Julie Wainwright

Julie Wainwright is considered one of the pioneers in ecommerce. Starting her career in the personal computer software industry in 1983 at Software Publishing, she was the CEO of Berkeley Systems, known for its flying toasters screensavers and its best selling game, You Don’t Know Jack, the CEO of Reel.com, the first site to sell movies in 1997 (sold to Hollywood Entertainment, a once rival to Blockbuster) and then Pets.com which lives on as a dotcom symbol. She founded The RealReal in 2011, bringing luxury consignment online and into the modern world with a digital marketplace for authenticated luxury goods. When Julie took The RealReal public in 2019, she became the 23rd woman in history to found and lead a company to an IPO. She is also the author of Time to Get Real, a bestselling business memoir about her entrepreneurial journey creating The RealReal, which shares the lessons, triumphs, and setbacks she faced along the way. She has received several prestigious industry awards including the Silicon Valley Visionary Award and accolades from Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, CNBC, Inc. Magazine, Business of Fashion, and more. She was recently selected by Forbes for their inaugural 50 Successful Women Over 50 list and was celebrated on the cover of Forbes Magazine in June 2021. Along with being a sought-after speaker, Julie serves on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and as an advisor to several venture capital funds including Shakti VC and Volition Capital. She is launching a podcast, The Armchair Entrepreneurs, in the Fall of 2025 to give advice to entrepreneurs.