A private, vetted peer group for in-house B2B marketing leaders.
Apply for MembershipCMO Council is Exit Five’s membership for CMOs and VPs of Marketing at B2B companies doing $50M+ in revenue. Members get an NDA-protected Slack, a matched monthly peer group, weekly Friday calls, and in-person events, with no vendors, consultants, or competitors in the room.
The questions below are the ones marketing leaders actually ask us on intro calls: who’s in it, what it costs, how much time it takes, how to get it approved, and how it compares to other groups.
Browse by section or jump straight to your question. Want the full overview? See the CMO Council page.
In-house CMOs and VPs of Marketing at B2B companies doing $50M+ in revenue. You own the marketing function (or a big part of it at a large company), you lead a team, and you’re making real calls on budget, people, and strategy every week.
It’s for leaders who don’t have enough peers to pressure-test those calls with. That’s most of the people we talk to.
Probably. We care about the job, not the title. If you’re the top marketer at your company, you qualify regardless of what your business card says. Plenty of members carry a Director or Head of title while doing the VP or CMO job, often reporting to a CEO, CRO, or COO.
At larger companies, VPs and Directors who run a significant part of marketing (demand gen, product marketing, brand) are a fit too.
Most members are at companies doing $50M to $1B+ in revenue, and $50M+ is the bar we look for. The average member company is around $200–250M. If you’re close to the line, apply anyway. We look at revenue, team size, and scope together on the call.
If the company is primarily B2B, yes. Lots of members run a B2B2C motion or sit at a company with a consumer arm. If the business is mainly B2C, CMO Council isn’t the right room.
No. CMO Council is 100% in-house marketing leaders. We don’t accept fractional CMOs, consultants, agency owners, or vendors. That rule is a big part of why people trust the room: nobody is there to sell you something.
If you lead in-house marketing at an agency or consultancy as your actual job, we’ll talk it through, with a strict no-pitching rule.
Not while you’re between roles. Membership is for leaders currently in seat. A lot of people negotiate CMO Council into their next offer as part of their professional development budget, and we’re happy to help with that once you land.
Yes, as long as they meet the same bar. Each person is a separate membership. A non-marketing CEO wouldn’t qualify; CMO Council is marketing leaders only.
120+ in-house marketing leaders, roughly half CMOs and half VPs of Marketing. Member companies range from about $50M to well over $1B in revenue, and around a fifth are at $1B+ companies. Average team size is about 30.
We don’t publish member names, since everyone is under NDA. On your intro call we’ll share example companies in your revenue band and industry so you can judge the room for yourself.
About half the group is SaaS and tech. The other half spans 25+ industries: manufacturing and industrial, logistics, financial services and insurance, healthcare, professional services, legal, and more. There’s also a dedicated channel for PE-backed companies.
What members find is that the job is more alike than the industry. Defending budget to a CFO, reporting to a board, restructuring a team, and owning pipeline look the same whether you sell software or steel. We’ll tell you honestly on the call how many peers you’d have in your space.
It’s about 50/50. In practice the titles are interchangeable: everyone either runs the marketing department or a large part of it. A VP at a $1B company and a CMO at a $100M company have a lot to learn from each other.
There are 120+ members today. We keep it intimate on purpose: Slack channels split by revenue band, small matched peer groups, and focused Friday calls mean you’re usually talking with a handful of people in a similar seat, not a crowd. We also turn people away regularly to keep the room right.
Most members (about 85–90%) are in the US and Canada, and live calls run on US Eastern time. Members outside North America get the most out of the async side: Slack gut-checks, peer intros, and on-request conversations. We’ll be straight with you on the call about whether the time zones work for you.
Yes. Our first renewal cohort renewed at 100%, and at 100 members only one had churned. People tend to use it in waves: they come in with a problem, get unstuck, and come back the next time something hard lands on their desk.
You’re placed in a small group of about 4–6 marketing leaders, matched on revenue band, company stage, and GTM motion, with no competitors in the same group. Groups meet roughly monthly on video. Everyone goes around the room, shares what’s on their mind, and gets real help from people in the same seat. Same group every time, so trust builds.
A weekly 60-minute live call, Fridays at 1pm ET. Topics come from what members are talking about that week: budget planning, org design, the CEO relationship, AI in plain business terms. Most calls are discussion with small breakouts, not presentations. Sometimes a member or an outside expert leads, but never a sponsor or vendor.
They’re optional. Go when the topic is useful; skip when it isn’t. You can see what’s coming up on the events page.
Yes. Our team watches every thread and tags in the members who’ve just dealt with the same problem, so you’re never posting into the void. The most common question type is “has anyone used [tool]?” and those usually get honest, specific answers within hours.
