Podcast Summary: The Dave Gerhardt Show

Episode: How to Build a Community People Trust with Matt Carnevale

Date: January 12, 2026
Host: Dave Gerhardt (Founder, Exit Five)
Guest: Matt Carnevale (Head of Community, Exit Five)

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the art and business of building a trusted, thriving community for B2B marketers. Dave Gerhardt and Matt Carnevale—Exit Five’s Head of Community—unpack their hands-on lessons and hard-won principles from nearly two years of Exit Five’s community growth, detailing what works (and what doesn’t), how trust is built, and why "community" must be more than just another channel or Slack group in B2B. The discussion is both tactical and philosophical, sharing practical guidance, honest stories, and the evolving strategy behind a community people truly value.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Matt’s Unusual Path to Head of Community

• How Matt Got the Job ([03:34])
  • Started in sales, pivoted to B2B marketing after disliking BDR work
  • Was an Exit Five community fan first: “I really knew at that point in my career I wanted to work with some elite, elite marketers, and I viewed you that way, I viewed Dan that way.” – Matt ([04:00])
  • Sent a cold email to co-founder Dan Murphy, including a YouTube video outlining top ideas for community growth.
  • Hired after a strong, proactive pitch and early drive.

2. What Makes Exit Five’s Community Special?

• Immeasurable Brand Trust ([06:04]–[07:07])
  • Dave: “There’s just something…you feel it, right? Do you still feel that way two years in?”
  • Matt: “Absolutely…the feeling of people love us as a brand and trust us a ton. It almost feels like whatever we want to put out there is going to work because we have that trust.” ([06:37])
  • Brand obsession: Dave describes obsessing over every single member touch—email, podcast, etc.—and parallels with legendary founder stories.

3. Defining “Community” in B2B

• What Does “Community” Mean? ([10:38])
  • Matt: “I define it as any group of people that have a shared interest…There’s some crossover with awareness and brand building, but that’s essentially what you’re trying to do.” ([10:56])
  • Community is not just a channel or forum—it’s a group with shared purpose, either broad (all who care about a topic) or narrow (a specific, defined group).

4. Tactics and Pitfalls in B2B Community Creation

• Why Most B2B “Communities” Fail ([14:34]–[16:53])

  • Many companies launch private communities without clear goals, resources, or commitment.
  • “If you just work backwards from like, well, why do I want to create this private community space?…Is building a Slack community really the way I want to go do that?” – Matt ([14:34])
  • Prediction: Most fail due to lack of executive belief, insufficient time/investment, or treating community strictly as a pipeline generator.

• Alternative Models

  • Encourage treating community like a paid, standalone product: “What if you made it a paid community and really treated that thing like a product…try and grow subscribers and really invest in it.” – Matt ([16:14])

5. Measurement, Executive Buy-In, and “Why It Breaks”

• Hard Truths on Internal Buy-In ([18:00])
  • Community success demands top-level belief and willingness to treat it as a true product—not just a pipeline channel.
  • “The only way I think it can work internally is if someone at the highest level of the company fully believes in that approach and isn’t worried about trying to measure it.” – Dave ([18:00])
  • Community’s biggest ROI: word of mouth, goodwill, and content engine—not immediate sales.

6. Community Management Playbook

• How Effective Communities Run ([21:30])

  • The old “discussion board = success” metric is outdated; today, quality and trust are key.
  • “People don’t want to just log into another platform…and just see more noise. They want to go to a place where…they can trust.” – Matt ([21:50])
  • Importance of real connection: “As you move up the career ladder…trust becomes even more important. You don’t need the basics—you need what your most elite peers are doing.” – Matt ([24:06])

• Behind the Scenes Work ([25:13])

  • It’s more than just letting people talk: thoughtful onboarding, matchmaking, tagging experts into threads, forced connections.
  • Example: Automated monthly peer-matching based on member interests, proactive tagging for engagement, detailed intake forms.
  • Real subject-matter expertise by managers is more important than just community “operations.” ([20:48])

7. Curation and the Importance of the “Room”

• How Exclusivity and Curation Shape Value ([29:28])
  • "When your community is just open reign...it's probably going to let in some people that maybe don't mix as well. You have to pick who your people are and bet on that." – Matt ([29:38])
  • The pain of even a single bad experience (“lost in buckets, gained in drops”)
  • Focused, niche communities have lower churn/higher engagement.

