In this episode of The Wandering Tech Podcast, Lidia and Paul dive deep into the ongoing debate about the Chief Solutions Officer (CSO) role and its place in modern organizations. Drawing from their experiences at companies like VMware and various SaaS organizations, they explore whether this emerging C-suite position is truly necessary or just a 'nice to have'.

Key discussion points:

• The challenges of measuring trust and other proposed CSO metrics
• How organizational structure influences pre-sales priorities and values
• The evolution from traditional pre-sales to broader solution roles
• Why infrastructure companies might approach technical sales differently
• The balance between revenue focus and technical expertise
• Compensation models and risk-taking in pre-sales roles

Featured links & references:

• James Kaikis' blog post on Test Box about CSO role: https://www.testbox.com/post/chief-solutions-officer
• Customer Success book mentioned in the episode: Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue
• Connect with the hosts:
  • Lidia on LinkedIn
  • Paul on LinkedIn
• Website: solutionspathfinders.com

Think the Chief Solutions Officer role is the future or are we barking up the wrong tree? Connect with us on LinkedIn and share your thoughts!

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/milky-way

License code: GD2AS1RU1MVSELY3

In this episode of the Wandering Tech Podcast, Lidia and Paul chat about DEMOFESTxLondon 2024 with Lidia going through the event in rapid-fire action.

She shares highlights from the event, including the keynote by Consensus' new CEO, insights on demo automation, and strategies for scaling pre-sales impact.

They discuss the evolving role of pre-sales, the growing importance of asynchronous buyer journeys, and key takeaways from presenters like Nikhil, Natasja, and Max. Lidia also covers the Women in Tech session and Rew's energetic closing talk.

Please connect with us and leave us a review on your platform of choice.

Want to hear more from us? Subscribe to our Newsletter:

https://thediscoverydigest.substack.com

Links:

Want to connect with us? Find us on LinkedIn:

Lidia & Paul

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/milky-way

License code: GD2AS1RU1MVSELY3

In this special 20th episode of The Wandering Tech Podcast, Lidia and Paul chat about DEMOFESTxLondon 2023, followed by the usual AI Therapy conversation and accompanied by a very quiet Danish cat.

The duo dives into their memories from last year’s DEMOFEST in London. From Garen Hess’s keynote on guided tours to Lidia’s jam-packed session, they highlight the energy and insights that made the event unforgettable. Adam Freeman’s talk on extreme ownership also gets a shout-out, along with the evolution of AI in pre-sales from last year’s whispers to this year’s hot topic.

Please connect with us and leave us a review on your platform of choice.

Want to hear more from us? Subscribe to our Newsletter:

https://thediscoverydigest.substack.com

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:38 - Recap from DEMOFESTxLondon 2023

00:39:40 - AI Therapy

Links:

Folks mentioned on the podcast:

Garin Hess

Adam Freeman

Rob Dean

Elisa Seghetti

Link to the infamous first time Lidia and Paul met

Want to connect with us? Find us on LinkedIn:

Lidia & Paul

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/milky-way

License code: GD2AS1RU1MVSELY3

The episode kicks off with one of life’s most important questions: How much cough syrup can one drink before you cannot legally drive a car anymore?

Lidia and Paul dive into a usually serious topic around tech giants' and CEOs' stances on responsibility and the power we may or may not have to content moderation. Plus Lidia finally has the chance to crack open the can of Tech Obfuscation.

Then they discuss the very timely topic of Consensus acquiring ReachSuite and what their opinions are on where POC fits in the Solution Consulting track. (Spoiler: it’s a waste of time.)

They wrap up with a conversation around Google Gemini's new feature that generates AI-hosted podcasts from notes and yet again dream of the day J.A.R.V.I.S. will be a real thing.

Please connect with us and leave us a review on your platform of choice.

Want to hear more from us? Subscribe to our Newsletter:

https://thediscoverydigest.substack.com

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:04:05 - Tech companies take 0 responsibilities

00:19:14 - Consensus and ReachSuite and POCs

00:29:24 - AI Therapy: No more need for podcast hosts

Links:

Casey Newton’s Platformer newsletter

Video to convince you to never post a picture of a child ever again

Google Gemini and Notebook LM

Want to connect with us? Find us on LinkedIn:

Lidia & Paul

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/milky-way

License code: GD2AS1RU1MVSELY3

In this new, refreshed and totally revamped (ok.. it’s still a work in progress) edition of The Wandering Tech Podcast… Lidia and Paul dive into a couple of different topics.

