Technology enables us to work with various people around the globe, but can it also provide a secured interaction and prevent fraud? Alex Martin, our featured Haas alumni this week, specializes in accurate and immediate identification of fraud for diverse organizations in numerous sectors including insurance, government, and many others. 

Prior to founding Clearspeed, Alex served in the U.S. Marine Corps leading infantry, reconnaissance, and special operations units over 4 operational deployments. He also spent 2 years as a Team Leader in Nuru International, an organization that aims to end extreme poverty in remote and rural communities. 

Alex was inspired by a group of farmer entrepreneurs who bravely combat economic challenges every day through social ventures. He exited from his first venture and became the CEO and co-Founder of Clearspeed, an AI-enabled technology that identifies fraud in voice conversations. 

In this episode, we'll hear about Alex’s journey from the U.S. Marine Corps to entrepreneurship.

Episode quotes:

What led you to be a startup founder, given your US Marine Corps background?

[00:07:35] I realize I had a lot of gaps in my own knowledge and understanding and had no clue what a balance sheet was or an income statement. I didn't know what marketing was, the fundamentals of business we all learned at Haas. Entrepreneurship is really hard. It's a good thing to teach; it's really hard to practice. It can be learned. It can be done, but the first element has to be risk appetite and courage, and sometimes stupidity, but that first startup ended with a new beginning to the next thing.

What he learned from his first startup venture

[00:12:02] I realize I had a lot of gaps in my own knowledge and understanding and had no clue what a balance sheet was or an income statement. I didn't know what marketing was, the fundamentals of business we all learned at Haas. Entrepreneurship is really hard. It's a good thing to teach. It's really hard to practice. It can be learned. It can be done, but the first element has to be risk appetite and courage, and sometimes stupidity but that first startup ended with a new beginning to the next thing.

What was the inspiration behind the concept of your company, Clearspeed?

[00:19:58] The genesis of Clearspeed came about by meeting other veterans from the special operations world that were working on technology designed to help filter and clear people, and then taking that technology, working on it, enhancing it, validating it, productizing it, and bringing it to the market as a way for hiring to happen better and faster remotely.

How does Clearspeed provide value to the other businesses?

[00:21:45] Clearspeed is a technology company that identifies fraud and security risks using voice analytics. We have a very sophisticated AI-enabled software that's able to capture sound and transform energy into a model and understand when fraud is occurring, where that risk is happening, it's like a check engine light.

Show Links:

• Alex Martin on LinkedIn
• Clearspeed Official Website

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