Shows / Pre-Sales Pathways
Pre-Sales Pathways
Pre-Sales Pathways is a podcast that showcases highly successful pre-sales professionals and the career paths they've taken. Find out how they got into pre-sales, what their roles involve and what's driven their career success so far. Pre-Sales Pathways is hosted by Chris Clark. Having had a successful career as a Solutions Engineer at companies like Slack, Salesforce and Glean, Chris now helps other pre-sales professionals do the same through coaching and mentoring. You can follow Chris here…
Episodes
- Pre-Sales Pathways
OpenAI's Oliver Hedborg: Take on post-sales without doing it all
Many SEs prefer pre-sales to post-sales. But with AI and usage-based pricing, revenue needs adoption, so more SEs are asked to do both. Is this the end of the…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Decide if FDE is right for you | Rosemary Momoh, Lorikeet
FDE is the hottest job in tech, and lots of SEs are thinking about a move. But the role varies a lot between companies, and there are other roles SEs might be…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Build your brand before you need it | Ryan Krueger and Sameer Sahay-Kausar
Most SEs will happily spend hours building a demo. Ask them to build a personal brand, and they cringe. But in today’s crowded job market, it can be one of the…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Zig-zag your way across GTM roles | Chapman Swaine, Ashby
Lots of SEs are considering a move into sales. Chapman Swaine did the reverse, twice. At Slack, he went from enterprise sales to building out the value…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Land your next SE role at a start-up | Arvi Carkanji, Elite Talent Recruiting
Do you like the sound of new tech, a bigger scope and more equity upside? If so, you’ll want to hear how to land an SE role at a start-up. Arvi Carkanji, CEO…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
OpenAI's Hee Jin Cho: Turn your side project into a full-time role
What if you could turn a side project you love into your full-time role? Hee Jin’s done it not once, but twice, most recently as an SE at OpenAI. It all…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Eric Glick, Regional Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Sierra
The move from pre-sales to sales doesn’t have to be a one-way door, and Eric’s career path is a great example of that. He got his start in go-to-market as a…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Richard Barrett, Senior Copilot Solutions Engineer at Microsoft
Deciding how much to specialise, and when, is one of the biggest choices in an SE's career. I think Richard Barrett’s approach is spot on. Richard has spent…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Gavin Guinane, Head of Solutions Engineering (EMEA) at Glean
After almost 12 years at Salesforce, Gavin Guinane felt disconnected from the tech, so he left leadership to become an IC again at Glean. Since then, he’s…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Chris Mabry, Head of Community at Iris
Few people know pre-sales better than Chris. He’s been an IC, a leader, the GM of PreSales Collective and is now Head of Community at Iris. Chris's current…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Niromal Perera, Senior Manager, Slack Product Ecosystem at Salesforce
In a world of agents and MCP servers, interoperability matters more than ever. Business Development teams are a critical part of that. Niromal Perera, now…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Karishma Kothari, Account Executive at Anthropic
Fear of failure is what stops SEs becoming AEs. Karishma overcame it 7 years ago and is now an AE at the hottest company around: Anthropic. Karishma has had…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Molly Elfers & Hannah Hawken: Should I do a coding bootcamp?
SEs have always come from all sorts of backgrounds, with a wide range in how technical they are. But something has shifted lately. AI-native companies in…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Brian Mazzaferri, Global Head of Solutions Consulting at Rippling
For a lot of SEs, management looks like the obvious next step. After all, it's what progression is meant to look like. But it isn't a rung on the same ladder…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Max Lüpertz, Business Owner at Presales Rockstars
If you're an SE who's dreamed of running your own business, AI's made it easier than ever, and your role's already given you a head start. SEs are generalists…
- Pre-Sales Pathways
Alex King, Lead Value Consultant at Webflow
One of the earliest pieces of advice you'll get as a Solutions Engineer is to focus on value, not on features. The Value Consulting role takes that to another…
Pre-Sales PathwaysWill Savage, Field CTO at Omni
Field CTO is generally considered the top role for pre-sales ICs. But what it involves and how to get to it remain something of a mystery. In this episode…
Pre-Sales PathwaysSaskia van Daal, SE Strategy & Operations Lead at Snowflake
Many SEs feel strongly about strategy but don’t want to become people managers. But what if you could shape strategy whilst remaining an IC? In this episode…
Pre-Sales PathwaysKevin Luptowski, Principal Solutions Engineer at Salesforce
Being an overlay is fun but you need credibility. Kevin’s “Show Me How” Slack channel (with 1000+ members) demonstrates how to establish it. In this episode…
Pre-Sales PathwaysHannah Hawken, Senior Partner SE at Chainguard
Partner SEs don’t just support deals; they onboard, enable and activate partners at scale so that they can act as an extension of the team. In this episode…
Pre-Sales PathwaysJulien Simiand, Account Director at OpenAI
Many Solutions Engineers (SEs) consider a move into sales but relatively few follow through. In this episode, Julien Simiand joins Chris Clark to discuss his…
Pre-Sales PathwaysDerek Laney, Technology Evangelist at Salesforce
Delivering keynote presentations. Facilitating executive engagements. Publishing thought leadership content. Could this be your dream role? In this episode…
Pre-Sales PathwaysLotta Mikkonen, Principal Solutions Engineer (SE) at Atlassian
What does it take to be a Principal Solutions Engineer (SE) at not one, but three iconic software companies: HubSpot, Slack, and Atlassian? In this episode…
Pre-Sales PathwaysAndrew Nikolic, Distinguished Solutions Engineer (SE) at Slack
How can a Solutions Engineer (SE) provide global leadership and scale their impact without directly managing people? In this episode, Andrew Nikolic…
Pre-Sales PathwaysDan Iacono, Technical Enablement Manager and GTM Engineer at Augment Code
Can technical enablement go beyond just training to become a strategic engine for go-to-market (GTM) success? In this episode, Dan Iacono, GTM Engineer &…
Pre-Sales PathwaysShiv Trivedi, Founding Solutions Engineer (SE) at Glean
What does it truly take to be the first Solutions Engineer (SE) at a high-growth startup, balancing customer demands with product development? In this episode…