2x CMO Sydney Sloan on helping Salesloft grow from $15M-$100M, Salesloft vs. Outreach vs. Clari, stunts, predictable revenue, managing the budget, managing your career in B2B marketing

Sydney Sloan (former Salesloft CMO, 2x CMO) joins Dave to talk about her time at Salesloft helping the company grow from $15-$100M+ ARR and ultimately a $2.3B valuation after Vista equity bought a majority stake in the company.  They talk about how to pick the right company as CMO, how Salesloft went about category creation, going from stunts to predictable revenue, marketing in a competitive marketing (Outreach vs. Salesloft vs. Clari), why you need to spend the budget, how to hire and navigate career progression, and her career as a marketing leader.Follow Sydney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydsloan/Follow Dave: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegerhardt/Be a part of the Exit Five B2B marketing community at exitfive.comThis episode is brought to you by Metadata: https://metadata.io/ Metadata helps demand gen. marketers automate paid campaigns and drive more revenue. Learn why more B2B SaaS companies are using Metadata to grow revenue at Metadata.io.Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing the podcast for me. 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. Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected] the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership***Today’s episode is brought to you by Grammarly.Ever have one of those weeks where you spent more time replying to Slack and email than doing actual marketing work?You’re not alone. The average marketing team spends 28+ hours a week just keeping up with comms.That leads to burnout, frustration, and a whole lot of performative productivity that doesn’t actually move the needle.AI-fluent marketing teams are changing that. Grammarly’s 2025 Productivity Shift Report shows how they’re using AI to:– Cut down on back-and-forth– Automate content, research, and reporting– Eliminate busywork– Make space for strategyWe’re marketers because we love crafting campaigns, driving revenue, and proving impact – not spending all day buried in messages.Get the report and see how top teams are making AI actually useful.Visit go.grammarly.com/exitfive to grab it.***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