In Conversation with Julia Austin: Serial Operator, Executive Coach, Educator, Board Member & Author

At Juxtapose, we spend our days building companies with experienced executives and founders — people who’ve already led teams, scaled products, and seen a few cycles. That means our conversations often go deeper than the typical startup story. They’re about career arcs, reinvention, and the mindset it takes to lead through change.   So, we decided to start recording them. Introducing Juxtapositions, a series of conversations hosted by Juxtapose. In each episode, a leader from our Concept Development, User Research & Design, or Talent team will sit down with business and technology leaders — from operators to investors, founders to execs — and come away with hard-earned wisdom. From generational market shifts, to career pivots, to company transformations, each conversation dives into how our guests navigated change, what they learned, and how those lessons might help you think differently about your own path.   The first conversation is between Steve Herrod, Juxtapose Partner, board member, and former CTO of VMware and Julia Austin, a serial operator, executive coach, educator, board member, author, and former CTO who has led both startups and large organizations through massive evolutions. Steve and Julia worked together at VMWare when she was Vice President of Innovation, and since then she's gone on to be the CTO of Digital Ocean, joined several startup boards, and was on the faculty of Harvard Business School as a Senior Lecturer for over a decade, and now serves as an Executive Fellow. She recently published a book, After the Idea, about creating and scaling startups.