Tehran: A Burgeoning Startup Hub





The startup scene in Tehran is quite young and one can hardly find an active internet business that’s been around longer than 4 years and Iran’s startup ecosystem is still being shaped. Few years ago, people might rarely take "a guy who is running a website" serious, but they do now because he is making a good money out of it!

Because a startup is not necessarily and initially a big project to start, so it is feasible to operate by a team of young people. Most of the current startups are started by people who are aged between 20 to 35 years old. Young graduates are enthusiast about running business over internet because they know and hear about successful stories outside, they know it can grow fast and they think this could be a rapid jump to have their own business and change their lifestyle in a short term.


Sara Ruzikhah speaking Startup Grind Tehran



Economic challenges might be a reason to encourage some graduates to build their own project rather than getting employed with a low salary rate after studying for years. For those who think like this, there are local websites and newsletters trying to produce and share startup-related contents to learn. In Tehran, there are also local gathering events to share experiences. Teams are using technical people who have learnt how to program web or mobile-based applications by studying at universities or private institutions.



Having a population of nearly 80 million, Iran is the first country in Middle East in terms of number of internet users (55% penetration). This makes the market quite exciting for those investors who know this marketplace's potential. Viewing from another side, imposing sanctions against Iran and commanding censorships for using some foreign websites have become opportunities for those startups who build resembling services in answer to local demands.

Today, some private companies are willing to invest on startups with interesting trends and a dedicated team. This year one venture capitalist made a remarkable investment on three startups which are growing well. Rocket Internet has also made notable investments on four different startups.  However, we still have inadequate investors, the infrastructure is still being developed, and startup teams are young and require more training to grow.


City of Tehran



 

Confidently, you can see startups in Tehran who are thriving and becoming real businesses. Compared to the past, the new government as well as the public sector have seemed to shift their attitude towards startups and internet business as a whole. We hope this change in attitude may help to assist young entrepreneurs to build a successful journey.

 

Startup Grind in Tehran

Startup Grind Tehran intends to be a program for bringing together enthusiasts and active entrepreneurs in order to make more effective connections. It tries to make the scene more dynamic, and to extract and share the experiences of entrepreneurs; I believe this is happening. We have been trying to match participants with real “technopreneurs” who have faced and tackled a real challenge in their path. This makes the interaction with the audience more effective and targeted. Although Startup Grind is an informal and friendly program in its own structure, the Startup Grind Tehran’s team attempts to use this informality as a sort of advantage. In a country where most events and gatherings are still very formal we hope that we can help our audience have a better user-experience than what may be typical during our Startup Grind Tehran event.









Startup Grind Tehran Startup Grind Tehran Startup Grind Tehran

It has been five months since Startup Grind Tehran started its first event in July 2014 and we just ran our fourth event a week ago. From the start of our first event I have had no shortage of positive feedback from friends who have been standing by me; trying to support this program to improve. People are participating very well in our event and this is much better than what I expected before I start. Without a doubt, I can say that we have seen massive improvements since our start specifically in terms of event management, interview style, and even the quality and willingness of our participants.

Since our second event, I have received offers from companies who tend to support us as a sponsor as they believe this is an effective program for the community – it is very good to have such a feedback!

Our past events have been focused on talking with startup founders but I am planning to select and invite speakers who are investors or run accelerators. Because sharing the experience of everyone involved in the ecosystems is so important. Now as a chapter director, one of the goals I am trying to focus on is to build more effective and sharable content in order to increase awareness and to better serve my community.