Pre-Sales Pathways

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 level. These individuals think day-in-day-out about how to communicate and quantify the value of solutions, particularly to executives. In this episode, Alex King joins Chris Clark to discuss his role as Lead Value Consultant at Webflow. We...

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, Will Savage joins Chris Clark to discuss his role as Field CTO at Omni. We cover: How Will got into pre-sales: Will was working in management consulting at Deloitte before taking on a pre-sales role at Looker, which was a Series A start-up at...

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, Saskia van Daal joins Chris Clark to discuss her role as Solutions Engineering (SE) Strategy & Operations Lead at Snowflake. We cover: How Saskia got into pre-sales: After a brief stint as a management consultant, Saskia joined Tableau, w...

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, Kevin Luptowski joins Chris Clark to discuss his role as Principal Solutions Engineer at Slack/Salesforce. We cover: How Kevin got into pre-sales: After 4 years as a consultant for an implementation partner, Kevin made the move to Salesforce...

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, Hannah Hawken joins Chris Clark to discuss her role as Senior Partner SE (and founding Partner SE) at Chainguard. We cover: How Hannah got into pre-sales: After studying languages at university, Hannah enrolled on a coding bootcamp, which led...

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 role as an Account Director at OpenAI. We cover: How Julien got into pre-sales and then sales: A desire to oversee the customer journey from beginning to end and a close relationship with a sales leader both played their part. What Julien's r...

Delivering keynote presentations. Facilitating executive engagements. Publishing thought leadership content. Could this be your dream role? In this episode, Derek Laney joins Chris Clark to discuss his role as Technology Evangelist at Salesforce. We cover: How Derek got into pre-sales: After a brief stint as an actor, Derek pivoted into tech, initially in implementation before getting involved in...

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, Lotta Mikkonen, Principal SE at Atlassian, joins Chris Clark to discuss what the Principal SE role involves. We cover: How Lotta got into pre-sales: After studying software engineering, Lotta realised she enjoyed the people-oriented aspects of...

How can a Solutions Engineer (SE) provide global leadership and scale their impact without directly managing people? In this episode, Andrew Nikolic, Distinguished SE at Slack, joins Chris Clark to discuss the unique responsibilities of a high-level individual contributor (IC) role. We cover: How Andrew Nikolic got into pre-sales : He was in an IT generalist role when a sales rep invited him to a...

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 & Technical Enablement Manager at Augment Code, joins Chris Clark to discuss his role in evolving technical enablement at companies like Snowflake, Glean and Augment Code. We cover: How Dan got into pre-sales: After realising the lucrative natu...

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, Shivam Trivedi, Head of SE at Factory and former Founding SE at Glean, joins Chris Clark to discuss the unique challenges and rewards of being a founding SE. We cover: How Shiv got into pre-sales: After starting his career in corporate secu...