Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Aug 3
Fired Twice, Alex Stephany Built Beam Into 200-Employee AI Social Service Company
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Aug 3

Fired Twice, Alex Stephany Built Beam Into 200-Employee AI Social Service Company

1 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Aug 3

Summary

  • Alex Stephany says two dismissals from law and consulting pushed him toward startups, where he eventually founded Beam in 2017.
  • Beam now has about 200 employees worldwide and sells AI tools designed to help social service workers, with the technology used in five countries.
  • Stephany said months of underemployment after losing his corporate jobs were traumatic, but they also built the resilience he later relied on as a startup CEO.
  • After entering the tech world through networking and startup roles, he became CEO of parking app JustPark before moving into social entrepreneurship with Beam.

Insights

Could the very technology meant to empower caseworkers eventually be used by governments to justify cutting public sector jobs?
How does an AI tool designed to save social workers time handle the ethical minefield of processing highly sensitive human data?