Iran Startups – Building Bridges from In- and Outside
by Puja AbbassiIranian Brain Gain 2014-05-07
Researcher & PhD Candidate - University of Cologne Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Diversity Cyber Security Supply Chain (& Food) Security
Work in and advise startups since 2004 Organizer, Speaker, Startup Mentor:
Puja Abbassi http://pujaabbassi.com @puja108Who am I
Iran Startup Ecosystem in 2 Years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEmZvD9FOwo
More than 60% of the people are under 30 years old High proportion of technical educated young people High motivation and acceptance in society for entrepreneurs Internet penetration at 60%. Mobile penetration is 120%!! Internetspeed low, but imporivng. Mobile speeds even lower,
but first 3G net is up. Online/Mobile Banking is getting possible. Often many sources of early-stage money from family and
friends Lower risk Maybe that‘s why there‘s no angels?
Iran – State of the Union
Iran Startups – State of the Union Highly motivated and growing scene - often up to 40% women. Highly active, motivated, and experienced leaders
Many internationally renowned events like Startup Weekend, NEXT, FailCon, LeanStartupMachine, Seedstars, …
Own big events with intl. speakers like “Iran Web and Mobile Conference”
Many opportunities still open Entrepreneurs motivated to do more Startup education still needs work Investors still rare and term sheets mainly in their favor (50%
equity for a round is not unheard of)
https://angel.co/iran
Iran Web and Mobile Conference Biggest Conference on Iran Startups http://conf.iranwebfestival.com
Startup Weekend in Iran
2000 entrepreneurs 120 teams 15 events 9 cities 18 months
Iran Startups are Gaining Intl. Interest Startup Rising: Iran | PandoDaily | Christopher M. Schroeder
http://pando.com/2014/05/20/startup-rising-iran/ The startup community in Iran is “drawing a lot of inspiration from
what’s happening in the West.” | L'Atelier - Paris | Roxanne Varza http://www.atelier.net/en/trends/articles/startup-community-iran-drawi
ng-lot-inspiration-what-happening-west_429292
VC Firms Start Investing in Iran’s IT Market | Angle Chronicle | Mahboobeh Khorshidi http://www.anglechronicle.com/vc-firms-start-investing-in-irans-it-mar
ket/454/
What It’s Like Being a Business Traveler in Iran | Harvard Business Review| Christopher M. Schroeder http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/05/what-its-like-being-a-business-traveler-in-
iran/
What does the Ecosystem need (Inside) More Startups
First big exits More entrepreneurs
Education Events Seminars Accelerators
Money Angels Accelerators Early-Stage Funds VCs
International Publicity and Recognition
What does the Ecosystem need from the Diaspora? „Mentorship and guidance. IEA could help connect these two
together.“ Adopt-A-Founder Program Mentors for first Accelerator (AvaTech)
„Be an ambassador of Iranian startups. Just spread the word and raise awareness.“ Articles, talks, interviews, panels, etc. See Roxanne, Daniel, Christopher, etc.
Iran’s tech ecosystem struggles to catch up to Persian diaspora startups
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/world/middle-east/iran’s-tech-ecosystem-struggles-catch-persian-diaspora-startups
Notable Iranian Entrepreneurs Roxanne Varza (@roxannevarza)
startup lead @microsoft / @msftventures. cofounder @tech_eu @girlsintech_uk @gitparis & @failcon paris. ex techcrunch france editor @TCFR
Shervin Pishevar (@shervin) GP @Sherpa, Advisor & Board Observer @Uber. Investor @Uber,
@MachineZone, @WarbyParker, @Munchery, @Tumblr, @Fab. Co-Founder @Webs, SGN, WebOS. Crown Fellow 2014.
Arash Ferdowsi (@arashf) Founder & CTO at Dropbox
Salar Kamangar (CEO/SVP Youtube) Ali Jafari (@jafari)
VP, Direct Sales Europe at Twitter
What Can You Do?
Spread the Word!Get in Touch!
Work together!
Recources from Iran
StartupCast by Hadi Farnoud (English) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/startupcast/id878112085 https://soundcloud.com/hadifarnoud/sets/startupcast
Medium Collection (English) https://medium.com/iran-startups
Iran Startups https://www.facebook.com/groups/startupir/ http://irstartups.com (@Startupir)
Iran Entrepreneurship Association (Farsi) http://iranea.com https://www.startupdigest.com/digests/iran http://karya.ir (@KaryaEdu)
Startup Ecosystem Leaders in Iran Mohsen Malayeri (@malayeri) Hamidreza Ahmadi (@hrahmadi8) Hadi Farnoud (@hadifarnoud) Shayan Shalileh (@shayanshalileh) Mobin Ranjbar (@MobinRanjbar)
What Can You Do?
Spread the Word!Get in Touch!
Work together!
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