The Best Conference Demo

November 27, 2019 Sales Engineers 1 Comment
There are three ways that firms create and/or maintain the environment(s) used to provide demos at tech conferences.  Each has their tradeoffs, and you must weigh them to find which is right for your company. Each for His/Her Own The most common I’ve seen since 2010 is that each SE…

The Foundational Learnings from a Serial Cable

October 31, 2019 Attitude Startups No Comments
Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. Will Durant   I find it interesting that people will put more energy into questioning the reason for foundational learning then they put into immersing themselves in the lesson itself.  That lack of prioritizing energies lessen the odds that the knowledge…

Liars and Statistics . . . or Perhaps Accounting?

August 19, 2019 Startups No Comments
Early on I learned the quote that “Statistics never lie, but liars use statistics!”  Over the years I’ve gotten to see some SLAs that sure sounded good but would be impossible to ever breach.  There also are plenty of companies that use statistics to make performance sound so much  better…

But What Kind of Demo Can YOU Give?

June 28, 2019 Sales Engineers No Comments
Sales Engineers need to give demos for almost all products or solutions that are technical to any level.  The problem is that there is no standard to define what constitutes a demo.  A naive VP might be satisfied with seeing a single integration as proof that you can do a…

Is This Why the Startups Are Eating Your Lunch? Part II

May 27, 2019 Startups No Comments
My second introduction to the “start-up” advantage was with Cerent.  We started as “Fiberlane”, imploded and became several companies.  It was only the second tech company I had worked for, and the stories along the way highlighted why startups are able to take fewer people and less money to build…

First Week, Onboarding Complete!

April 26, 2019 Getting Hired No Comments
It’s been an energizing week.  So refreshing to be someplace where people use Email and Chat (Slack) with Discipline.  Having experienced where people will go 3 and 4 days without responding to either for items with deadlines defeats the passion and growth potential.  It also is enlivening to be someplace where…

Happy to Be Back at Fastly!

April 24, 2019 Attitude CDNs Getting Hired No Comments
I am excited to announce that I’ve rejoined Fastly!  Looking forward to being part of a great team.  Am especially thrilled to be in a place where the cultural values are more than just words on the wall.  This is a meritocracy where squeaky-wheels won’t last long.  A place where…