"I truly believe that diversity is a competitive advantage."
Alex Dask is the founder of Beam. Beam allows customers to straighten their teeth from the comfort of their home using Beam clear aligners. Its mission is to make quality dental care more affordable. In addition, they believe in giving back to the community and donate 1% of all sales to support The World Health Dental Organization. Throughout his decade-long digital marketing career, Alex has managed more than $10M across several channels with a breadth of experience ranging from agency-side to technology startups to large corporations. Most recently he has worked at growth marketing agencies in New York City.
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Thank you so much for giving us your time! Before we begin, could you introduce yourself to our readers and take us through what exactly your company does and what your vision is for its future?
Alex Dask: My name is Alex Dask and I’m the founder of Beam. Beam allows customers to straighten their teeth from the comfort of their home using Beam clear aligners. Our mission is to make quality dental care more affordable. In addition, we believe in giving back to the community and donate 1% of all sales to support The World Health Dental Organization. Throughout my decade-long digital marketing career, I have managed more than $10M across several channels with a breadth of experience ranging from agency-side to technology startups to large corporations. Most recently I have worked at growth marketing agencies in New York City.
NO child ever says I want to be a CEO/entrepreneur when I grow up. What did you want to be and how did you get where you are today?
Alex Dask: When I was a child I wanted to be a veterinarian. I did work experience at a vet and couldn’t stomach the surgeries so realized I needed to change that dream. Over time I realized I was still passionate about healthcare and learned to love digital marketing. Therefore, as I’ve evolved in my career I’ve merged those two passions.
Tell us something about yourself that others in your organization might be surprised to know.
Alex Dask: Throughout university, I did modelling. It was a great opportunity to travel the world – I spent most of my time travelling around Europe for modelling.
Many readers may wonder how to become an entrepreneur but what is an entrepreneur? How would you define it?
Alex Dask: I won’t describe it in the textbook definition. However, from meeting many entrepreneurs I think it’s a specific way of viewing the world. In general, I would say most entrepreneurs believe they can change the world through business ownership. There are also some common characteristics I see among entrepreneurs – comfortable with risk, optimistic, passionate, and competitive.
What is the importance of having a supportive and inclusive culture?
Alex Dask: Beyond simply the moral imperative I truly believe that diversity is a competitive advantage. The way to achieve diversity is through a supportive and inclusive culture that welcomes everybody that has the skillset for the role and a positive attitude.
How can a leader be disruptive in the post covid world?
Alex Dask: Covid has truly accelerated e-commerce and digital adoption. You can be most disruptive by following the trends in the market.
If a 5-year-old asked you to describe your job, what would you tell them?
Alex Dask: Professional problem solver.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Alex Dask: A difficult decision was around the production of our product. Initially, we were seeking to produce our clear aligners in-house, and while our team had experience ultimately we decided to partner with a manufacturer in Germany. They are one of the leading manufacturers and have produced millions of clear aligners. One of the reasons this was particularly difficult is that we are based in Australia and therefore we knew there would be challenges around the time zones. However, ultimately we decided to do what was in the best interest of our customers and not ourselves. By partnering with this leading manufacturer we can offer the highest quality aligner in the Australian market at an incredibly affordable price.
Leaders are usually asked about their most useful qualities but let’s change things up a bit. What is your most useless talent?
Alex Dask: I like to move fast and because of that sometimes I am not the most organized. I believe as a startup it’s incredibly important to initially focus on hiring for your weaknesses.
Thank you so much for your time but before we finish things off, we do have one more question. If you wrote a book about your life until today, what would the title be?
Alex Dask: “The long and winding road.”
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Alex Dask for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Alex Dask or his company, you can do it through his – Facebook
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