Peter Cohan

Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative and the author of the Great Demo! and Doing Discovery methodologies, focused on helping presales, sales and marketing folks improve their discovery and demonstration skills.

The bulk of his experience is with complex, enterprise software and strategic systems sold to varied audiences in a range of vertical markets. He has enjoyed roles in technical and product marketing, marketing management, presales and presales management, sales and sales management, senior management, and the C-Suite – as well as serving on Boards of Directors.

In August 2022, he published Doing Discovery, a methodology providing a structured approach to discovery for B-to-B software vendors.

Before The Second Derivative, Peter founded the Discovery Tools® business unit at Symyx Technologies, Inc., where he grew the business from an empty spreadsheet into a $30 million per year operation. Prior to Symyx, Peter served in marketing, sales, and management positions at MDL Information Systems, a leading provider of scientific information management software. Peter currently serves on the Board of Directors for Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc., is an advisor to IN2SV, Inc., and a mentor to StartX, the Stanford University start-up accelerator. He holds a degree in chemistry.