold their marketing together, what agentic marketing really means for the future, why outbound is actually working for them right now, and how events have become a huge part of their strategy. Plus, plenty of good banter along the way.
Watch this episode on YouTube on my channel: https://youtu.be/4tew-Q89Fms
Timestamps
- (00:00) - — Intro & setup: Marketing’s back in the driver seat
- (03:32) - — Work, life, and moving from Boston to Vermont
- (07:07) - — Competitors, community, and the small-world CMO circle
- (12:37) - — How Maura’s Salesforce roots shaped Qualified
- (15:07) - — Working for a CEO who actually gets marketing
- (19:07) - — Lessons from startup life & learning every part of marketing
- (22:07) - — Building the right team and hiring people smarter than you
- (29:07) - — Why product launches are the heartbeat of marketing
- (43:53) - — Agentic marketing, events, and AI at Qualified
- (55:53) - — The future of marketing and why it’s back on top
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
The AI-powered Podcast Player
