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Time to Get Real
How I Built a Billion-Dollar Business That Rocked the Fashion Industry
Published by BenBella Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
Part tell-all memoir and part entrepreneur crash course, the founder of The RealReal offers an emboldening story of perspective and triumph
When she was 52, a recruiter told Julie Wainwright that her failure as CEO of Pets.com made her unemployable. But she proved him—and Silicon Valley—wrong and built her company from an idea into the world’s largest resource for authenticated luxury resale. Since its launch in 2011, The RealReal has changed the world of fashion forever, making luxury items more accessible and sustainable.
Time to Get Real spills the tea on the entrepreneurial journey from a woman’s perspective and includes all the lessons learned and mistakes made along the way to a billion-dollar business and public company. This is the book Julie wished she had when she was in the trenches—one that shares the whole exhilarating, stressful, glorious, messy truth about success.
Time to Get Real isn’t just about Julie’s wild ride through Silicon Valley; it will also show you how to:
With Julie’s inspirational story and hard-earned wisdom, this is the perfect read for anyone who has ever imagined starting a company, loves fashion, or wants an uncensored glimpse behind the scenes from a woman who succeeded in spite of it all.
When she was 52, a recruiter told Julie Wainwright that her failure as CEO of Pets.com made her unemployable. But she proved him—and Silicon Valley—wrong and built her company from an idea into the world’s largest resource for authenticated luxury resale. Since its launch in 2011, The RealReal has changed the world of fashion forever, making luxury items more accessible and sustainable.
Time to Get Real spills the tea on the entrepreneurial journey from a woman’s perspective and includes all the lessons learned and mistakes made along the way to a billion-dollar business and public company. This is the book Julie wished she had when she was in the trenches—one that shares the whole exhilarating, stressful, glorious, messy truth about success.
Time to Get Real isn’t just about Julie’s wild ride through Silicon Valley; it will also show you how to:
- Build a business from the ground up
- Hire for startups while avoiding common oversights
- Overcome workplace bias and adversity
- Be a shark—and create a unicorn
With Julie’s inspirational story and hard-earned wisdom, this is the perfect read for anyone who has ever imagined starting a company, loves fashion, or wants an uncensored glimpse behind the scenes from a woman who succeeded in spite of it all.
Product Details
- Publisher: BenBella Books (July 16, 2025)
- Length: 240 pages
- ISBN13: 9781637746868
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Raves and Reviews
“A hand of steel in a velvet glove is the best way to describe Julie’s journey. A must-read.”
—Diane von Fürstenberg
“Creating a tsunami in the fashion business is never easy. Julie managed to create a brand-new retail system to change the buying habits of high-end consumers. A genius modernization of how, when, and where people shop for the best products!”
—Tommy Hilfiger
“I watched from the sidelines as this visionary built an entirely new business model under the overwhelmingly misogynistic tech field . . . What a badass as [Julie] controlled the room, fought back the bullies, and went up against some of the big luxury players who tried to stop her. We would not be anywhere in resale or sustainability if it was not for her genius.”
—Daniella Vitale, CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo
“Julie’s journey, from working out of her home to ultimately taking her company public at a billion-dollar valuation, offers not just practical advice, but also a rare look into what it takes to build something truly transformative. This book is a testament to the power of innovation, hard work, and staying true to your vision.”
—Congressman Ro Khanna
“Julie changed the way women shop by making luxury resale not only accessible but also a more earth-friendly, sustainable option. As a woman in tech, Julie’s journey is a testament to breaking barriers and leading with vision in an industry often dominated by men . . . This book is an entertaining must-read for entrepreneurs, women in business, and anyone interested in sustainability and the power of reinvention.”
—Julie Gilhart, founder and president of GILHART & Co.
“Funny, tough, generous, and honest, Julie Wainwright is every woman’s ideal boss and any female entrepreneur’s North Star. Part tell-all memoir, part how-to playbook, Time to Get Real is a page-turner that disrupts the business-book genre—just like The RealReal disrupted the global fashion system.”
—Amy Fine Collins, editor-at-large at Air Mail
“Julie is a force of nature. She combined her knowledge of luxury products, brand affinities, and e-commerce to start The RealReal and then grow it into a public company. Today, The RealReal is the world’s largest luxury consignment marketplace because of Julie Wainwright and her resilience.”
—Maha Ibrahim, general partner at Canaan Partners
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- Book Cover Image (jpg): Time to Get Real Hardcover 9781637746868
