Notes:
How would you react if someone who pursued Computer Science, worked for NASA, and hated it? How about when a sales engineer who has worked in a known and successful company would resign and work in a startup instead? In this episode, find out why Desanka Aleksov grew to love developing again and came back not just as a computer engineer or a salesperson alone, but as a sales engineer.
Desanka (Ichitrajkova) Aleksov is the Global Head of PreSales in the startup company, Ironclad. It is the number 1 contract lifecycle management platform for innovative companies. She graduated with a Computer Science degree and did a lot of internships abroad for 2 years. However, she found developing boring so she studied again and finished an MBA in General Management. She worked as a Business Analyst and Software Project Manager. Upon solving errors, she realized she loves development so she became a sales engineer for almost 11 years since.
Key Takeaways:
- Why she shifted from being a web developer to being an IT
- What made her fall in love with working at Salesforce for 10 years
- Why she decided to move from SalesForce to a startup
- The differences between working in SalesForces and working in IronClad
- Her biggest realization in working for a startup company
- She shares how it’s like working in IronClad and what are their ways
- Her experiences when she was just starting out at SalesForce
- Why the pros of having a balance of AEs and SEs outweigh the cons
- What specifically allows the SE to become more of a partner in an assigned model
- Desanka and Ramzi share the cons that they see in a partnered model
- Qualities of AEs that make it easier or harder to work with
- What contributions can SEs help managers with to be more successful at their job
Quotes:
“It didn’t feel very collaborative. Around me, I had a lot of really successful developers and I looked at them and how big of a joy they got from solving something. And I just didn’t get the same, it just didn’t get the same thing. It was more of a torture than a joy. So I just didn’t enjoy it.” – Desanka Aleksov
“I learned a lot and when we had built in a year in C Sharp .net, I built in two weeks on the Salesforce platform just by training. I was mindblown and all of a sudden, thinking about going back and solving problems. It made me like development again, it was eye-opening. It wasn’t back there writing code. It was knowing what the problem is and solving it with declarative tools.” – Desanka Aleksov
“We have a long way to go. But we’ve come a long way from where we were.” – Desanka Aleksov
“Any business needs that and in order for businesses to run, they need contracts. And so we think of ourselves as somebody who will establish a new contract format, like no longer Word and PDF and slapping a digital signature on top will be the future of digital contracts. We think that ironclad is the new format for digital contracts and we’re on a mission to help make that happen.” – Desanka Aleksov
“If you went to Salesforce and learned how to sell there, it was better than any school that you could have gone to.” – Desanka Aleksov
“It’s been fascinating to learn that there is no one way to be a successful solution engineer.” – Desanka Aleksov
“My friend said, ‘We’re not unicorns’, have you seen his episodes around? How everybody’s trying to make the SEs unicorns basically, Swiss knives, do it all. I just don’t think that’s possible. We got to build a team that can scale, can support a lot of account executives and a lot of customers, and put people in place that would allow them to specialize. I believe in that and I believe that’s powerful.” – Desanka Aleksov
“I was first listening to the feedback and what SEs enjoy doing and what they don’t enjoy doing. And creating an environment where people can be happy in their job, as a leader it’s my top priority. The feedback drove a lot of it, too.” – Desanka Aleksov
“I don’t like the idea, so I’m a journalist SE, and if someone told me “You’re a project manager.” I know it’s right but I like to think of myself as a Customer Advocate. My job is a better word. And my job is to get them the answers. Doesn’t matter how the customer shouldn’t care. Give them the answers, make sure they’re happy, and make sure they end up buying from you.” – Desanka Aleksov
“Coming into the workforce as a new SE, that was just amazing, because now I have a team that I was assigned to, that I can build a relationship with, I can control my calendar a little more. I have a set of accounts, or type of accounts, industry, whatever your segment, I just had a lot of consistency.” –Desanka Aleksov
“There is a combination of some places where you will see the generalists to be assigned, but then the specialists are pooled. So it’s always about what’s the right balance for the company.” – Desanka Aleksov
“I would say when you’re a pooled resource, you’re a resource, and then when you’re an aligned SE, you’re just more empowered to become a partner.” – Desanka Aleksov
“You should be working on improving yourself so you can work with any SEs.” – Desanka Aleksov
“Just go and win. Find what works, find how to win, ask for help. It’s the best thing that you can do. When you win and you figure out how it works, go and do it a hundred times.” – Desanka Aleksov
