An Interview with Entrepreneur Julia Marsan

Julia Marsan is a CEO at jcbully, an incubator of startups in tech, fintech and edtech businesses. Julia’s background has given her the passion to build and grow companies and to bring them to the forefront of their respective industry.

Julia’s has attained the skills and expertise to create an engaged team with a vision to grow fast in a focused commercial way.

She understands that supporting people in their own careers and valuing the individual within the business makes the difference between good and great. She embraces the belief that bringing the most talented individuals together and facilitating their collaboration in a passionate and fast paced environment allows teams and colleagues to shine, and with fun thrown in, it’s an unstoppable way to succeed.

Are you an entrepreneur looking for your MVP built? Get in touch with us at hello@devathon.com

Devathon has built software for companies backed by the world’s leading investors like Betaworks, Greylock, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, KPCB, Lightspeed and many more.

In the following interview, Julia talks about her entrepreneurial journey and what it takes to successfully run an Incubator.

When did you first discover your entrepreneurial spirit and why have you set up the accelerator?

Our Executive Chairman is the entrepreneurial powerhouse behind identifying the business opportunities, which is then turned into a reality through my complementary entrepreneurial skills encouraging people to be the best they can and deliver the vision we have set for them.

How is your entrepreneurial career developing so far?

Entrepreneurship is tough as all the answers have to come from you and the drive and ambition is something you inspire people with. I am fortunate to have a good team around me who can turn the visions into a reality but it always takes longer than you hope it will. You have to maintain your belief in turning something new into something fantastic and ensure that you make the most of every step along the way.

Tell us something about jcbully Incubator. What kind of services do you provide to the startups?

We provide central support such as marketing, design, accounts support – we help with strategic input and have supported bids. Technology is also critical to underpinning our disruptive solutions, so an innovative creative team helps to find and develop the very best platforms to trade from.

Incubators seem all the rage right now, can you talk a bit about their history?

The first incubator was the Batavia Industrial Centre in New York in 1959 but it has really been a growing idea since the 1980s. The role and function of a business incubator have evolved from simple space utilisation to providing support, sharing technology as well as space to new businesses. This enables them to accelerate in new markets and technologies particularly in developing countries now as well as in established markets.

How many startups are connected to your incubator? What are your growth plans for the near future?

We are supporting 11 business ideas under our umbrella and plan for a further 6 in the coming year.

What advantage do startups from incubators have over the regular startups?

Being part of an incubator gives some economies of scale that a startup can’t always afford and enables business leaders to have access to support and ideas that are not available when you are doing it on your own.

In your opinion, what are the hurdles that keep people away from starting an entrepreneurial career? What advice would you give to the new entrepreneurs?

Cash is always a hurdle so ensuring that you start with a realistic plan and sufficient access to funds to deliver what you want to do in a time frame that you can manage and live with is essential. I think everyone has an entrepreneur within them and 2 of my team have left to start his or her own businesses – something I was happy to encourage. The challenge is to let go of the safety of a paid role to launch your idea – this is always a leap of faith as you put your trust and belief in yourself and your ideas.

Are you an entrepreneur looking for your MVP built? Get in touch with us at hello@devathon.com

Devathon has built software for companies backed by the world’s leading investors like Betaworks, Greylock, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, KPCB, Lightspeed and many more.