# Alex Cooper

> Alex Cooper is the co-founder and co-CEO of Pathways, a New York climate-AI company building the data layer for sustainable manufacturing. Pathways automates the creation of real-time Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for building-material producers - turning a slow, costly, manual six-to-twelve-month process into something that takes weeks. A decade scaling consumer and data startups (Uber, Clutter, Two Chairs) left Cooper convinced that the manufacturers responsible for roughly 40% of global CO2 deserved software as good as the apps on everyone's phone. He teamed up with Harvard classmate Leise Sandeman in 2022 to prove it.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Pathways
- **Organizations:** Pathways, Uber, Clutter, Two Chairs
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A., International Government, Economics & the Middle East, Cornell University, Graduate studies (where he met co-founder Leise Sandeman; research on embodied carbon), Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Pathways (2022), an AI platform automating LCAs and EPDs for the building-materials industry., Raised $2.5M in a round co-led by Pi Labs and Zacua Ventures, oversubscribed by $1.5M., Signed major industry customers including Stella-Jones and Heidelberg Materials.

## Career timeline

- **2010-2014** — Earns a B.A. at Cornell University in International Government, Economics and the Middle East.
- **Early career** — Works in product strategy at Uber.
- **Mid career** — Leads product operations at Clutter, the on-demand storage startup.
- **Later** — Leads data analytics and finance at mental-health company Two Chairs.
- **Grad school** — Studies at Harvard (with research ties to MIT) on embodied carbon in the built environment; meets co-founder Leise Sandeman.
- **2022** — Co-founds Pathways with Leise Sandeman to automate LCAs and EPDs for building-material manufacturers.
- **2024-02** — Pathways raises $2.5M pre-seed/seed, co-led by Pi Labs and Zacua Ventures; round oversubscribed by $1.5M.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Pathways (2022), an AI platform automating LCAs and EPDs for the building-materials industry.
- Raised $2.5M in a round co-led by Pi Labs and Zacua Ventures, oversubscribed by $1.5M.
- Signed major industry customers including Stella-Jones and Heidelberg Materials.
- Built technology that compresses EPD generation from 6-12 months to a matter of weeks (up to ~75% time savings).
- Previously helped scale Uber, Clutter, and Two Chairs across product, operations, data and finance.

## Latest updates

- **2024-02** — Pathways announced a $2.5M raise co-led by Pi Labs and Zacua Ventures to track and decarbonize building-material emissions.
- **2025-12** — Coverage continues to position Pathways as a leading climate-AI player automating EPDs for concrete and treated-wood producers.

## Links

- Website: https://pathwaysai.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderrcooper

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/alex-cooper
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25