Episode Details

#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
• (01:25) - — Work, life, and moving from Boston to Vermont
• (05:00) - — Competitors, community, and the small-world CMO circle
• (10:30) - — How Maura’s Salesforce roots shaped Qualified
• (13:00) - — Working for a CEO who actually gets marketing
• (17:00) - — Lessons from startup life & learning every part of marketing
• (20:00) - — Building the right team and hiring people smarter than you
• (27:00) - — Why product launches are the heartbeat of marketing
• (40:00) - — Agentic marketing, events, and AI at Qualified
• (52:00) - — The future of marketing and why it’s back on top

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter

Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.

Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.

***

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