How Demo Automation and AI Are Transforming Presales with Nalin Senthamil

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Jun 16, 2025

Nalin Senthamil, Founder and CEO of Storylane, discusses how demo automation is reshaping the pre-sales landscape. He shares insights on the rise of self-service buyer experiences and how AI is set to revolutionize roles for solutions engineers. Nalin highlights the potential for AI to create a tenfold impact on pre-sales workflows and the importance of quality data. He also addresses the changing dynamics of discovery calls and the transformative potential of tailored customer engagement through automated demos.

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ANECDOTE

Nalin's Demo Automation Journey

Nalin started Storylane inspired by his experience building demo teams and demo websites in his previous companies.
He witnessed how demo automation and AI could transform the buying journey by speeding demo creation and personalization.

INSIGHT

The Death of Discovery Calls

Discovery calls are dying because buyers come educated via extensive online research.
The self-serve buyer experience spans the entire journey from website research through product exploration to purchase.

ADVICE

Leverage AI Agents for Discovery

Use discovery agents on your website to answer buyer questions and guide demo selection.
Pre-sales teams should shape discovery to show the right demos and qualify prospects early.

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In this episode, Matthew James and Timmy Hendrickson are joined by Nalin Senthamil, Founder and CEO of Storylane, to discuss the future of pre-sales and AI driving influence beyond pipeline. They explore how demo automation is transforming the self-serve buyer experience, the changing role of solutions engineers, and how AI can create 10X impact in pre-sales workflows. Nalin shares insights on leveraging AI for demo personalization, managing complex product integrations, and why the traditional discovery call may be dying.

To join the show live, follow the Presales Collective's LinkedIn page or join the PSC Slack community for updates. The show is bi-weekly on Tuesdays, 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.

Follow the Hosts

Connect with Matthew James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewyoungjames/
Connect with Timmy Hendrickson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmyhendrickson/
Connect with Nalin Senthamil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nalinpradeep/

Links and Resources Mentioned

Join Presales Collective Slack: https://www.presalescollective.com/slack
Storylane: https://www.storylane.io/

Timestamps

00:04 Welcome

01:08 Nalin's background and founding Storylane

03:08 What does a self-serve buyer experience look like?

08:18 How AI has changed presales

13:40 Training AI agents to answer technical questions

17:02 AI testing customer scenario

19:28 Overlooked use cases for demo automation

26:30 One workflow where AI can create 10X impact today

Key Topics Covered

The Death of Discovery Calls
- Why buyers are coming to conversations already educated
- How self-serve experiences span the entire buying journey
- The role of AI sales agents in initial discovery
The Four Categories of SE Work
- Relationship building and strategic solutioning
- Demo delivery and POC management
- Administrative tasks and CRM updates
- Knowledge sharing and product insights
AI as an SE Sidekick
- Demo preparation and tailoring automation
- Administrative task reduction
- Strategic thinking enhancement rather than replacement
Demo Automation Use Cases
- Supporting different AE to SE ratios
- Managing complex product integrations
- Upsell and expansion opportunities
- Micro-demos for specific features
Training AI for Technical Questions
- Leveraging tribal knowledge from Slack, Google Drive, and call recordings
- Importance of data quality and curation
- Automatic ingestion of organizational knowledge
The Future of Pre-Sales
- AI enabling faster iteration and personalization
- Strategic partnership between CS and pre-sales for upsells
- The evolution from technical support to strategic advisory roles