Alex Capecelatro, Josh.ai | If you combine a deep interest in how things work with a desire to show people what you’ve discovered, you can go far in business very quickly

Alex, Co-founder of Josh.ai, has always been interested in how things work. He gravitated to chemistry and physics from a very young age. His curiosity has long extended to people, too, so after a cold call led to a summer job in a university lab, he ended up at a major league science conference. There, he met some people who worked for the federal government, and at 16, he dropped out of school to join NASA, and later, other parts of the government.   

He was working in nanotechnology and learning from incredibly smart people. He loved creating things and learning from other brilliant minds, but he felt constrained; he couldn’t talk about the work he was doing. Entrepreneurship gave him that freedom. When he starts companies, he begins by just talking to people. 

Josh.ai is a high-end home automation tool. Because he didn’t like what was available on the market, Alex had a hunch that others might be in the same boat. So he asked his friends about their experiences with home automation. They agreed with him and introduced him to other people. This simple market research to see if others feel as you do about the problem is a beautifully natural way to start a company. When you can combine a deep technical scientific mindset with an interest in people and their opinions, it’s a deadly combination. 

“We just started with asking friends - what have you done with your home and are you satisfied with it? When 100% of people told us “no,” we figured we had a pretty good business opportunity.”