About me
I'm Alex! I'm a creator, software engineer, 4x founder, 2x YC alum, father and purveyor of fine gluten. I also help ambitious founders gain clarity, resilience, and purpose to lead with impact and authenticity.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
—Walt Whitman
I, too, have many labels, but none define me. In brief, I’ve been a software developer for over 25 years and a startup founder in roles as CEO and CTO for the last 13. I love building software products and, most recently, working with AI. After seeing my fortunes rise and fall, both personal and professional, I finally reached a point of being too dissatisfied with the constant dissatisfaction of chasing success in an impermanent world and began to explore the nature of consciousness itself. The work I do now with ambitious founders is a continuation of my journey.
In the opposite of brief, here’s a chronology to help you get to know me better:
- I immigrated to the US from Russia as a teenager, which taught me the value of holding multiple perspectives. The same learning deepened when I studied abroad in Spain.
- I started working professionally as a software developer while still in high school, going through the dot-com bubble with my first employer Bizrate.com, which taught me about high achieving cultures and the exciting world of startups.
- I earned a CS degree from Berkeley, which taught me how to learn things quickly under high pressure.
- I earned an MBA from UCLA, which taught me basic fluency across all areas of business and the value of a network.
- I was the co-founder and CTO of PeerStreet, a Series C Andreessen Horowitz-backed real estate investment platform where I helped raise over $120M and grow the business to over $1B in annual GMV. Due to the high velocity growth, I was constantly challenged to adapt to new roles and lead with authenticity and purpose.
- I’ve co-founded two YC startups (Weilos S13 and Playhouse/Sentiyen S21), which taught me more about myself than I ever expected. For those that seek it, startups are an excellent laboratory for personal, professional and spiritual growth.
- I am a father and guide to two young kids, who never stop teaching me love, joy and humility.
