PreSkale at San Francisco – SaaStr 2022

My experience at SaaStr can be summed up in three magical words – creative founders and teams.

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So on day zero. I got ready and collected my badges, did my COVID tests ahead of time to avoid last-minute hustle and bustle.

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When I entered, there were close to 400 cars parked and 100 booths installed with representatives on either side. From the sales and marketing teams, to the Solutions Engineers, dev teams, and even the C-level executives.

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… so Prashanth, what’s more than a CRM?

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People came over to me (my indian-macho mustache being the ice-breaker, lol) and asked some interesting random questions.

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“PreSkale has got the word ‘Scale’ in it, right? So, is it a data company?” There were a lot of questions to answer and interesting views to hear.

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When I told them that we are building something for Sales Engineers and Solution Architects, they were fascinated to hear our story.

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Because PreSales is kind of becoming the norm in the industry. A lot of people started hiring PreSales talent because they know that for a successful sale, it is best to have a technical expert involved during the sales process and at times they are challenged in answering certain product-related questions.

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They understand that the PreSales person fits into a critical position in the Sales pipeline. Without them, Sales would find it extremely difficult to communicate product nuances and deliver impactful solutions for their prospects.

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And when I told them that, “Hey, we can do that,” they were, like, really surprised with the fact that we can deliver something like that. Especially the fact that we are building PreSkale for the global GTM eco-system.

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One other common question was how PreSkale is not a CRM or how it is different from it. PreSkale is a standalone product that has tactical integrations and features that support every aspect of your technical sales cycle.

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As we like to call it, we’re an all-in-one PreSales intelligence platform.

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An idea is independent of your geo-location

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Then I met teams with out of the box working methods:

1) The team from Rattle. They were churning out around 40-demos a month.

2) Sprinto, who helped us get our SOC compliance, were competing with 2-giants from their category. They had a massive crowd gathering at their booths because of their rap performances and mascot showcases.

3) And Drata had a masseuse booth with a person massaging whoever walked in.

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I was inspired to see these small companies breaking the stereotypes and going a step-ahead to communicate their vision.

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So it doesn’t matter if you are from a small town or from a place without a lot of support, if you believe in your vision, you have an obligation towards yourself to share it with the world. And believe me, people are open to hear what you have to say.

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I heard a quote from someone that day, ‘It's not about the millions you make, it's about the million lives you help change for the better.’