B2B community building + how dbt Labs built a 25,000+ member community with Janessa Lantz, VP of Marketing

Janessa Lantz is VP of Marketing at dbt Labs an open source data transformation tool used by ~9000 companies. Prior to dbt Labs Janessa worked at HubSpot as Senior Manager, Communications and Director of Marketing at RJ Metrics. Dave and Janessa talk about how dbt Labs has built a community of 25,000+ professionals in analytics and data engineering, lessons as a first-time startup marketing leader, building a relationship with the CEO, transitioning from specialist to generalist, the power of building a training program for customers, and how to build your own publishing company as a B2B SaaS brand. 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