#378 | Dave sits down with Ethan Clouser, Head of Marketing at Bland AI, to talk about running marketing at a 22-year-old-founded, enterprise voice AI company that just raised $100 million - at 22 years old himself. Ethan breaks down Bland's early viral bets like the "Still Hiring Humans?" billboard, why they bought Soulja Boy's voice rights for an AI phone campaign, and how a giant red telephone car became one of their best marketing investments. Not to mention, Bland AI's marketing team built its entire website with Claude Code - coded by a guy who'd never written a line of code before. They also get into Bland's daily stand-up and KPI system, why "Voice AI for regulated industries" works as a homepage headline, and how to stand out when 200 competitors are all saying the same thing.
Timestamps
- (00:00) - - Intro to Ethan Clouser, Head of Marketing at Bland AI
- (02:26) - - The failed no-code startup that accidentally turned Ethan into a marketer
- (06:14) - - Cold LinkedIn outreach and how Ethan landed the head of marketing job
- (09:09) - - The "Still Hiring Humans?" billboard bet that built Bland's early brand
- (13:46) - - Filling the marketing gaps Bland was missing: SEO, AEO, and reputation
- (17:56) - - Why "Voice AI for regulated industries" works as a homepage headline
- (20:34) - - Vibe-coding Bland's entire website with Claude Code
- (23:42) - - Bland's daily marketing stand-up and how KPIs decide which bets get made
- (31:29) - - Buying Soulja Boy's voice rights for an AI phone campaign
- (40:05) - - Standing out in a market crowded with 200 voice AI competitors
- (43:34) - - Why marketing, sales, and product alignment matters more than sales-marketing alignment
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/
***
Brought to you by:
Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive.
Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
Vector- A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn how to build an ABM program that scales at vector.co/exitfive.
Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.
Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.
***
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
