Leading Through Chaos: Building a Presales Team in the Middle of a Merger
- Date
- 2026-01-15
- Host
- PSC Unscripted
About this event
Building a presales team is hard enough. Doing it while two companies are coming together, priorities are shifting, and everyone is being asked to move fast with incomplete information is a very different kind of leadership test. This event is a practical conversation for people navigating that reality: how to create structure, earn trust, and keep a customer-facing team effective when the ground is moving under your feet. About the Event This is an in-person community meetup focused on one of the messiest and most relevant leadership challenges in go-to-market today: building and leading a presales function in the middle of a merger. The conversation will center on what it takes to hire well, define roles, align with sales leadership, and maintain momentum when org charts, systems, and expectations are still changing. Rather than staying high-level, the session is designed to get into the operating realities behind the title. How do you decide what the future team should look like when there are two ways of doing everything? What do you standardize first, and what do you leave alone? How do you avoid losing good people while also raising the bar for how the team works? Those are the kinds of questions this meetup is built to explore. Expect a format that feels useful, direct, and discussion-friendly. This is not just for people looking for theory. It is for leaders, managers, and ambitious operators who want to compare notes with others who understand the pressure of balancing execution, change management, and team building at the same time. What to Expect The session will likely move through the core decisions that shape a presales organization during a transition period. That includes team design, hiring priorities, role clarity, stakeholder communication, and the practical mechanics of integrating different processes without creating unnecessary confusion for the field. You can expect conversation around topics like: How to assess the current state of two teams, motions, or cultures and identify what should carry forward Ways to define a presales charter when sales coverage, product scope, and leadership expectations are evolving How to hire or redeploy talent thoughtfully during uncertainty What strong alignment with sales, product, and post-sales looks like in a merger environment How to communicate change without overpromising certainty you do not yet have The tradeoffs between moving quickly and building durable systems Because this is a meetup, there is also real value in the room itself. Alongside the main discussion, attendees should expect networking and candid peer exchange with other professionals interested in leadership, team building, and go-to-market execution. If you learn best by hearing how others have handled difficult situations, this format will be especially useful. There is space here for nuance. Mergers create political complexity, emotional fatigue, duplicated work, and competing definitions of success. A worthwhile conversation does not ignore those tensions; it surfaces them and gets practical about what leaders can actually do next. Why Attend If you are responsible for presales leadership, this event gives you a chance to pressure-test your thinking against a real-world challenge that many teams face but few discuss openly. You will leave with sharper questions to ask, clearer patterns to watch for, and stronger instincts around where early decisions matter most. Even if you are not currently in the middle of a merger, the lessons are broadly relevant. Any period of rapid change, restructuring, expansion, or redefinition forces similar leadership muscles: setting direction without perfect information, keeping teams focused, and building credibility across functions. That makes this meetup valuable beyond the immediate topic. You should also attend for the peer learning. Good operators rarely need more generic advice; they need context, specificity, and other smart people who have seen versions of the same problem. This event creates a setting where you can hear how others think about integration, team health, stakeholder management, and scaling under pressure. Most importantly, the event is grounded in a problem worth solving well. Presales often sits at the intersection of revenue, product complexity, and customer trust. When that function is built thoughtfully during a merger, it can become a stabilizing force for the wider business. When it is handled poorly, everyone feels it. This conversation is about getting it right. Practical Details This is an in-person event taking place on Thursday, January 15 at 9:00 AM PST. The in-person format is a meaningful part of the experience: it creates room for sharper discussion, easier networking, and more honest back-and-forth than most purely virtual sessions allow. The event is well suited to attendees who want a morning session that delivers substance without unnecessary ceremony. If this topic is close to your current work, plan to arrive ready to listen carefully, ask thoughtful questions, and compare approaches with peers. Given the theme and community-oriented format, it is a good idea to come with a few specific challenges in mind. For example: A team design decision you are currently wrestling with A communication issue between presales and sales leadership A hiring or retention question during organizational change A process that became harder after growth, restructuring, or integration If your work touches presales leadership, go-to-market operations, team building, or change management, this event will give you relevant conversation and practical perspective. It is a focused, timely meetup for people doing real work in complex conditions.
Who should attend
If your work sits anywhere near presales, team building, or go-to-market leadership during change, you will likely find yourself in this room. - You lead or are building a **presales / solutions engineering** team and want practical perspective on structure, hiring, and execution during uncertainty. - You are a **sales, revenue, or go-to-market leader** working closely with presales and need better alignment during a merger, reorg, or integration. - You are responsible for **integrating teams, processes, or coverage models** and want to hear how others approach tradeoffs without slowing the business down. - You are a **manager stepping into broader leadership** and want a more realistic view of what it takes to create clarity, trust, and momentum when conditions are changing fast. - You work in **operations, enablement, or cross-functional leadership** and want to better understand how presales can become a stabilizing force during transition. - You value **peer conversation over generic advice** and want to meet thoughtful operators dealing with similar complexity in real time.