Intervju med Amir Salehi
Program: Master'a program in Business Development and Internationalization
Start of education: 2009
Title: Business Development Lead and CEO of my own company.
Current employer and country of residence:
I am now in Iran and I usually work with accelerators, VCs or entrepreneurs.
At the moment I am Business Development Lead of Iran's top startup accelerator, Avatech. While dedicating my own startup and venturing expertise to startup communities, I am also leading corporate partnerships.
Besides all these, I have my own entrepreneurial strategy framework called “Golden Eagle Strategy”, which is available at www.GoldenEagleStrategy.com and I advise startups from foundation to growth and fund-raising.
I am also judge in startup pitch tests and competitions such as Sharif university VC CUP, Elecomp starts, etc.
A few words about your work tasks and responsibilities:
My work is composed of the following tasks:
When I work with venture capital firms, I usually advise them on the business of venture capital and its cross functions. I usually manage from planning for deal sourcing, due diligence, and post investment monitoring to make sure the business of the VC is going well. As the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Iran is nascent, since 2014, I advised three large Iranian enterprises to setup their venture capital arm (Corporate Venture Capital. I also advised some top Iranian officials in the government regarding the start of venture capital and promoting Iranian entrepreneurship ecosystem and making the shift in the country’s economy from oil-driven to technology-driven.
Technology entrepreneurs are energetic risk taking tech savvies who are not familiar enough with business world and challenges of commercializing their innovations. As my own social responsibility, I try to advise some of them for free to put them on the right track. However, there are also cases in which I am more involved and as entrepreneurs have financial problem to pay for consultancy fees, I join their team and take a minority equity in return of advising them on functions such as fund-raising, product-market fit, go to market strategy, and business development process.
Why you chose the Master’s program that you studied at USBE:
This is the most interesting question you are asking. I remember I had two admissions to study Master in 2009: one from Germany and the other from USBE in Sweden and I had to choose one. The major - and probably not wise for others- reason for me was the fly fishing opportunity. I am a “work-hard, play-hard” type of a person and this was important for me to play hard too. The other factor was program itself: “Business Development and Internationalization”. From the syllabus of the program I found out that the focal point is “entrepreneurship”. I had some ideas in mind and tried some small businesses before, so, I found this a unique opportunity for myself to develop my entrepreneurial skills. I also realized that the university has an incubator as well (Uminova Innovation). Besides all these, the university ranking and positive student feedbacks was another criterion for me to choose the right place to study and spend couple of years of my life. I am really happy for my choice and if the time machine goes back 100 times again I will definitely choose the same country, city, university, and program for my Master.
What your specialty was during your Bachelor studies:
My specialty was Business Administration and I studied that in Iran, Payam Noor University.
A few words about how you got your current job for example which previous employments were the stepping stones in reaching your current position:
Just couple of months after I started my studies in Umeå, I started my own company, Lar Fishing with the help of Uminova Innovation (my special thanks to all lovely staff of Uminova Innovation). The company was an online shop, but with a unique gear guide which was innovative at the time and receive grant as well. Besides my studies at the university, I had to do all cross-functions of my company from procurement to marketing and logistic alone and my room in Fysikgränd was the warehouse of my products in the beginning. The story of Lar Fishing requires writing a book, but after lots of challenges it went down in 2013. The important fact was that I did what I wanted and it was possible for me as a foreigner to start and own my business in Sweden. I put all my savings in the business and it went really well for two years. The experience in Lar Fishing and turning from student to entrepreneur was an important step for me. Later on, I advised three venture capitalists while having my company Lar Fishing and traveled a lot in European countries workwise. When you start a business, you gain invaluable experiences that boost your future career even if you fail in your business. This was the most important step for me that Umeå university ecosystem provided the opportunity to start my company and try and fail. I having the opportunity to fail was the most important step in my career.
Any advice you would like to give to current students at USBE:
You are not in an ordinary place. The university has an amazing ecosystem that can create a bright future for you, but it all depends on you. No matter what you study and what your goals are, try to take risks and follow your dreams while you are there. If you are reading this interview and you are still student at USBE, take a moment to think, set your goals if not already did and make your future now. I also want to add two quotes one was from Rob Briton who was our guest lecturer there suggesting us:
“Do not put your life on auto pilot, steer it”
The other one I would quote from Göran Nilsson of Uminova Innovation, who was helping me to come out of a real challenge I faced.
“In this cases people say you should learn from experiences and be careful, that’s true, but DO NOT LEARN TOO MUCH”
Whatever your goals are do not afraid of failure.