4:00 pm
Skill vs. Will
Every SE leader has a gut feel for who on the team is thriving, who's coasting, and who's stuck. The trouble is that gut feel rarely gets challenged. Dave shares a quarterly exercise his SE managers run.
› Live eventEnglishLondonInvitation only
SE Leadership Dinner London
One evening, one room, PreSales leaders who carry the same problems you do. Three talks, breakouts, then dinner — and no vendor pitch anywhere in it.
Recap of our last SE Leader dinner in Frankfurt. Pressing play loads the video from YouTube and allows YouTube cookies.
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Date
October 13, 2026
Time
3:30–9:00 pm BST
Venue
Zscaler Office · Royal Exchange
Commitment fee
€49 incl. VAT
› Why this evening
PreSales leadership is a lonely job. This is the room where it isn't.
You are usually the only person in your company with your problem. Headcount you can't justify with a number. A CRO who wants pipeline coverage. A team asking what their career even looks like. Nobody two doors down has been there.
The PreSales Leadership Community exists so you have peers to ask. Roughly 250 leaders across Europe, free, leaders only, and nothing is ever sold in it. In London we do it face to face: short talks that each open an argument, breakouts where you actually work on your own situation, and dinner afterwards where the real conversations happen.
“That's what you built. We just hold the doors open.”
Tim Brömme & Jan-Erik Jank · Co-Founders, SE Rockstars
› Speakers
Three talks. Three arguments.
4:30 pm
Who Owns the Price Tag?
AI pushed the price conversation to the front of the deal, and outcome-based models mean solutioning and commercials are now the same job. Dola Akinduro on why PreSales can no longer stay out of the room and what that changes for the role.
5:00 pm
Between Token Dashboards and Culture
Every PreSales team has AI in the workflow. Far fewer have an organization that has moved. Alex D'Anna discusses Snowflake's approach to scaling AI adoption across a large SE org, what changed for managers and ICs, and why the hard part was never the tooling.
› Agenda
3:30 pm until late
Tap a session for detail.
3:30 pmWelcome reception / Happy Hour
4:00 pmSkill vs. WillDavid Mount · Director of Solutions Consulting, Zscaler
Every SE leader has a gut feel for who on the team is thriving, who's coasting, and who's stuck. The trouble is that gut feel rarely gets challenged. Dave shares a quarterly exercise his SE managers run: each one plots their team on a simple skill-vs-will matrix, then presents it to their peers. This introduces a broader pattern recognition across teams. Expect a candid look at how it works, where it gets uncomfortable, and how you could run it with your own leadership team.
4:30 pmWho Owns the Price Tag?Dola Akinduro · Senior Director PreSales EMEA, HubSpot
AI has moved the price conversation to the front of the deal. Outcome-based models mean the solution and the commercial construct get designed together, not handed from one team to the next. That puts PreSales in a room most of us were told to stay out of. Dola makes the case that solutioning without commercial ownership is no longer solutioning at all and shows what changes for the role, the skill profile, and the way we coach our teams. Twenty minutes, a clear position, and time for your objections afterward.
5:00 pmBetween Token Dashboards and CultureAlex D'Anna · SVP EMEA Solutions Engineering, Snowflake
Every PreSales team uses AI in the workflow. Dashboards show tokens burned, licenses assigned, prompts run. None of that tells you whether the organization has changed. Alex runs Solutions Engineering across EMEA at Snowflake and is moving a large organization from scattered experimentation toward a single direction. He shares Snowflake's approach, what it took to bring leaders and ICs along, where culture pushed back harder than technology, and where he lands on whether AI adoption belongs in compensation. Fifteen minutes from inside the transformation, followed by Q&A.
5:30 pmBreakouts
6:30 pmNetworking with food & drinks
9:00 pmEnd of event
Officially. There are usually plenty of options nearby for whoever isn't done.
› Who's in the room
Peers, not an audience
Every seat in Londongoes to someone who leads PreSales, Solutions Consulting or Sales Engineering — first-line managers up to VP. No vendors working the room, no recruiters, no one selling to the people next to them. That's the only entry rule, and it's why the conversations get past small talk.
250
leaders in the community across Europe
50
seats in London — deliberately small
3
talks, each opening an argument
€0
the community is free and stays free
› Good to know
Questions
Who can attend?
PreSales, Solutions Consulting and Sales Engineering leaders — first-line managers through VP. The one hard requirement is that people report to you. We don't make exceptions for individual contributors, however senior — the whole room is built on everyone carrying responsibility for a team. We look at every new member's profile and remove anyone who doesn't fit.
Why is there a €49 fee if the community is free?
It's a commitment fee, not a ticket. Free in-person events get a lot of no-shows, and every one of them wastes a seat someone else wanted. It covers everything on the day: the event itself, food, drinks and a goodie bag. The community itself is free and stays free.
Is anything being sold at this event?
No. Nothing from the SE Rockstars side, nothing from the hosting company, nothing from the speakers. That rule is the whole reason the room works, and it has held for three years.
Do I need to be a community member first?
Yes — seats go to members, and membership is free. You join and book in one go: fill in the form below, enter the code we email you, and your London seat is next.
What if I can only make the dinner?
Come for the evening part and say so when you register. We'd rather have you for half the evening than not at all.
Language?
English throughout — talks, breakouts, dinner.
› 7 seats left
Save your seat
€49 incl. VAT — a commitment fee, not a ticket price. The room only works if the people who say yes turn up. It covers everything on the day: the event itself, food, drinks and a goodie bag.
Seats are for community members — free to join, in one sitting. Already a member? Sign in.
Photos and video may be taken at this event. If you'd rather not appear, tell us at check-in — we'll make sure you don't.