September 5th – 8th, 2012, I was invited to facilitate the first Startup Weekend ever hosted in Iran, in its capital city Tehran.

I had no idea what Tehran would be like. The only information I had about Iran in general were negative news from global media, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Were there actual dangers for foreigners like myself?  

After doing some research, using search engines, Quora and talking to a few people that new Iranians, I decided I wanted to do the trip. A good mixture of anxiety and fear best describes the feeling I had just before going on the plain from Istanbul to Tehran – mostly because of the uncertainty of how things would be like.

Needless to say, Tehran and the people I met was completely different then I could ever have imagined or expected.

To start with, everybody I met were truly genuine, kind and always making sure I felt comfortable in the environment. One of the hosts taught  me early on some of the customs that it is good for visitors to be aware of.

Be aware of a few things

Firstly, it is obligatory for women to were a “Hijab”, which is a small veil that covers your hair and neck. Second, Alcohol is forbidden. Thirdly, it is not well seen to shake women hands while greeting them. You should rather do a simple nod without offering out your hand for a handshake. Fourthly Iranians have high respect for one another, especially those who seem to be community leaders. When somebody of high statute walks nearby, there is a tendency for everybody to stand up until he either sits down or offers everybody else to sit down. Finally don’t be surprised if you see males kissing on another lightly on the cheek mouth, or even holding hands, which is a regular custom among male friends.

Startup Weekend Tehran

The reasoning of my trip to Tehran, was to facilitate a Startup Weekend event, a 54 hour workshop, where participants take new ideas as far as possible in a boot camp atmosphere, while surrounded by mentors, other participants and coaches.

Around 120 applicants were registered in total. We started the first day off by having everybody that had an idea pitch it for 60 seconds on stage. In total, 70 participants stood up and had a 60 second pitch. It was interesting to see that before the event started, (and I was told before all official events start), there is a small Iranian anthem and video played for participants. Most of the pitches were in Persian, but according to a translator I had, some of the ideas were very interesting, everything from IT mobile opportunities in copying famous western models, into new kind of ideas aimed at either local or global market. Most of them were IT, but some less technical.  

The Startup Weekend event was fantastic in all aspects. The local organizer Mohsen Malayeri and his team from Khavarzamin did an excellent job in organizing the whole event.

The participants in the event were very tech savvy, everything from great UI designers, into excellent coders, graphical designers and marketing people. In general I felt participants had a little bit less of self-confidence and perhaps in coordinating some of the project management tasks, but technical skills, longing to go far during the weekend, ability to take advice and debate with mentors as well as pivoting their models during the weekend were excellent on a global scale.  The teams ended up having a great 5 minute pitches each which they could all be very proud of.

What was highly interesting from the weekend was to see key local community players so enthusiastic in strengthening the Entrepreneurial Eco-System in Tehran. Some of the key players I spoke to, such as Jahangir Aghazadeh, a business veteran in IT startups in Iran and Shahab Javanmardi, CEO of Fanap holding and Ayat Hosseini from ICT PASARGAD VC were very eager in hearing my opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of some of the teams, and what would be the best way to strengthening the Entrepreneurship sector of Tehran and the country in general. It will be very interesting to follow these individuals and see if their support to some of the initiatives we talked about will make an impactful change in the eco system in the upcoming years.  

Walking the streets of Tehran

During the event some of the participants took me out to see some of the local things available in the city. General sight seeing, such as the Azadi tower and Milad tower were made which were very memorable.

What I generally loved most about Tehran was the authenticity of everything in the city. Outside the restaurants you had amazing Iranians statues, most often with a great history behind them. The street dealers also sell nuts, hot corns and vegetables I have never seen or heard of before that still taste excellent.

Iranians are not used to see western people with blonde hair. A women that was walking in the street walked up to me and thanked me for visiting the city. Two of her children didn’t seem to have seen anybody with blonde hair before, and followed me a short distance bedazzled of the foreign look, which was quite a nice experience.

The atmosphere of a local Persian teahouse was also an excellent experience for me. They offer Hookah’s to smoke and a variety of different drinks and small tastes. Everybody take their shoes off and sit together in a carpet booth which is rather nice if you haven’t tried it before.

Stores

We visited a large peanut, candy, spice store in the middle of Tehran. The experience was amazing. You are allowed to taste everything in the store and the taste of some of the items is phenomenal – even have plenty of items I saw and tasted for the first time. We also visited a local jewelry store which have some amazing local handicraft, as well as beautiful silver products.

Paying for products is a bit different from other countries. No credit cards outside of Iran work in the country, so foreigners either have to pay with the local currencies or known international ones (e.g. USD or EURO). There seem to be two different currency ratios, firstly the governmental official price of 1 USD, and the marketing price of 1 USD (what stores use). Recently there has been a great deflation of the local currency, therefore prices for visitors are very affordable.

Dating culture

Since Alcohol and regular western parties are not allowed in the country I asked one of the locals how dating works in Iran. Apparently there is a growing popularity in a game that best translates in English as “door door”. Boys and girls both go to popular streets. Usually the boy raises the music in his car and gives some notion that he is interested, as a result they exchange cards or numbers, and have a meetup later. There has also been a huge growth in using social media in the country. Officially Facebook and other social media is blocked in the country, but around 8 million users of the nations 75 million population are currently using proxy servers to connect to social media. Hence, poking and messaging through facebook is very popular and for some the main reason they create their first accounts.

Closing remarks

The trip was one of the most memorable of not the most memorable trips I have ever taken. I don’t know if the people I met in Tehran, is a general sample of people you would meet if randomly put together, but if they are I believe there are high potentials for the country.

Everybody were genuine, caring, nice, thoughtful, friendly, funny, had a great sense of humor, talented and everything else then I had perceived from media and online searches before I visited.

I would love to go again in the future, either for business or simply family pleasure.