The archive
All episodes
25 episodes — one topic, one honest conversation, one practical move. New episode every week.
- EP 25Jun 15, 2026· 7 min
I Switched Sides
A former presales leader took a Head of Sales role and discovered the parts of the funnel he never saw before — and the cross-functional changes only an SE-turned-AE-leader can push for.
Show notes & listen - EP 24Jun 12, 2026· 6 min
Score the Call, Not Just the Quarter
An SE leader uses AI to score every customer call on two categories — compelling event and technical win — and aggregates the scores per deal and per SE. The result is leading-indicator data SEs can actually act on.
Show notes & listen - EP 23Jun 10, 2026· 6 min
Two Pillars, One Team
An SE leader running thirty SEs split his enablement into two completely separate tracks — internal product team plus external sales partner — and refused to let one absorb the other.
Show notes & listen - EP 22Jun 8, 2026· 6 min
Thirteen Direct Reports and a Prayer
An SE leader scaled from three to thirteen direct reports in eighteen months before getting team leads approved. By then he wasn't coaching anyone — he was doing triage.
Show notes & listen - EP 21Jun 5, 2026· 6 min
Hire for Domain, Train for Sales
An SE leader scaling from five to twenty SEs stopped hiring from the presales talent pool. His last six hires were former controllers and accountants — and they ramped faster than his traditional SE hires.
Show notes & listen - EP 20Jun 3, 2026· 6 min
Liability Is the Moat
When demos commoditize and AI-first competitors look better on paper, what wins deals? Nate makes the case that accountability is now the durable moat — and explains how SE leaders need to retrain teams to sell it.
Show notes & listen - EP 19Jun 1, 2026· 6 min
Show Me Your Release Cycles, Not Your Roadmap
Ava walks through how she now evaluates every vendor — and why the way she buys software today is exactly how her customers will buy from her tomorrow.
Show notes & listen - EP 18May 29, 2026· 6 min
The GUI Is Dead. Long Live the API.
SaaS vendors are still hiding their API behind the Enterprise tier — and your customers are about to start asking for it. Nate breaks down what API maturity now means for SE leaders, both as buyers of software and as builders of their own p
Show notes & listen - EP 17May 27, 2026· 6 min
Nobody Showed Up — Because You Didn't
Ava sent twelve SEs to a leadership course; six finished. The vendor wasn't the problem — she was. Nate and Ava unpack why training dies without manager reinforcement, and the one move that flips completion from 30% to 80%.
Show notes & listen - EP 16May 22, 2026· 7 min
Fifty Times Faster, Fifty Times Wrong
Nate shares an experiment: two SE teams, same AI demo tool, wildly different results. The difference? A fifteen-minute discovery gate that most teams skip.
Show notes & listen - EP 15May 20, 2026· 6 min
The SE Who Rewired the Team
Ava's team runs on agent orchestration that one of her SEs built on weekends. Nate pushes on the hard leadership questions this raises.
Show notes & listen - EP 14May 18, 2026· 6 min
Prep the People, Not Just the Demo
Your SE ran a dry run, sent a strategy reminder, and built a tight agenda. Five minutes into the demo, an AE went off-script and the whole flow collapsed. Nate and Ava break down why prepping the content isn't enough — and what SE leaders s
Show notes & listen - EP 13May 15, 2026· 6 min
Are We Even Doing the Huddle?
Before you can optimize the pre-demo huddle between your AE and SE, you need to make sure it actually happens. Nate and Ava discuss habit-first, quality-second.
Show notes & listen - EP 12May 13, 2026· 6 min
Your Best SE Has Never Been Coached
What happens when your most experienced SE has been running demos for seven years with zero coaching? Nate and Ava discuss how to start that conversation without breaking trust.
Show notes & listen - EP 11May 11, 2026· 6 min
They Keep Bringing More People
When prospects keep scheduling more demos and bringing new faces, it looks like momentum. But what if the first demo just did not land?
Show notes & listen - EP 10May 8, 2026· 6 min
The Friday After
Ava called all twelve of her SEs eight days after a two-day offsite. She asked one question. Only three could answer. This episode is about the Friday after — where enablement actually happens, and what SE leaders should put on the calendar
Show notes & listen - EP 9May 6, 2026· 5 min
Your Champion Isn't Enough Anymore
In a deal review, Nate asked one of his SE Directors a single question: who's going to be in the room when this gets signed off? She couldn't answer. Four months into the deal, strong champion, and she couldn't name a single other stakehold
Show notes & listen - EP 8May 4, 2026· 5 min
What Am I Actually For?
A six-week-old new hire asked Ava a question she couldn't answer in the moment: if AI does the research, drafts the RFP, handles the standard demo, and now negotiates quotes — what am I actually for? Ava's first answer was good. Nate tells
Show notes & listen - EP 7May 1, 2026· 5 min
You Were Never Actually In That Deal
One of Nate's SE Directors just lost a deal she was convinced she was winning. Three-vendor shortlist, great demo, champion fired up. Week two — gone. Nate explains why the deal was probably lost before it ever showed up in her pipeline, an
Show notes & listen - EP 6Apr 29, 2026· 5 min
I Cancelled Every Technical Deep-Dive
Ava pulled her team out of every standard post-demo technical deep-dive. Her team thought she was insane. Win rates went up. In this episode, she tells Nate what triggered it — and Nate pushes back on the 'cancel them all' framing with a sh
Show notes & listen - EP 5Apr 27, 2026· 7 min
One Skill Per Quarter — That's It
Nate shares the hard lesson that changed how he develops SEs: pick one skill per quarter, go deep, and watch mastery compound.
Show notes & listen - EP 4Apr 24, 2026· 6 min
The One Question That Reveals Everything
Ava reveals the single question that exposes whether a deal is real or just activity — and how going deep on one deal beats going shallow on eight.
Show notes & listen - EP 3Apr 24, 2026· 6 min
How Are You — Really?
Nate and Ava explore why the standard "how are you" check-in fails SE leaders — and what to ask instead to surface real signals before you lose your best people.
Show notes & listen - EP 2Apr 24, 2026· 6 min
Your 1:1s Are Broken — Here's the Fix
Most SE leaders run their one-on-ones the same way: open the pipeline, go deal by deal, close the laptop. Ava shares a structure that changed everything for her team.
Show notes & listen - EP 1Apr 6, 2026· 4 min
Welcome to Leading PreSales
Before Nate and Ava take over, Tim Brömme introduces Leading PreSales. What the show is about, who the characters are, why the voices are AI-generated, and why the experiences behind them are very real.
Show notes & listen