# Alex Stephany

> Alex Stephany is a British entrepreneur, author and Beam co-founder and CEO based in London. A former corporate lawyer and JustPark CEO, he helped develop Beam’s employment and housing support model, initially funded in part through crowdfunding. Beam has since ended that crowdfunding functionality, moved member expenses towards government funding and expanded into AI tools for frontline workers, including Beam Notes.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Beam
- **Organizations:** Beam, JustPark, Spacehive, Techstars, Seedcamp
- **Nationality:** British
- **Education:** English; First Class Honours, University of Oxford
- **Known for:** Led JustPark’s £3.7 million equity crowdfunding round in 2015., Authored The Business of Sharing: Making it in the New Sharing Economy, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015., Co-founded Beam with Seb Barker; Beam launched in October 2017.

## Career timeline

- **2011** — Joined the business later known as JustPark as chief operating officer.
- **2012** — Became JustPark CEO at the end of the year.
- **2015** — JustPark raised £3.7 million through equity crowdfunding; Palgrave Macmillan published The Business of Sharing on 9 March; his JustPark CEO tenure ended that year.
- **2016** — Developed the idea for Beam after getting to know a man experiencing homelessness near his local Tube station; met future co-founder Seb Barker.
- **2017** — Beam launched in October; its first member Tony crowdfunded training as an electrician.
- **2021** — Beam received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility.
- **2023** — Beam began developing its first AI tool for its own frontline workers.
- **2024** — Magic Notes was used in Swindon council’s April-July pilot; the council published results on 1 October.
- **2025** — Beam’s official history records international partnerships and the opening of its Melbourne office.

## Achievements

- Led JustPark’s £3.7 million equity crowdfunding round in 2015.
- Authored The Business of Sharing: Making it in the New Sharing Economy, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015.
- Co-founded Beam with Seb Barker; Beam launched in October 2017.
- Beam received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2021 and appeared on LinkedIn’s UK Top Startups list in 2022.
- Delivered the TEDxBrighton talk A new way to tackle homelessness; video published in March 2019.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Published an interview with Beam Principal Engineer Julian Keenaghan on 9 April, discussing the early crowdfunding platform, Notes and international expansion.
- **2025-11** — The Institute of Employability Professionals Australia reported on his presentation about AI and frontline employment services at its Australia summit.

## Links

- Website: http://alexstephany.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexstephany/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/AlexStephany

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/alex-stephany
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-22