This month, we’re sitting down with Alexandra Mysoor, CEO and cofounder of Alix, a company streamlining estate planning and settlement with an AI-powered platform. 

Here’s a lightly edited version of the conversation:

Q: What sparked the inspiration for this company?
A: In early 2022, I offered to help settle the affairs of a close family friend after she passed, and I couldn’t believe how frustrating the process was. I mean, you lose someone you absolutely adore and rather than focus on your grief and healing, you’re left with a long to-do list for banks, insurance agents, utilities, government agencies, real estate professionals, lawyers, CPAs… the list goes on. It’s 600-900 hours of effort with no guide and no map. And worst of all, most of the time you feel very alone — very few people have any clue or interest in making the process easier. 

Later, while putting together the business plan with my cofounder, Hugh Tamassia, who previously served as chief technology officer for both Acorns and JPMorgan Chase, we realized the business opportunity was off the charts: in the next 20 years, 70 million baby boomers will transfer $84 trillion in wealth in the US alone. 

If Alix can deliver service excellence during the wealth transfer process, families will choose us for future financial services needs. In other words, if we get this right, in a few years Alix will be the largest, most empathetic financial services company in the world.

Q: What challenges did you face in starting Alix? Why has this never been done before?
A: Figuring out distribution was one of our earliest challenges. Getting the right distribution partners so we could reach potential customers at the moment of greatest need, and doing it in a cost-effective way, was key to landing our first investments and feeling like we could really make this business work. 

Once we had distribution in place, we knew we had our unfair advantage, but whether we could capitalize on it has meant overcoming so many other challenges like figuring out how to communicate best with people during this very human moment or how to help them understand the tsunami of tasks they’re about to face. And we needed to get that messaging and tone right not just in our communications but also in our technology. 

Lastly, launching our app was a huge milestone and a testament to the challenges we overcame in terms of automating what has traditionally been a very bespoke process. Recent advances in AI have opened up a new frontier where large-scale, made-to-measure automation is finally within reach. The reason this has never been done before is all of those challenges combined with the fact that people generally don’t pay attention to this space. Moving in certain circles, you can start to think technology has permeated every industry, but here was a space untouched by tech where it could really make a difference. My cofounder and I just happen to be the first team — and the right team — paying attention.

Q: In what specific ways will your technology help to improve the estate settlement industry over the next decade?
A: Combined, the average estate spends over $30,000 on attorneys, accounting fees and executor compensation. Through automation, Alix’s technology will bring that cost down significantly. Alix is also opening the aperture of what it means to settle an estate by helping with things like forwarding mail, canceling subscriptions and closing or memorializing social media accounts. Honestly, companies should’ve been helping with those tasks all along, but they never had the pressure. Alix will be that pressure, helping make comprehensive support the new standard. We are creating a new category.

Q: What advice would you give to other founders looking to build in a similar space? 
A: First, I wouldn’t recommend anyone build in our space. Instead, look for opportunities where no one else is looking. One of my favorite things I always carry with me, and give to every new Alix employee, is a geode, which is a special type of rock that looks ordinary, but once you flip it over, you see a magical treasure trove of crystals and technicolor. To build a really big business, you need to find your geode. Once you find your geode, then it’s all about following your curiosity. Some people will say “follow your passion,” but for me, curiosity is much more exciting. It drives you to solve problems, to build something from nothing, and to keep innovating. Curiosity, not passion, is the energy you need to propel yourself forward.