Podcast Summary: "From HubSpot Blog to CMO: Kipp Bodnar on Career Growth and Marketing Leadership"

Podcast: The Dave Gerhardt Show (Exit Five)
Episode: From HubSpot Blog to CMO: Kipp Bodnar on Career Growth and Marketing Leadership
Date: March 26, 2026
Host: Dave Gerhardt
Guest: Kipp Bodnar (CMO, HubSpot)

Episode Overview

This episode features a rich, practical conversation between Dave Gerhardt and Kipp Bodnar, the long-time CMO of HubSpot. Rather than focusing on high-level CMO tasks, the discussion dives into Kipp's journey from running the HubSpot blog in the company's early days to driving its growth and eventually stepping into executive leadership. Kipp and Dave unpack the mindset, frameworks, and habits that fuel marketing career development and organizational impact—balancing creative experimentation with strategic planning.

1. Early Career & The HubSpot Blog Years

Key Topics:

• Joining HubSpot at a $10M revenue, ~100-person stage (03:36)
• Responsibility: Run and scale the blog as the core demand gen engine (03:59)
• The infancy of business blogging and digital marketing in 2010 (04:21)
• The motivation: “I really believe in the Internet is the future of marketing. I met Brian, Dharmesh…all these people believe the exact same thing I believe.” — Kipp (04:41)

Notable Moments:

• Kipp started with a focus on both the craft of blogging and the conviction in Internet-driven marketing
• No grand vision at the outset: “At this point, we didn’t know if HubSpot was going to be around in a couple of years.” (04:57)
• Pragmatic focus: generating meetings for the sales team and “living to fight next year” (05:42)

2. Moving Up: Taking on Bigger Roles

Key Insights:

• Dual focus required for growth:
  1. Be extremely successful at your core job
  2. Become a resource and informal leader to others (06:14)
• “Most marketers are so heads down... they don’t realize, ‘Hey, I can help and lead without being someone’s manager.’” — Kipp (06:13)
• Natural evolution from blog to social, SEO, and broader top-of-funnel marketing (07:34)
• Avoiding “niche craftsperson” mentality. Be a “woodworker who can make anything out of wood” (07:42)

3. Scaling the Blog & HubSpot’s Winning Formula

Key Topics:

• The power of moving early and moving fast in marketing (09:41)
• “The earlier you move, the faster you move, the more asymmetric your returns.” — Kipp (09:45)
• Working backward from big goals: Used “backwards math” to turn 200k uniques into 1M+ (09:45–11:19)
• Scaled content by increasing publishing frequency, optimizing topic selection, and recruiting guest writers
• Evergreen lesson: Define aggressive but clear goals, let experimentation thrive, measure everything (11:19–12:18)

Notable Quote:

• “Plans should be measured in decades, execution should be measured in weeks.” — citing Sam Altman (12:44)

4. Frameworks for High-Performing Marketing Teams

Discussion Points:

• Setting high-level goals before tactics (“What’s the goal, how much money, how many people?”) (14:50)
• “Am I doing things that solve for the right things?” — Kipp on the transition to leadership thinking (15:14)
• Importance of conviction: “If you have conviction, you can invest disproportionately.” (15:14)

Leadership and Buy-in:

• Make strategic pitches grounded in the problem, desired impact, and resources—don’t dive into detail too soon (16:51–17:34)
• For new initiatives with limited data, set “unreasonable” goals and work backward (“It needs to be a top 1% podcast in 12 months…100,000 people monthly…How are we going to do that?”) (17:59)

Memorable Story:

• Dave recounts being challenged with stretch goals at HubSpot—“No, we need a top five business podcast on iTunes by year end. That was a career-changing moment because…you’re forced to work your way to get there.” (20:21)

5. The Value of Setting Big Goals & Deadlines

Key Takeaways:

• “It’s just as much work to do something great as it is to do something good. The only difference is your aspirations.” — referencing Seth Godin (20:47)
• Good leaders help people see their potential is higher than they think (21:10)

6. Operating Rhythms: From Startup to Scale-Up

Frameworks:

• Routines and rhythms change with scale:
  • Early-stage: daily cadence, monthly look-backs (22:35)
  • Mid-stage: weekly check-ins
  • Large-scale: track daily, review monthly (23:29)
• Longer than monthly cycles lose urgency (“Anything longer than a monthly rhythm just doesn’t have enough urgency to be successful.” — Kipp) (23:45)

Campaigns and Deadlines:

• Fewer, more focused campaigns at scale (“We’re really doing like two [brand] campaigns a year.”) (23:49)
• Twice-yearly major product releases to create market attention, allow messages to resonate, and provide rallying points (25:04)
• “Deadlines are one hell of a drug.” — quoting Andrew Her (25:34)
• Repetition and focus drive internal and external alignment: “Repetition does not ruin a prayer.” — Brad Smith, via Kipp (25:51)
• Too many campaigns dilute impact (26:47)

