Prior to Meritech, Austin was an investment banker at Qatalyst Partners, where he advised enterprise software, consumer internet, and semiconductor companies on M&A and strategic alternatives. While at Qatalyst, Austin advised HPE on its $14B acquisition of Juniper Networks, Adenza on its $10.5B sale to Nasdaq, Cvent on its $4.6B sale to Blackstone, and Viavi Networks on its proposed $1.3B acquisition of Spirent.

Austin is a Bay Area native and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in economics.