THE FOUNDER
ABOUT
I’m Austin Johnson, founder of Iridis Consulting Group. Every role I have held started the same way: someone pointed at a thing that did not exist and asked if I could figure it out. A prototype with no production process. A market with no demand engine. An operation with no operating system. Building from zero is not a phase of my career. It is the career.
SELECTED BUILDS
My background spans manufacturing, private equity, and independent ventures, with a Vanderbilt MBA, a PMP, and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt underneath it. A selection of what I have built:
Production system for a new product. Handed a prototype at an international manufacturer and asked to build one. I built the first unit, then designed the production workflow, rebuilt procurement, and ran design iterations that produced a better product that was easier to manufacture.
US market entry engine. An established international company was entering the US with no marketing presence, relying on contracted salespeople’s networks. I built the market research function, the targeting strategy, and the CRM infrastructure that generated the company’s own demand for the first time.
Project management infrastructure. Designed and rolled out the work management system a cross-functional team ran on: intake, prioritization, ownership, and reporting, built to survive without me administering it.
Special projects team. Stood up a team dedicated to 0-to-1 work, giving the organization a standing capability for initiatives that fit nowhere else.
Media operations at scale. Rebuilt a stalled production operation into the Shore Capital Podcast Network, with documented processes and a growth plan I had written during my MBA internship. The network’s shows won Signal Awards in 2024 and 2025 and were named a 2026 Webby Honoree, and its output fed recruiting and business development across the firm.
A sourcing engine no one planned. The network’s most valuable outcome was one nobody set out to build. For three years, nearly every candidate entering the firm’s executive-in-training program used its content to prepare for interviews, and the same engine supported five acquisitions. I also served on the talent development team that trains those chief of staff-level operators once they join.
Portfolio-wide communications program. Launched and ran the newsletter behind the firm’s training program, reaching across the entire portfolio and turning a curriculum into a standing communications operation.
An independent venture, end to end. Built and operated an independent content and consulting practice from nothing: the product, the operations, and the client work.
Iridis Consulting Group is that same work, offered directly.
Most recently I was Director of Media at Shore Capital Partners, where the network I built became one of the firm’s sourcing channels for acquisitions and emerging executive talent.
Iridis is the Latin genitive of iris: the flower, the goddess of the rainbow, and the part of the eye that controls focus. The aperture in the mark is the promise.
Open wide enough to see the whole problem. Close down to the one thing that matters now.
I started Iridis because building is the work I love most. My favorite projects begin in ambiguity, where the first task is figuring out what the task is. I learn fast, apply immediately, and hand over things that keep running after I leave. I structured this firm to do the best work of my career while staying present for the people who matter most.
My experience runs deepest in manufacturing and business services, and the operating patterns transfer across industries.
Based in Wisconsin, working with clients nationally. Available in person across the Fox Valley region and for short-term travel.