Jan

Es ist so lustig, wie so ein kleiner Detail so eine große Unterschiede machen kann. Aber ich freue mich wirklich auf die Analogie. Und um die Analogie zu fortsetzen, wer ist James Bond in diesem Szenario?

Du bist der Protagonist, du bist der Superstar und wir helfen dir.

Du bist der Protagonist, du bist der Superstar und wir helfen dir.

But that already triggers my first question. So obviously, solution engineers, sales engineers were at the center of the services that you provided. And we can go a bit deeper in what that entailed in detail. But were account executives, customer success, they were not part of the picture, not part of your internal customer group, so to say?

But that already triggers my first question. So obviously, solution engineers, sales engineers were at the center of the services that you provided. And we can go a bit deeper in what that entailed in detail. But were account executives, customer success, they were not part of the picture, not part of your internal customer group, so to say?

Jetzt würde ich gerne an der Reise beginnen. Vielleicht können wir auch das Salesforce-Exempel nehmen, weil das das ist, wo ich für es bin. Hat Q-Branche existiert, oder was auch immer es damals genannt wurde, als die Firma 2500 Mitarbeiter groß war, oder war das etwas, was während deiner Studie entstanden war?

Jetzt würde ich gerne an der Reise beginnen. Vielleicht können wir auch das Salesforce-Exempel nehmen, weil das das ist, wo ich für es bin. Hat Q-Branche existiert, oder was auch immer es damals genannt wurde, als die Firma 2500 Mitarbeiter groß war, oder war das etwas, was während deiner Studie entstanden war?

Was würde ich verstehen wollen, was die Ausstattung des Departements betrifft? So you say, okay, even at 2,500 employees, there was already the first instance of that function available. Looking back at my own history of SaaS employers, we didn't always have that. There were a couple of examples where we did have it and we can maybe talk about those as well.

Was würde ich verstehen wollen, was die Ausstattung des Departements betrifft? So you say, okay, even at 2,500 employees, there was already the first instance of that function available. Looking back at my own history of SaaS employers, we didn't always have that. There were a couple of examples where we did have it and we can maybe talk about those as well.

I would like to understand what are the symptoms, so to say, to look out for that tells me, hey, maybe now is the time zu einer solchen Solution-Engineer-Support-Team. Und ich möchte es in den Kontext stellen. Wir sprechen hauptsächlich mit deutschen Firmen. Wir haben auch hauptsächlich deutsche Zuhörer in dieser Konversation.

I would like to understand what are the symptoms, so to say, to look out for that tells me, hey, maybe now is the time zu einer solchen Solution-Engineer-Support-Team. Und ich möchte es in den Kontext stellen. Wir sprechen hauptsächlich mit deutschen Firmen. Wir haben auch hauptsächlich deutsche Zuhörer in dieser Konversation.

Wenn du zu irgendwelchen Events gehst, wie Events, wo SaaS-Mitglieder zusammenkommen, wo Go-To-Market zusammenkommt, Germany or maybe even like venture capital funding and startups and scale-ups and so on. And you go around and you ask anyone, hey, what's pre-sales? They quite often think we are talking about cold acquisition. We're talking about cold calling. We're talking about cold emailing.

Wenn du zu irgendwelchen Events gehst, wie Events, wo SaaS-Mitglieder zusammenkommen, wo Go-To-Market zusammenkommt, Germany or maybe even like venture capital funding and startups and scale-ups and so on. And you go around and you ask anyone, hey, what's pre-sales? They quite often think we are talking about cold acquisition. We're talking about cold calling. We're talking about cold emailing.

So the front line of the funnel, so to say. So what I'm trying to get at in our country, in this ecosystem in Germany, the sales engineering and pre-sales function itself is not even that, let's say, popular yet. I think some companies have

So the front line of the funnel, so to say. So what I'm trying to get at in our country, in this ecosystem in Germany, the sales engineering and pre-sales function itself is not even that, let's say, popular yet. I think some companies have

realized they needed, to give one concrete example, and there's a startup or not startup anymore, they are unicorn by now, but they were funded here in Munich, founded and funded in Munich, Personio, right? But for the longest time they didn't have the function. Now they are big enough and they realized, okay, we need it. Now they have a team of 10 servicing Europe. But this is...

realized they needed, to give one concrete example, and there's a startup or not startup anymore, they are unicorn by now, but they were funded here in Munich, founded and funded in Munich, Personio, right? But for the longest time they didn't have the function. Now they are big enough and they realized, okay, we need it. Now they have a team of 10 servicing Europe. But this is...

Quite contrary to most SaaS companies that come from the US, where it's basically a given, we need pre-sales. Now you tell me, okay, there's even an idea to be even one step further. Not only do we need pre-sales, but we need a pre-sales support function. I would like to distill it out. What are the indicators that tell me we need a pre-sales support function, even on top of our pre-sales team?

Quite contrary to most SaaS companies that come from the US, where it's basically a given, we need pre-sales. Now you tell me, okay, there's even an idea to be even one step further. Not only do we need pre-sales, but we need a pre-sales support function. I would like to distill it out. What are the indicators that tell me we need a pre-sales support function, even on top of our pre-sales team?

I fully understand what you mean. I'm still trying to puzzle together, to be honest. Because now I'm thinking, you rightfully say, what do we have in SaaS business? We have an AESE ratio, maybe 1 to 3, 1 to 4, 1 to 5. I've seen cases of 1 to 10, like in the S&P market or so. Yep. So that those are the typical ranges we see.