Pre-Sales Pathways – Details, episodes & analysis

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Pre-Sales Pathways

Chris Clark

Business

Frequency: 1 episode/32d. Total Eps: 17

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: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-james-clark/

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Data updated on 07/09/2026

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-james-clark/
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewnikolic/
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniacono/
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Score global : 68%

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Chris Mabry, Head of Community at Iris

Season 1 · Episode 17

Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 46:42

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 role combines evangelism, partnerships, voice of the customer and more. It’s not one you’ll find advertised, Chris crafted it himself.

His advice to others looking to do the same? Focus on a problem to solve rather than a specific company or title.

In our conversation, we get into:

Why ICs can have more power to change things than managers do
Why buyers now arrive as prepared as you are (and what that means for demos)
Why relationships and in-person matter more than ever

If you like the sound of crafting a role based on a problem space that interests you, you'll want to hear how Chris has done it.

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Niromal Perera, Senior Manager, Slack Product Ecosystem at Salesforce

Season 1 · Episode 16

Monday, August 24, 2026 • Duration 31:01

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 Senior Manager, Slack Product Ecosystem at Salesforce, was the first SE I knew of to make the move from SE to Business Development (aka Partnerships), almost five years ago.

His move was inspired by a deal in 2018, when Atlassian pulled out of the real-time communications market, sold HipChat and Stride to Slack, and took a stake in the company.

Since then he's held several roles in Business Development. Most recently, he signed up over 20 partners for the launch of Slackbot's MCP client.

In our conversation, we get into:

What Business Development actually involves (product, sales, marketing and more)
Why the role is a natural fit for SEs
How product knowledge and specialisation can help you land this (and other) lateral moves

If you like blending commercial and technical work, but would rather do it with partners than customers, this one's for you.

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Karishma Kothari, Account Executive at Anthropic

Season 1 · Episode 15

Sunday, August 16, 2026 • Duration 41:53

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 such a varied career, spanning IC and leadership roles in Product, Solutions Engineering and Sales.

She’s also been an early team member at iconic companies like Box, Slack and, most recently, Anthropic.

In our conversation, we get into:

What changes when you move from SE to AE, including the 40% of the deal you never had to think about
How selling consumption (rather than seats) changes the nature of the AE and SE roles
Why chasing titles can lead to you missing out on the biggest career opportunities

If you’re weighing up a move from SE to AE or a traditional SaaS vendor to an AI-native/consumption-based business, this one’s for you.

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Molly Elfers & Hannah Hawken: Should I do a coding bootcamp?

Season 1 · Episode 14

Sunday, August 9, 2026 • Duration 45:48

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 particular want SEs who don't just explain the technology but are comfortable deploying and customising it as well.

If you came into pre-sales from a non-technical background, that shift raises an obvious question. Do you need to upskill technically? And if so, how do you go about it?

A coding bootcamp is one answer. But it's a serious commitment of time and money, and the terrain around it has shifted a lot, especially now that AI can write most of the code for you.

For this episode of Pre-Sales Pathways I brought together two people who've actually walked this path. Molly Elfers and Hannah Hawken both came from non-technical backgrounds, studied languages, went through coding bootcamps back in 2018, and now work as SEs selling into highly technical buyers. Their journeys have a lot in common, and a few telling differences.

We get into:

why the real value of a bootcamp is the foundations it gives you, not the code itself, and what that means for how you'd learn the same things today
how to work out whether you'd actually enjoy the technical work, rather than just whether you're capable of it
what AI changes about all of this, now that it can write much of the code and the real skill is understanding what it's doing

If you're weighing up whether to get more technical, this is a grounded look at what it takes, and the alternatives worth considering before you commit.

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Brian Mazzaferri, Global Head of Solutions Consulting at Rippling

Season 1 · Episode 13

Monday, August 3, 2026 • Duration 37:35

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. It's a different job, with almost the opposite rewards.

As an SE, you're the one delivering the demo and getting the credit. As a leader, your job is to put your team in the spotlight instead. You stop solving problems and start balancing tensions, most of which don't have a clean answer.

