Alex Dees

Alex Dees is a New York-based entrepreneur and investor who co-founded Meridian, an artificial intelligence marketing platform, and joined OpenAI’s OpenAI for Startups team in October 2026.^[1]​^[2]​

Education

Alex Dees atteneded both Washington University in St. Louis and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. ^[1]

Career

Dees worked as a technical consultant at World Wide Technology from January 2019 to January 2021, contributing to machine-learning and data-engineering projects for Fortune 500 companies. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.^[1]​

In January 2021, Dees joined Zeal as its third employee and founding growth lead. He later became team lead for go-to-market, serving from January 2022 to January 2023, and head of business development from January 2023 to January 2024. Dees said he started and led the company’s sales, solutions engineering, customer success, and growth teams. He joined Zeal at the pre-seed stage and remained as it grew through its Series B. Zeal builds embedded fintech infrastructure and, according to Dees’s profile, raised more than $30 million from investors including Spark Capital, Box Group, and Commerce Ventures.^[1]​

From January 2022 to January 2023, Dees was also a venture fellow at Susa Ventures, a seed-stage venture fund. He has worked as an angel investor since January 2024.^[1]​

Meridian

Dees co-founded Meridian in 2025 and served as its chief executive officer from January 2025. Meridian developed marketing services intended to help brands appear in AI-powered search results. Dees introduced the company in October 2025 as a “Visibility Engine” for helping companies rank highly in AI search tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini. He described Meridian as an in-person New York City company with a small-team approach and a large equity pool while recruiting for engineering, sales, growth, and customer-experience roles.^[1]​^[2]​

Meridian described its offering as a done-for-you answer engine optimization (AEO) service: it helped brands improve their visibility in AI search. Its listed customers included Hex, Athletic Propulsion Labs, and Origin, as well as hundreds of other brands. In March 2026, Dees announced Meridian Managed, a done-for-you AEO service, and said he had spoken with hundreds of companies over the preceding year about appearing in AI search. He also argued that online marketing was changing as computers increasingly researched, compared options, and shortlisted vendors.^[1]​^[2]​

In September 2026, Dees announced that Meridian had been acquired by Searchable.^[1]​

OpenAI

On October 19, 2026, Dees announced that he had joined OpenAI to work on its OpenAI for Startups team. He invited founders and builders interested in using OpenAI to build and scale their companies to contact him.^[2]​

Media Appearances

In March 2026, Alex Dees appeared in Stifel NextGen Voices, an interview series by Stifel, discussing his experience co-founding Meridian. The interview covered the challenges of founding a company, including early-stage risks, hiring, decision-making, and building a business in the AI sector.

In February 2026, Alex Dees appeared on the Search with Candour podcast, hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward and produced by Candour Agency. Dees discussed strategies for improving brand and website visibility in AI-powered search platforms, including ChatGPT, AI Mode, and Perplexity.