8. Most Underrated and Overrated Community Plays

• What Works Best ([37:51]–[38:36])

  • In-person events—connecting online and offline cements bonds, “unexpected benefit… in-person has made online better.”
  • “If you have people who initially connected, our events feel incredibly warm…the reason is because at least 50% of the people already have had some form of interaction online.” – Dave ([38:32])

• What’s Overrated

  • Virtual events/webinars: “People don’t join community to get talked at by the team…they join to meet others like them.” – Matt ([39:23])
  • Community cannot be just another broadcast channel.

9. Life Lessons & Reflections

• Importance of Where You Work ([42:13])

  • “You learn a lot more working under really great leadership when you have really good product market fit.” – Matt ([42:24])
  • Work culture/leadership/product matter more for enjoyment and impact than most realize.

• On Thought Leadership

  • It’s not just “being loud”—true thought leaders share real, helpful insights and data, not just noise ([51:48]).

• Work Habits

  • Rapid learning in fast-moving, small, high-trust teams. Importance of shock-to-the-system habits to maintain focus (early mornings, gym, etc.) ([46:34]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This feeling of people love us as a brand and trust us a ton. It almost feels like whatever we put out there is going to work because we have that trust.” – Matt ([06:37])
• “Community is any group of people that have a shared interest…not just a Slack or Facebook group.” – Matt ([10:56])
• “If you just work backwards from like, why do I want to create this private community space?...There’s probably 10 other ways to solve this problem or hit this goal.” – Matt ([14:34])
• “The only way it can work internally is if someone at the highest level of the company fully believes in that approach and isn’t worried about trying to measure it.” – Dave ([18:00])
• “You need to have the subject matter expertise in house…we’ll learn how to do the community management versus if we had community management but all fluff.” – Dave ([20:48])
• “Trust is gained in drops, lost in buckets.” – Matt ([31:03])
• “If you have to message me to ask if your post is self-promotional, it probably is.” – Dave ([34:39])
• “What if everyone did that? The community would go to shit…a mini LinkedIn.” – Matt ([36:23])
• “Real human connection is the differentiator. You can’t just automate or intern it out. That is the product.” – Dave ([27:25])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:34] — Matt's unconventional hiring story
• [06:04] — Community’s unique trust and magic at Exit Five
• [10:38] — Defining community in B2B and the differences between “group” and “platform”
• [14:34] — Strategic purpose of B2B community & pilot alternatives
• [16:14] — Paid vs. free communities as business models
• [18:00] — Why “community” often fails inside companies
• [21:30] — Evolved community management: trust, not just noise
• [25:13] — Behind-the-scenes: onboarding, tagging, curating the “room”
• [29:28] — The necessity of curation and managing “riff raff”
• [37:51] — Underrated: in-person events strengthen online bonds
• [39:23] — Overrated: virtual events as the default play
• [42:13] — It really does matter where you work
• [51:48] — Thought leadership: just loud, or actually valuable?
• [54:07] — How to measure podcast impact (beyond downloads)

Tone & Style

Conversational, honest, irreverent, direct—Dave and Matt don’t shy from industry critique or sharing “unvarnished” truths about community, B2B marketing, or their own growth. The episode blends banter and tactical advice, with moments that poke fun at industry trends, past failures, and their own quirks (“work for a unicorn…are you stupid?”).

Takeaways for Marketers & Community Leaders

• Build communities intentionally, with executive buy-in and long-term focus—not as a growth hack or pipeline channel.
• Invest in knowing your members and facilitating trust. Community management is a real job requiring real expertise.
• Quality trumps quantity—activity is no longer the key metric, depth and trust are.
• Curation is critical: protect the “room” and be willing to say no.
• In-person connection and true peer-to-peer relationships make communities sticky. Virtual events or forums alone won’t cut it.
• Thought leadership and brand trust are built on genuine insight, not being “loud.”
• Community success is hard to measure in short pipeline cycles but drives outsized returns in brand, word of mouth, and customer loyalty.

Final Thoughts

The episode delivers actionable frameworks for community-building while candidly exposing common failure points. Matt’s journey from outsider to Head of Community, combined with Dave’s relentless focus on trust and quality, offers a blueprint for B2B marketers who want to do community right—not just as a channel, but as the heart of their brand.

Follow Matt Carnevale on LinkedIn:
Dave challenges listeners to help Matt reach 15,000 followers by January 1st ([62:29]).

Explore the Exit Five community and resources:
exitfive.com

Listen to more episodes:
Check your podcast app or exitfive.com/podcast