Alex Payne
Writer and former technologist; early Twitter engineer and co-founder and CTO of Simple.
At a glance
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- Alex Payne is an American writer and investor who goes by al3x online.
- He was one of the first employees at Twitter, where he launched its developer platform and built the first block feature.
- He then co-founded the online bank Simple and was its CTO.
- He co-wrote Programming Scala for O'Reilly and started the Emerging Languages conference.
- He now writes fiction and screenplays.
Key facts
- Early employee; launched the developer platform and implemented the first block feature1
- Simple
- Co-founder and CTO of the online bank1
- Book
- Programming Scala (O'Reilly), co-author1
- Also
- Started the Emerging Languages conference; taught at Recurse Center and Turing School1
- Now
- A writer living in the Hudson Valley and New York City; also an investor and donor (as of 2026)2
Links
Sources
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