Alex Cooper: Why I started an AI company after 20 years in the army
Alex Cooper left the City to enlist in the army. Now he’s back as CEO of his own AI company Electric Twin. He tells us why in Square Mile and Me
CV
- Name: Alex Cooper
- Job title: CEO/founder of Electric Twin
- Previous roles: Derivatives trader; soldier; director of Mass Testing; COO
- Age: 48
- Born: Sheffield
- Lives: London in week, Monmouthshire at the weekends
- Studied: Oxford and SOAS
- Talents: Crisis response and leadership
- Motto: It’s the fastest who gets paid
- Biggest perk of the job? Working with amazing people
- Coffee order: Black
- Cocktail order: Michelada
- Favourite book: The Old Man and the Sea
What was your first job?
As teenagers, a friend and I demolished an old pig shed that the owner needed clearing before building work. We did it for free but then flogged the bricks to a reclamation yard for a few hundred pounds. It felt like a fortune at the time.
What was your first role in the City?
Back in 1999, I was a trainee trader on a busy desk market-making bond options. It was intense work involving daily 6am starts and I quickly got twitchy behind a desk all day. One day, on a whim, I walked into an Army recruiting office. I’d never considered it before but was hankering for an adventure. I ended up enlisting and staying in the army for 20 great years.
And what are you up to now?
I spent two decades leading combat troops in the army – including being a junior commander in Iraq, through to more complex operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere. I left the forces in early 2020 without much of a plan, but within weeks I was asked to join No 10 at the start of the Covid pandemic to set up the UK’s national testing programme. That was a huge challenge. I worked with some amazing people working under extreme pressure and was very proud of the testing programme we were able to establish.
It was during my stint in Downing Street that I met Dr Ben Warner, who was then the PM’s data advisor. We took our frustrations with having to make high-stakes decisions with imperfect data and channelled them into founding Electric Twin together in 2023. We’re changing the way businesses can understand their customers through the creation of AI-powered synthetic audiences. The technology we’ve built enables organisations to get accurate answers about how real people think and behave, in record time.
What’s one thing you love about Canada?
There’s an energy to London that’s hard to match anywhere on the planet. In my various careers –from finance, the military, government and now AI – London has always been at the centre.
And one thing you would change?
Idiots on Lime bikes jumping red lights.
What’s been your most memorable business meeting?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson once stopped me in a No 10 corridor for a chat, but I was on the phone to my wife at the time, mid-argument. I wasn’t sure who should rank higher in that situation!
And any business faux pas?
Over a weekend in the middle of our first VC fundraise I injured myself while putting up sheep fencing in Wales. A massive bandage across your head doesn’t make the best first impression with investors!
What’s been your proudest moment?
My daughter winning a national football tournament.
And who do you look up to?
Stanley McChrystal – an amazing leader, who was inspirational to serve under back in the day.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever been given?
Focus on the journey not the destination. Life’s too short to slave away at a distant goal without inspiration along the way.
And the worst?
Jump the puddles.
Are you optimistic for the year ahead?
100 per cent. We’re taking our business into a very exciting phase as we take on more clients and build our team. London is a great place to find superb talent and I love the challenge of growing a team here.
We’re going for lunch, and you’re picking – where are we going?
Taza on Queensway.
And if we’re grabbing a drink after work?
Cittie of Yorke on High Holborn.
Where’s home during the week?
Holland Park roundabout.
And where might we find you at the weekend?
In Wales, running up a hill or laying a hedge.
You’ve got a well-deserved two weeks off. Where are you going and who with?
Surfing in Mexico with my family.