Solutions Engineered for ICs, Leaders, and Organizations to Thrive
Break into presales with a 10-week online, cohort-based course. Students receive:
- Interactive online curriculum with hands-on projects
- Unmatched support with personal mentors, coaches and advisors
- Ongoing career services to secure a presales job
- Access to the largest presales professional network
Increase your impact, connect with leading practitioners, and accelerate your career. Membership is free and includes:
- 50+ online and in-person events
- The largest presales knowledge base on the internet
- Slack community with 15,000+ presales pros
- 1:1 Member Connections
- And so much more!
Hone your customer-facing skills in a 4-week online, cohort-based course covering:
- Master presales discovery, demoing, and objection handling
- Uncover nuances like storytelling, rapport building, and identifying core needs
- Create a complete toolkit to excel in presales customer engagements
- And more!
Increase your impact, connect with leading practitioners, and accelerate your career. Membership is free and includes:
- 50+ online and in-person events
- Slack community with 15,000+ presales pros
- The largest presales knowledge base on the internet
- 1:1 Member connections
- And so much more!
PSLC is the preeminent community for presales leaders (managers, directors, VPs). Membership includes everything in free membership, plus:
- Exclusive in-person events and dinners
- Private Slack channel with 350+ presales leaders
- Priority selection for speaking and writing opportunities
- Monthly leadership roundtables
Enable presales excellence at scale with best-in-class onboarding and leader training programs:
- For ICs, our programs help them hone skills in discovery, demoing, and objection handling within the unique context of presales
- For Leaders, our programs coach how to bring process to performance, maximize resources, and scale and sustain a team
Build an exceptional presales organization. Here's how we help:
- Advertise open roles on our job board
- Browse candidates in our talent network
- Join our Presales Academy career fair
Enable presales excellence at scale with PSC's best-in-class training programs for:
- For ICs, our programs help them hone skills in discovery, demoing, and objection handling within the unique context of presales
- For Leaders, our programs coach how to bring process to performance, maximize resources, and scale and sustain a team
Showcase your solutions to the largest community of presales professionals. Here's how we engage with sponsors:
- Speak at PSC events
- Sponsor dinners with presales executive leaders
- Co-write thought leadership pieces with us.
- Guest star on the PSC podcast
PSC members
PSC helps members increase their impact, connect with leading practitioners and accelerate their careers through professional development, tactical resources, and countless opportunities to engage with other members.
- Slack community of 15,000+ presales pros
- Live events & industry summits with visionary leaders
- Best-in-class articles, reports, and templates
- Job board with the best jobs in presales
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In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James sit down with Adam Bauman, Staff Solutions Engineer at Kong, to challenge the myth of the "traditional" path into presales. Adam shares his journey from nearly 20 years in software engineering and management into solutions engineering, exploring why technical backgrounds can be powerful entry points into presales.
The conversation also tackles practical advice for both sides of the hiring equation: how candidates without presales experience can demonstrate their value in interviews, and how hiring managers can look beyond traditional backgrounds to find great talent.
Follow Us
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Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/
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Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/
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Connect with Adam Bauman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjbauman/
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Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack
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Sol/Con 2026 (Chicago, August 2026): https://www.presalescollective.com/solcon-2026
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Presales Collective Unscripted: https://luma.com/pscunscripted
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What Defines a "Traditional" Path to Presales and Why Most Paths Are Non-Traditional
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Adam's 20-Year Engineering Career and What Drew Him to Presales
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The Learning Curve: Demos, Confidence, and Learning Not to Know Everything
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Scoping Engagements and Understanding Buying Journeys Beyond Technical Validation
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Staying Involved Through Security, Procurement, and Legal Reviews
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Understanding Business Value and ROI from an Engineering Mindset
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Using AI Tools Like Claude for Personal and Professional Efficiency
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How to Interview for Presales Without Traditional Experience
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Changes Needed in Recruiting: Using Rubrics and Formalized Evaluation
00:00 Start
03:36 Welcome Adam Bauman
06:58 Building confidence without all the answers
10:25 Drawing from an engineering background
13:55 Timeline for feeling confident in the role
22:07 Communicating value without presales experience
24:34 Changes needed in recruiting and hiring
27:23 Final Thoughts
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