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Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

Date post: 23-Aug-2014
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Short talk I prepared for a panel on "Diaspora, Entrepreneurship – From brain drain to brain gain: What can be the role of Iranian diaspora in innovation, technology transfer and entrepreneurship in Iran?" I also added the video of my talk and the panel discussion at the end.
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Iran Startups – Building Bridges from In- and Outside by Puja Abbassi Iranian Brain Gain 2014-05-07
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Page 1: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

Iran Startups – Building Bridges from In- and Outside

by Puja AbbassiIranian Brain Gain 2014-05-07

Page 2: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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

Page 3: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

Iran Startup Ecosystem in 2 Years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEmZvD9FOwo

Page 4: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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

Page 5: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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

Page 6: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

Iran Web and Mobile Conference Biggest Conference on Iran Startups http://conf.iranwebfestival.com

Page 7: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

Startup Weekend in Iran

2000 entrepreneurs 120 teams 15 events 9 cities 18 months

Page 8: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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/

Page 9: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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

Page 10: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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

Page 11: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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

Page 12: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

What Can You Do?

Spread the Word!Get in Touch!

Work together!

Page 13: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

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)

Page 14: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

Startup Ecosystem Leaders in Iran Mohsen Malayeri (@malayeri) Hamidreza Ahmadi (@hrahmadi8) Hadi Farnoud (@hadifarnoud) Shayan Shalileh (@shayanshalileh) Mobin Ranjbar (@MobinRanjbar)

Page 15: Iran Startups - Building Bridges - Iranian Brain Gain 2014

What Can You Do?

Spread the Word!Get in Touch!

Work together!


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