Yes, and it’s one of the most-used parts. There’s an “I’m Hiring” channel where members share open roles and candidates (80+ roles posted in a couple of months), and the Concierge can connect you with members who just ran the same vendor or agency evaluation. No sponsored recommendations, no affiliate links.
Yes. The big one is the Marketing Leadership Retreat every March in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 1–3, 2027): two days with about 150 marketing executives. During the year we also run dinners and co-working days in cities where members cluster, like San Francisco, New York, Boston, Austin, and Chicago.
In-person is a bonus, though. Most of the day-to-day value is online.
Not really, and that’s on purpose. CMO Council is about people, not content. Members do share real artifacts in Slack (budget models, org charts, board slides) and we send a regular digest of the best threads. But you join for the conversations, not the downloads.
CMO Council itself is for the leader. Your team can join Exit Five Pro, our community for B2B marketers, and we offer team pricing. Ask on your call; we often include Pro seats for a member’s team.
As much as you want. There’s no standing commitment. Most members check Slack a few times a week, meet with their peer group about once a month, and join a Friday Call when the topic fits. When you’re slammed, you can go quiet and come back when you need a gut-check.
It’s built for people with full calendars and small teams.
That’s fine, and it’s common. Exec meetings, time zones, and travel get in the way. Slack is async, peer groups set their own schedule, and you can ask us to set up a small conversation with the right members on your timing.
There’s no free trial, but you can ask for a one-time guest pass to a Friday Call to see how the group works before you commit. Ask for one on your intro call.
Apply online (it takes a few minutes), then do a 30-minute call with our team. We think of it as an interview, not a sales call. We want to understand your role and what you need, and you get to ask us anything. If it’s a fit both ways, you’re in.
New members start in a monthly onboarding cohort with their own small channel, plus a new-member mixer call so you meet people right away. We’ll get you into the right Slack channels and match you to a peer group.
CMO Council is an annual membership. We walk through pricing and options on your intro call, including a package that bundles in your ticket to the annual Marketing Leadership Retreat.
Most members’ companies cover it from a professional development or marketing budget. For context, it costs a fraction of what executive coaching or a private mastermind group does.
Yes. You can pay quarterly or twice a year instead of all up front. Same total, just spread out.
Most members expense it through professional development, an L&D or executive-development budget, or the marketing budget. Because it’s above a lot of personal approval limits, many need a sign-off, and we’ll help with that: we can send a short business case, an approval email you can forward, and an overview deck.
The pitch that tends to land: you’ll make better budget, hiring, and vendor decisions with input from 120+ peers who’ve done the job, and one avoided bad hire or vendor contract pays for it many times over.
Usually, yes. We’ve worked with plenty of members on timing, like starting now with billing in your next budget year, or splitting payments across two years. Bring it up on your call.
Most companies pay. Some members pay personally, and some prefer it that way so the membership stays with them no matter where they work. A few split it with their employer.
By card or ACH through a secure payment link, or by invoice if your finance team needs one. We can provide a W-9 for procurement.
Yes, it renews annually. We email you two months before your renewal date, and your contact on our team reaches out about a month before, so there are no surprises.
Not if you’ve named them. When you join, you list your top direct competitors, and those companies are blocked from joining while you’re a member. The block is at the company level.
It works the other way too: if a current member has already named your company as a competitor, you can’t join while they’re a member. We’ll tell you upfront if that’s the case.
Every member signs an NDA when they join. It means you can share real numbers, real org charts, and real problems without worrying they’ll end up with a competitor or on LinkedIn. You’re never required to share anything; you decide what you’re comfortable with. We’re happy to send a copy for your legal team to review before you sign.
Your membership is yours, not your employer’s. If you move to a new in-house role, you keep it (we’ll just re-run the competitor check for your new company). If you’re between roles, you stay through the end of your term, and there’s a private channel for members in transition. We talk about fit at renewal.
We hear this on almost every call. The short version:
Many members came from bigger groups they found too noisy, too sales-heavy, or too basic. Some keep both.
Exit Five Pro is our community for B2B marketers at every level. CMO Council is the vetted tier for the top marketing leader: a separate private Slack, matched peer groups, and Friday Calls just for CMOs and VPs, under NDA, with the competitor block. Council members are also part of the wider Exit Five community, and their teams can join Pro.
Your network is great until you need 10 opinions by Thursday from people who’ve all solved the same problem. Analyst firms give you the polished version. CMO Council gives you real budget numbers, real tool reviews, and honest takes from peers who’ll tell you what actually didn’t work.
Because of the NDA we don’t hand out member contact details, but we’ll share recorded member testimonials and example companies in your revenue band on your call. You can also hear from members directly on the CMO Council page, or come to a Friday Call on a guest pass.
Apply and we’ll set up a 30-minute call. Bring your questions, and we’ll tell you honestly whether the room is right for you.
Apply for Membership