7. Case Studies: HubSpot’s "Crazy" Marketing Plays

Tactical Examples (32:55–36:19):

• Made HubSpot’s phone number prominent on the website leading to a dramatic increase in inbound calls (32:55)
• Gave away thousands of free stock photos, resulting in huge lead generation value (34:52)
• Acquired The Hustle & built a holistic media network; started with smaller content property buys to test the financial model (35:05)
  • Capitalize digital assets for expense spreading (“You’re capitalizing it as an asset versus an expense…[depreciate] over five years.”) (36:23)
• The “media company” play creates recurring brand equity and pipeline opportunities (37:13)

8. Measuring the Impact of Brand & Media Investments

Attribution Mindset:

• Classify initiatives as driving (a) awareness, (b) consideration, or (c) direct response (38:22)
• “What’s the primary goal…and how will I measure it for one (or more) of those three things?” (38:22)
• Aim to make the direct response side at least break even, so all brand/awareness value is upside (39:38)
• “With something like The Hustle or My First Million, you can actually do all of them.” — Dave (39:53)
• Layering additional creative plays, e.g., tracking episode conversions for selective partnerships (40:06)

9. Learning as a CMO & Building Executive Skillset

Growth Story:

• Biggest lesson: “A CMO’s first job is to realize that the CEO is the CMO.” — quoting Jason Lemkin (41:07)
• Coping with the breadth of the CMO role: “You have to learn all the stuff you’re not a primary expert at.” (41:34)
• Example: Kipp upskilled himself in brand marketing, learning from interviews with top practitioners (42:27)
• Field trip framework: “Get 10–15 experts on a topic and talk to them all in a span of a week…” (43:41)

Learning Tips:

• You don’t need an established network; start by reaching out with genuine admiration (44:33)
• “Pandering always works…‘I thought this work you did was incredible…Could I have 30 minutes?’ You’d be shocked how many people say yes.” (44:33)

10. Trends for Marketers in 2024

Hot Topics:

• Sea change in email deliverability—Gmail and Yahoo will block senders with >0.3% spam rate (45:37)
• Role of email remains central: “Email is always the print money button.” — Dave (46:19)
• Anticipated shifts in search thanks to AI/LLMs, like Google Gemini (46:32)
• Attitude: “Play offense, not defense.” See the opportunity in disruption (47:57)
• “Have a mindset of abundance instead of scarcity; play offense; play at a fast pace…If you do those three things, your life will be changed forever.” — Kipp (47:57)

11. Notable Quotes & Takeaways

• “Plans should be measured in decades, execution should be measured in weeks.” — (12:44, Kipp relaying Sam Altman)
• “Marketing is a game of moving early and moving fast.” — (09:45, Kipp)
• “It’s just as much work to do something great as to do something good. The only difference is your aspirations.” — Seth Godin, relayed by Kipp (20:47)
• “Deadlines are one hell of a drug.” — quoting Andrew Her (25:34)
• “A CMO’s first job is to realize that the CEO is the CMO.” — (41:07, quoting Jason Lemkin)
• “Have a mindset of abundance instead of a mindset of scarcity; play offense…play at a fast pace.” — (47:57, Kipp)

12. Memorable Moments

• The origin of HubSpot’s aggressive goal-setting (“No, we need a top five business podcast on iTunes by end of year.”) (20:21)
• The legendary “free stock photo” initiative (34:52)
• Transitioning HubSpot from an SEO/content machine to a business media network (35:05)
• Tactical example: accepting all students with above a 3.0 straight via direct mail to boost university admissions (30:13)
• Practical tips for learning: reach out with specific, genuine praise (44:33)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:36] HubSpot’s early days and Kipp’s blog role
• [05:45] Transition to expanded responsibilities
• [09:45] Growing the blog: speed, volume, and topic selection
• [12:44] “Plans in decades, execution in weeks” quote
• [17:59] Setting big, unreasonable goals before detailed planning
• [20:21] Impact of stretch goals on career trajectory
• [22:35] Marketing team cadences as the company scales
• [25:34] The discipline of deadlines and repetition
• [32:55] “Crazy” marketing plays: phone number on homepage, stock photos giveaway
• [37:13] Measuring “media company” ROI
• [41:07] Learning the CMO role: CEO’s centrality, fundamental upskilling
• [45:37] 2024 trends: email deliverability and AI search
• [47:57] Mindset for marketers: abundance, offense, fast pace

13. How to Connect

• Kipp Bodnar: Find him on LinkedIn & Twitter
• Dave Gerhardt: More content at Exit Five and his B2B marketing community

Summary Statement:
This episode is an indispensable playbook for marketers at any stage of their career, offering sharp insight into both the mindset and methods needed to grow from individual contributor to executive. Through Kipp’s journey, actionable frameworks, and the spirit of experimentation and abundance, listeners leave with motivation, practical tactics, and a clear sense of how to take the next step in their own marketing paths.