You know Dave Gerhardt. Maybe it's from his days running marketing at Drift. Or from his time hosting the Seeking Wisdom podcast with David Cancel. Or, maybe you've heard of (or are a member of) his B2B community, Exit Five. Point is, if you've been working in B2B marketing at any point in the last decade, you know Dave. In this rare podcast interview, Dave goes into detail on everything that's led him to this point––the solo founder of a $1M business. You'll hear what he learned during his days at Drift, how his community first launched as a side gig, when he knew he could go all in on his own, and all of the details for how he currently runs his business (i.e. how his revenue streams have changed, how he prices sponsorships, where he goes from here, etc.)Enjoy! Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode, the promotional clips, and handling the overall production of Louder Than Words.

We’re back! The first new episode of Louder Than Words in more than 6(!) years. Today, John welcomes marketing and creative extraordinaire Amanda Natividad to talk about her own journey as a creator filled with uncertainty and self-doubt to a full-blown influencer, how she approaches creating content that’s unique and more defensible, and how the freedom to create on her/their own terms at SparkToro works to their benefit. Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode, the promotional clips, and handling the overall production of Louder Than Words. 

Airbnb runs about 700 experiments in a given week. Here, I chat with data scientist Linsday Pettingill on the culture and principles that allow their team to move so quickly and efficiently, and how others people can transpose these ideas to their own work.

What do companies like Facebook, Dropbox, Airbnb, Pinterest (and others!) all have in common? Not just a great product, but a methodical, measured approach to driving extraordinary growth. In this episode, Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown (founders of GrowthHackers.com) unpack the principles behind these methods.

Scott Monty, former head of social media at Ford Motor Company, talks about his decision to join Ford in 2008 and the specifics of what went into the social and branding strategies that helped turn the company’s image around.

Jason Fried, Founder and CEO of Basecamp, talks about the (rare) art of making more money than you spend instead of aiming for growth at all costs.

Christian Rudder, cofounder of OkCupid and bestselling author of “Dataclysm: Who We Are When We Think No One is Looking”, talks about OkCupid’s algorithmic approach to growing past its competition.

Tucker Max, bestselling author of "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell", talks about the inspiration behind founding his new company, Book in a Box, and how they’re helping people turn ideas into books.

Jay Acunzo, former marketer at Google and HubSpot, talks about the inspiration behind his current passion project Unthinkable.fm, and how he’s helping connect marketers everywhere that are bothered by “suck.”

Meghan Keaney Anderson, HubSpot's VP of Marketing, has been with the company for five years. Here she talks about the levers that have inspired growth and why content and SEO will be radically different over the next five years.

Jess Iandiorio, VP of Marketing at Drift, details prescriptive tips on how brands can start building a more effective customer growth strategy and retain more customers.

Keith Frankel talks in detail about the career that has taken him from the competitive board rooms at MTV to the rose-tinted offices of the tech world and the experiences therein that led to his mission to never lie again.

Neil Pasricha, best known for his blog–1000 Awesome Things–and subsequent "Book of Awesome" series talks about his new book, "The Happiness Equation", and how he discovered the simplest formula to a happy life.

Jason Zook, best known for making over $1,000,000 wearing t-shirts and selling his last name (twice), talks about creativity, hustle porn, and preparing for success.

David Heinemeier Hansson on why Silicon Valley culture gets it all wrong.

Nataly Kogan, founder of Happier, talks about escaping communist Russia at 13 and her life’s work of helping others find happiness in small, bite-sized, everyday moments.

Jeff Sheldon, the designer and founder of Ugmonk, talks about growing his side passion project into the well-known lifestyle brand it's become today.

Austin Kleon, the New York Times best selling author of Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work, chats on everything from the importance of being boring, how he collects ideas, the Talking Heads, and much, more more.

Ann Handley, the world's first chief content officer and best selling author of Everybody Writes, talks about overcoming her own distractions to be a better writer (and why delivering newsletters in her neighbor's mailbox as a child was not scalable.)

Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute and author of Content Inc., talks about how many successful companies experience "happy accidents" in the way they grow their content marketing strategies.

Joanna Wiebe, creator of Copy Hackers, talks about her journey toward starting her own copywriting business, which includes accidentally sending her old boss a resignation email.

Masterful content strategist Andy Crestodina details the art of being a successful content marketer in an ecosystem polluted with noisy opinions, experts, and "gurus."

Legendary speaker and consultant (and the man who literally wrote the book on content marketing) C.C. Chapman discusses his journey into content and the world of digital marketing.

Jen Giese details the rise of Photojojo, what started as a simple newsletter for DIY photographers, to the massive online retailer it has now become.

Legendary marketing speaker Marcus Sheridan take us inside those dark days in 2008 while he was struggling to turn around his business, and how along the way, he learned lessons that he now shares with the world.

James Chartrand, the masterful copywriter behind Men With Pens, talks about her career arc and how adopting a male pen name has made all the difference in earning business, respect, and more money.

Seth Godin talks fear, talent vs. compliance, and why he announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

Chris Guillebeau, author of the bestselling "$100 Startup" chats about traveling to every country in the world, why he's always been unemployable, and how to finally get started on bringing your ideas to life.

Scott Belsky, founder of Behance and also VP of Product at Adobe, talks about how to successfully execute your ideas and why he finds it helpful to always think he's in the early innings.

Contently's editor in chief discusses all things content related, including how he'd recreate his success at other companies. (Hint: They'd have to be foreword-thinking.)

Bestselling author Ryan Holiday talks about why he dropped out of college, how he landed opportunities with Tim Ferris and American Apparel in his early 20s, and the basics of growth hacking and how to compete for attention.

Bernadette Jiwa has written four #1 bestsellers on the art of brand storytelling. Here she discusses how to make people fall in love with your brand and idea. For more, check our Jiwa's 20 Keys of Brand Storytelling here: http://thestoryoftelling.com/what-is-a-brand-story/

Johnny "Cupcakes" Earle discusses his entrepreneurial upbringing, how he started 16 businesses before he was 16, and why he still gets excited about selling t-shirts.

Helena Price quit her job in tech to take photos. Now, just a few years later, she's the most sought after photographer in Silicon Valley, doing work for some of the biggest brands on the planet.

Copyblogger's Chief Copywriter discusses his dark days as an obscure writer, how his passion of writing evolved, and eventually, landed him the job of his dreams.

Unbounce cofounder Oli Gardner chats about the origins of his company, how to execute more effective split testing, and the hardest thing he's ever done.

Elle Luna rose to internet fame in 2014 after posting her article "The Crossroads of Should & Must" on Medium. After 5 million views, a publishing deal, and a brand new book, Elle discusses what it takes to follow your passion.

Litmus marketing director Justine Jordan chats about bootstrapping, managing a team, and all things email marketing.

Jessica Hagy is an artist and writer best known for her award-winning blog, Indexed. In this casual chat, Hagy discusses how she went viral, quit her job in advertising at Victoria Secret, and now has the coolest job ever.

Wistia cofounder Chris Savage discusses how the idea for the company was first hatched, their initial aspirations, and the most important things he spends his time on.

The HubSpot Blog has grown to drive 2 million monthly views. There aren't many people more responsible for this growth than Pamela Vaughan, manager of optimization and growth of HubSpot Content. In this candid interview, Pamela discusses how she joined HubSpot in 2008, how the landscape has changed since, and how other marketers and bloggers could achieve similar growth.