Alex Perdikis, inride, Koons Motors
Alex Perdikis
In 2018 Alex Perdikis became the founder and chairman of inride, an automotive AI company built around a distinctive premise: technology for dealerships that should be developed and tested by people who understand how dealerships actually operate.
Today, inride provides AI technology designed specifically for automotive dealerships through a monthly subscription model. Its platform is used by approximately 75 dealerships across the United States. In April 2026, Ford recognized inride’s Trade Agent AI as a Tier III cooperative advertising media type, making it the first agentic AI platform to receive that designation. Perdikis remains closely involved in the business, combining the perspective of a technology founder with the practical experience of a dealer operator. His work with inride focuses on how agentic AI can be applied to real dealership workflows, helping dealers use emerging technology in ways grounded in the realities of automotive retail.
At the same time, Alex Perdikis continues to run Koons Motors, where he is owner and CEO. The company currently operates multiple new-car dealership franchises in the Washington, DC, market and is pursuing further expansion. His involvement on both sides of the industry gives him an unusual vantage point: he can identify operational problems on the dealership floor, evaluate how technology performs in a live retail environment, and apply what is learned directly to the continued development of inride.
High Energy and Focus
As anyone who knows Alex can attest to, he is high energy. As a child in Bethesda, he used that high energy to focus on earning money in the neighborhood by washing cars and mowing lawns. His energy and focus turned him into a high school football player recruited by several colleges. He chose the University of Richmond. While working on his business administration degree, he played on the varsity football team from 1993 to 1996. Even the serious spinal injury he suffered in 1996 didn’t slow him down. He had to stop playing football, but his energy and focus led him to a career in the automotive industry. After graduating in 1997, he went to work in the Accounting department at Koons Lincoln/Mercury Volvo and never looked back. In a few short months he became the company’s top volume salesperson. He received a promotion to sales manager shortly after that and with his high energy focus and leadership skills, he became general manager. Not one to sit on his laurels, Alex completed a yearlong graduate level program, the Dealer Candidate Academy, administered by the National Automobile Dealership Association (NADA). The course is designed to prepare students to own and operate their own automotive dealership. He was well-respected by his classmates who elected him class president.
Alex worked at several Koons Automotive franchises, making significant improvements as he went. Koons of Tysons Corner because the highest volume Chevrolet and Chrysler dealer in the entire mid-Atlantic region under his tenure, with over $150 million in annual sales. Koons of Tysons Corner earned several awards including the Jack Smith Leadership Award, which is only given to the top 1 percent of all General Motors Corp. franchises.
In 2011, Alex became a partner of the Jim Koons Automotive Company. That same year, he became general manager of the newly acquired Koons of Silver Spring.
At Home
Community involvement has remained an important part of Perdikis’s work. He and his family have helped raise more than $1 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He is also a founding member of Catholic Charities’ 83.33 Society and a founding supporter of the SheChampions Coaching Mentorship Program, which helps aspiring female soccer coaches earn professional coaching credentials.
Alex Perdikis lives in the Washington, DC, area with his family. After three decades in automotive retail, his work now centers on two major parts of the industry that are often treated separately: operating dealerships and building the technology intended to improve them. Through inride, he brings those perspectives together, developing automotive AI from inside the business it is designed to serve.