After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Start-Up

Entrepreneurship expert Julia Austin shares battle-tested strategies to help founders and startup joiners build their venture from the ground up in this ＂masterclass in intentional entrepreneurship＂ (Jerry Colonna, author of Reboot)

So you want to start a company. Or you were crazy enough to join a startup. You had a great idea, you built a prototype, and maybe you even raised some money. Now what?

Julia Austin is here to answer that big question. She has both experienced and observed that the differentiator between the startups that succeed and those that fail is operational excellence. A lot of entrepreneurs are great at the idea part but do not anticipate the details required to actually run and scale a new venture. Drawing on Austin’s extensive experience at renowned startups like Akamai, VMware, and DigitalOcean and the hundreds of founders and startups she has educated, coached, and advised, After the Idea is full of time-tested strategies to help founders, investors, and employees navigate the operational challenges of startup ventures, including customer development, scalability, process optimization, team management, and more. This accessible set of techniques is for anyone determined to turn a great idea into a solid success.  

Julia Austin is on the faculty at Harvard Business School and is faculty cochair of the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. As a certified executive coach, she works exclusively with startup founders. Austin is an angel investor, serves on startup boards, and advises many founders through her work with several accelerators. She has three daughters and lives in New York City.