Marc Austin
Founder of Hedgehog
Marc Austin
Founder of Hedgehog
Seattle, Washington
Overview
Work Experience
CEO and Co-Founder
2022 - Current
Hedgehog is an open source software company dedicated to giving Cloud Native application owners the ability to deploy workloads on edge compute and distributed cloud infrastructure with the same procurement power and automated operations that power the public cloud. Hedgehog customers escape vendor lock, automate mass-scale infrastructure operations, reduce cost of service, expand gross margins and drive market capitalization. Hedgehog is a member of the Open Compute Project, The Linux Foundation, and the SONiC community.
Managing Partner
2017
IoT Capital provides seed capital to entrepreneurs who make great IoT applications and platforms. We invest in companies that create new customer experiences with value propositions that generate high margin recurring revenue. We don't spread our bets. We make good, intentional bets that we back with additional investment as the business achieves objectives with key results.
Member and Investor
2017
Alliance of Angels is a group of 140+ active angel investors. Each year, we invest $10M+ into 20+ startups and provide mentorship to help them succeed.
Head of Automation Strategy and Growth for Cisco Internet for the Future
2018 - 2022
I am currently responsible for product strategy, go-to-market, and growth for Cisco’s Internet for the Future strategic pillar, including strategic planning, sales, marketing and solution delivery functions for Cisco’s Crosswork automation portfolio. I lead a small team who has turned around automation account planning, forecasting and sales execution from a history of declining sales to Cisco-leading 46% Y/Y growth in the Internet of the Future segment. I led the business case development for acquisition and integration of Sedona Systems supporting Cisco’s $4.5B acquisition of Acacia for Cisco Routed Optical Network automation. Sedona provides hierarchical control of IP and optical network layers for all vendors, not just Cisco. This play is enabling Cisco to disrupt the optical network market. We have also established commercial partnerships with Vitria and Accedian for artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that improve the performance and quality of the internet and wireless networks.
Head of Broadband IoT Products at Cisco
2013 - 2018
I led the broadband IoT product segment for Cisco Jasper, powering smart homes, smart cars, smart cities and smart factories. Control Center gives business customers real-time visibility, real-time control and automation to buy, deploy and manage connected devices using 4G LTE and 5G networks.
Director, Kindle Enterprise
2010 - 2012
I was responsible for establishing new Kindle businesses in education, business and government segments where we accomplished quite a few things in a short period of time: •Directly recruited and managed a team of software engineers, product managers, marketing and business development professionals. •Indirectly recruited, trained and directed a team of customer service associates to provide sales and service to enterprise customers. •Influenced strategic planning for new Amazon business models in enterprise content licensing and pricing. •Designed, built, launched and operated Whispercast (http://whispercast.amazon.com) that any organization can use to manage Kindles and distribute Kindle content, including eBooks, documents and Android apps. •Won strategic K-12 accounts throughout the United States that have catalyzed e-textbook adoption. Florida State Bill 2120 now mandates that all textbooks be provided in digital format starting in the 2015-2016 school year. •Won global literacy initiatives with the US State Department, the World Bank, and NGO’s yielding larger opportunities with ministries of education in emerging markets. •Established and managed enterprise sales and support competencies that materially contributed to total Kindle device sales. Any organization can now to talk to a Kindle sales representative, get a quote, pay with a purchase order, and receive a volume discount on Kindle devices. •Deployed Amazon’s first in-network B2B fulfillment centers. Organizations can now receive large orders in a single shipment with a single invoice. •Drove Android and Cloud app selection for business and productivity categories in partnership with the Amazon Appstore for Android and Amazon Web Services teams.
Founder and COO
2008 - 2010
I co-founded GoCanvas with Jim Quigley. I was first to quit my job and write a check to incorporate the company, write the business plan, build the minimum viable product, raise seed capital, and acquire our first customers. I left full-time employment to get the company through a cash crunch but remained an active shareholder through liquidity. K1 Investments acquired GoCanvas in February 2019.
GM Americas
2005 - 2008
Dexterra was an on-premise mobile enterprise application platform for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices. Responsible for profit and loss in the United States, Canada and Latin America, I led a 28 member team covering sales, business development, channel marketing and professional services. We grew revenue from less than $5 million in 2005 to over $30 million in 2008. I left to start GoCanvas before Dexterra merged with Antenna Software in 2009.
Director, BlackBerry Solutions
2003 - 2005
I led the BlackBerry team at AT&T introducing the world to smartphones. We pioneered an AT&T app store, unlimited international roaming, and new messaging applications while we launched and managed product lifecycles of 14 new BlackBerry hardware and software products to drive AT&T's largest wireless data business. We marketed the value of AT&T's GPRS network at a price premium to T-Mobile, and we sold more than a quarter of all smartphones globally.
Director, Field Service Solutions
2002 - 2002
I joined AT&T Wireless to develop a portfolio of solutions around field service automation. This built on the work we did at Mobiquity and Versatile Mobile Systems, who were both AWS solution partners. My primary projects in this role were to help UPS and FedEx migrate from their private wireless data networks to AT&T's yet-to-be-built GPRS data network. This meant helping UPS and FedEx engineers design their DIAD and PowerPad network management features. Both of these groups were doing some pretty advanced SIM management and network routing features at the time. Both projects were also successful. AT&T Wireless featured UPS on the cover of their annual report in 2002.
Vice President, Products and Services
2000 - 2002
We decided to sell Mobiquity to Versatile Mobile Systems in 2001 to give our investors liquidity in a public company. Mobiquity gave Versatile a mobile application platform to support their solutions for route accounting, field sales and merchandising. Mobiquity was state of the art for the day: SaaS, multi-tenant, and mobile smart client for wireless connectivity, data caching, synchronization and app UX. Versatile continues to market their Mobiquity suite of solutions today, although they did not seem to manage their trademark on the brand. Another company in Boston now uses our mark for their mobile enterprise apps.
Education
Bachelor of Science - BS
1988 - 1992
CFA Level 1
2004 - 2004
Diploma
1984 - 1988