Is the era of public cloud infrastructure over? It depends. If you ask the CEO of Broadcom you’ll get one answer, but Paul and Lidia discuss why it may not be quite so simple.

And why when two big companies fight - we all lose…

Then the question of whether or not there is yet ANOTHER hat that Presales and Solution teams should wear. The nature of the relationship between product and sales, and how to impact it practically yourself.

Finally, in AI therapy, did you really write a book if ChatGPT helped? That’s the dilemma for the largest global writing challenge as Paul brings an example of how bad PR can go really, really bad.

Links from the show:

VMware article: https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/29/hock_tan_vmware_private_cloud/

Vivun article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-presales-must-own-sales-product-relationship-vivun-imsme/?trackingId=AI/Dh8iwT/OR9xPjur5nQQ==

NaNoWriMo article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/09/04/nanowrimo-ai-writing-controversy-explainer/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode… recorded IN PERSON in Paul’s studio* (*dining room with a mic balanced on some books) Lidia and Paul discuss the differences of being in person to remote when it comes to getting stuff done… and what we’d do if sleep wasn’t necessary.

Paul shares how his desire to be more intentional with technology led him to adopt something he had previously shirked, they wonder if they’ve quit social media or are just getting old and revisit the topic of a shrinking internet.

There is also a DEEP dive in this episode of the topic of YouTube content, it’s increased diversification and whether there is an answer to the proliferation of AI-generated content.

We have some BIG (all caps) plans for The Wandering Tech and would love it if you could share with just one person who you think would like it.

Want to connect with us? Find us on LinkedIn:

Lidia & Paul

Want to hear more from us? Subscribe to our Newsletters:

Paul - TechSalesUnplugged

Lidia - PacketMage

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/milky-way

License code: GD2AS1RU1MVSELY3

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re back! After an unscheduled break… which will from now on be scheduled. Paul & Lidia catch-up on how they’re feeling after taking a break from recording, why it’s a wholly good thing and what we’ve been up to in the meantime.

We then dive into recording and meeting prep - what is (and what’s not so good) a playlist to listen to before starting a demo and the pros and cons of speaker notes. As well as the when, why and how.

There’s some good stories in here about how to (and how not) to dress when going on site, the expectations that what you wear sets about how you are perceived by customers and why Lidia is now an Audi driver.

And finally, in an AI therapy bumper edition - Meeting digital twins! AI Computer mice! Recurring revenue!

Want to connect with us? Find us on LinkedIn:

Lidia & Paul

Want to hear more from us? Subscribe to our Newsletters:

Paul - TechSalesUnplugged

Lidia - PacketMage

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/milky-way

License code: GD2AS1RU1MVSELY3

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can you "break into" tech? Paul doesn't think so, and Lidia agrees. The good news is that there is more to say than just, well that. Which is good when it's the chosen topic for a podcast episode. As well as discussing our journeys into careers in tech, what the right adjective should be to describe how we found our way into technology, sales and the moments of doubt when we realised that maybe we had made a mistake.

Before all of that, there's a reminiscence about playing "vintage" games, whether or not watching other people play games is a new thing (Spoiler: It's not) and our two very different approaches to how we coped with the early days of lockdown through gaming.

In AI therapy... Paul opens up about how he is now using AI... what he will use it for and what he definitely won't be.

Please if you're enjoying the show... like, subscribe and rate so others get to find it.

Time Stamps:

00:00 - All things gaming

20:21 - How we "broke into" tech

55:05 - AI Therapy

Links:

• All we had to was follow the damn train CJ
• Paul on We the Sales Engineers

Want to connect with us? Find us on LinkedIn:

Lidia & Paul

Want to hear more from us? Subscribe to our Newsletters:

Paul - TechSalesUnplugged

Lidia - PacketMage

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mountaineer/milky-way

License code: GD2AS1RU1MVSELY3

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.