In this episode of The AI Native Podcast, we sit down with Alex Halkin, founder of Competera and pioneer in AI-powered pricing. Alex takes us through his remarkable journey—from growing up in Ukraine and experimenting with early neural networks, to consulting for global retailers, to bootstrapping his own AI startup.
We discuss:
- How Alex’s first ventures (selling internet to neighbors and running an internet café) taught him entrepreneurial grit.
- Why consulting shaped his perspective on automation and pricing inefficiencies.
- The challenges of pitching AI-driven pricing inside a traditional consulting model.
- Bootstrapping Competera with his own money, surviving early burn rates, and closing enterprise deals with just 300 products.
- How AI is reshaping pricing strategy, junior roles, and the speed at which founders must now operate.
- The future of AI in education, automation, and vertical solutions.
Alex also shares candid insights about fundraising, navigating corporate politics, and why focus, speed, and honesty are the true superpowers for founders in the AI era.
Chapters:
- 00:00 – Big ideas start simple
- 03:00 – Early life in Ukraine & first businesses
- 08:00 – Consulting, automation, and discovering pricing inefficiencies
- 13:00 – Why big firms resisted subscriptions & Alex’s pivot
- 16:00 – Bootstrapping Competera and landing first enterprise clients
- 23:00 – Compute costs, margins, and survival under the radar
- 28:00 – AI adoption in retail and beyond
- 33:00 – The future of education in an AI-driven world
- 36:00 – Advice for new founders in the post-LLM era
Connect with Alex Halkin:
🔗 LinkedIn
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