Plenty of people rush into it, myself included, without really knowing what they're signing up for.

My latest guest on Pre-Sales Pathways knows exactly what that shift involves. Brian Mazzaferri went from senior manager to VP of Solutions Consulting at Rippling in a little over two years, and he's honest about what changes at each step.

We get into:

why you should interview for a leadership role before you feel ready
how a leader's real job is managing the things that don't have a clean answer
why this career is a jungle gym, not a ladder, and moving back to IC is a great path too

If you're weighing up whether management is your next move, this is your chance to hear what it's really like before you commit.

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Max Lüpertz, Business Owner at Presales Rockstars

Season 1 · Episode 12

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 • Duration 35:36

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 who sit right at the intersection of product and sales, the two things every business actually runs on.

And the barriers keep falling. AI can help you build a first product, or get the kind of legal and finance advice that used to mean an expensive phone call.

In theory, it has never been easier to take the plunge. Yet in practice, very few people do.

My latest guest on Pre-Sales Pathways is one of those who did. Max left a successful sales career to build his own business coaching SEs on how to demo better.

We get into:

how he made the transition from pre-sales to sales to founder
why he spent years building a network before he had anything to sell
how AI is levelling the playing field without replacing the human factor pre-sales is built on

If you're excited by the idea of using your pre-sales skills to build a business, this is your chance to hear from someone who's done exactly that.

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Alex King, Lead Value Consultant at Webflow

Season 1 · Episode 11

Monday, July 6, 2026 • Duration 34:57

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 cover:

How Alex got into pre-sales: Alex was working in Digital Marketing for a pharmaceuticals company when a friend from college recommended he apply for a Solutions Consultant role at Oracle.
What Alex's role involves: Alex's role combines high-touch engagements like business cases and executive narratives with work to enable the broader sales team on value-based selling.
What’s driven Alex's career success so far: Alex attributes his success to leaning into his natural strengths, consistently investing in genuine relationships, and maintaining a bias toward forward progress over perfectionism

If you’re interested in not just in technology but the outcomes it's there to deliver, this episode is for you.

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Will Savage, Field CTO at Omni

Season 1 · Episode 10

Sunday, June 7, 2026 • Duration 34:34

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 the time.
What Will’s role involves: Will’s work is organised around three primary pillars: acting as the voice of the customer for the engineering team, maintaining a strong market point of view, and enabling the go-to-market team, all while remaining adaptable to company needs.
What’s driven Will’s career success so far: Building a catalog of lessons learnt, trying to get by without his own products and demonstrating leadership (even when not a manager) have all contributed to Will’s success.

If you’re interested in discussing your technology at the strategic level with technical executives, you won't want to miss Will’s story.

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Saskia van Daal, SE Strategy & Operations Lead at Snowflake

Season 1 · Episode 9

Monday, June 1, 2026 • Duration 34:05

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, where she spent time in both the Solutions and Product Marketing orgs.
What Saskia’s role involves: She supports SE leadership maintain the “rhythm of the business” through things like forecasting and QBRs whilst also supporting strategic projects and programs related to things like tooling or enablement.
What’s driven Saskia's career success so far: Consistently staying curious has driven her to explore different professional opportunities (both inside and outside the Solutions organisation) instead of staying comfortable.

If you’re interested in process improvement, strategic planning, or discovering how specialised roles can scale an entire Solutions organisation, you won't want to miss Saskia's story.

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Kevin Luptowski, Principal Solutions Engineer at Salesforce

Season 1 · Episode 8

Tuesday, May 26, 2026 • Duration 29:56

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 to work as a Solutions Engineer.
What Kevin’s role involves: As an overlay for the GTM organisation, Kevin provides support to strategic deals and projects, mentors account teams and develops content to scale his impact.
What’s driven Kevin’s career success so far: Having fun at work, genuinely enjoying the process of learning and saying “yes” to opportunities have all contributed to Kevin’s success.

For anyone that’s interested in becoming a product specialist/overlay, you'll want to check out this episode.

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Pre-Sales Pathways – Details, episodes & analysis

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Pre-Sales Pathways – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

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Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

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Apple Podcasts

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