In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Wendy McHenry, Chair of WISE (Women in Solutions Excellence) at Presales Collective and Former Head of Global Solutions Engineering at CDATA, to discuss the critical need for supporting women in presales careers. They explore the challenges women face in a field where only 18% of solutions professionals are women, discuss unconscious bias in hiring and workplace environments, and highlight how WISE is creating support networks and career development opportunities to advance equity in the solutions field.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates.

This episode is sponsored by Elvance. More information at https://elvance.io/

On the Show Today

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Wendy McHenry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendymac98/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• WISE Chapter Information: https://www.presalescollective.com/wise

• Presales Collective LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/presalescollective

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:51 Why WISE?

09:12 Being a woman in sales today

12:57 You’re not technical enough

16:16 Women leaving the profession

20:33 How is WISE helping?

27:55 What’s happening next?

Key Topics Covered

1. The Current State of Women in Presales

   • Only 18% of solutions professionals globally are women

   • Many women are the only woman on their SE team

   • Higher attrition rates during layoffs disproportionately impact women

2. Unconscious Bias and Workplace Challenges

   • "Not technical enough" bias applied differently to women

   • Interview panels dominated by men

   • Social environments that may exclude women

   • The importance of calling out bias when witnessed

3. WISE Mission and Structure

   • Started as an ERG at Salesforce, now part of Presales Collective

   • Open to anyone who cares about supporting women in solutions careers

   • Regional chapters like Women in Solutions Consulting Australia/New Zealand

   • Company-specific chapters at organizations like Salesforce and Pegasystems

4. Creating Change and Allyship

   • How to be an effective ally in supporting women's careers

   • Starting WISE chapters at your company (or expanding to broader sales/tech groups)

   • The importance of diverse account teams and client representation

   • Free career coaching and mentorship available through WISE council

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Akash Ganapathi, CEO of Opine, to discuss how AI strategies differ between startups and enterprises in the presales space. They explore the myth of AI replacing SEs, the importance of specialization vs. generalization, and how AI can help presales teams manage more revenue per team member while focusing on strategic, relationship-building activities.

Follow Us

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Akash Ganapathi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-ganapathi/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Opine: https://tryopine.com/

• Contact Akash directly: akash@tryopine.com

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:35 Why AI strategy differs for startups vs enterprises

09:27 Debunking the myth of AI replacing SEs

18:35 The human element in buying and selling

24:35 How enterprises can leverage existing knowledge bases

28:12 The paradox of considering AI for every task

32:14 Future predictions for 2026-2027

Key Topics Covered

1. Startup vs Enterprise AI Strategy

   • Startups benefit from generalist approaches and bottom-up experimentation

   • Enterprises need specialized, top-down AI strategies to avoid redundancy

   • The role of specialization vs wearing multiple hats

2. The AI Replacement Myth

   • Why the "AI SE" that replaces human SEs doesn't work

   • SEs do much more than just answer technical questions

   • The importance of relationship building and strategic thinking

3. Current AI Limitations

   • Context window constraints (around 1 million tokens currently)

   • Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) accuracy at ~75%

   • Why breakthrough improvements are needed for true automation

4. The Future of Presales with AI

   • More revenue managed per team member

   • Shift toward hiring less experienced SEs with AI enablement

   • Focus on strategic consulting rather than administrative tasks

5. Practical AI Implementation

   • Draft-and-approve workflows for deliverables

   • Automating account research, meeting prep, and RFP responses

   • Using AI for onboarding and knowledge enablement

6. Mid-Market Recommendations

   • Lean toward enterprise-style, forward-looking strategies

   • Enable not just current team but future hires

   • Focus on cross-organizational enablement (AEs, product, marketing)

In this episode, Jack Cochran and Matthew James are joined by Ben Hills, Founder and CEO of Iris, to discuss how to scale presales teams effectively while avoiding burnout. They explore the difference between healthy high performance and unsustainable overwork, the role of AI in streamlining repetitive tasks like RFPs, and practical strategies for building scalable processes that enhance rather than replace human expertise.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

• Connect with Jack Cochran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcochran/

• Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/

• Connect with Ben Hills: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminhills/

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack

• Iris: https://heyiris.ai/

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

04:04 Iris

05:14 Ben's background

14:29 Healthy high performance vs burnout

21:55 Common scaling mistakes and the headcount trap

29:14 Effective AI tools for presales teams

35:04 The future of AI-to-AI RFP processes

37:46 Final advice on embracing AI

Key Topics Covered

1. Understanding Burnout vs. High Performance

   • Why burnout isn't just about hours worked

   • The importance of connecting work to larger purpose and outcomes

   • Creating time-bound periods of intense work with clear endpoints

2. Scaling Without Adding Headcount

   • The "mythical man month" problem in presales

   • Building playbooks and processes before hiring

   • Separating "in the business" vs "on the business" work

3. The Rocks, Pebbles, Sand Framework

   • Planning for big quarterly tasks (rocks)

   • Managing predictable weekly activities (pebbles)

   • Handling unexpected fire drills (sand)

4. AI Tools That Actually Work

   • RFP automation and response generation

   • Call transcript analysis for product feedback

   • Demo automation with synthetic data

   • Why AI SDRs haven't lived up to the hype

5. The Future of RFPs and AI

   • Model Control Protocol (MCP) for AI-to-AI communication

   • Maintaining personalization in automated processes

   • The buyer's perspective on RFP proliferation