Entrepreneurship Keynote - Saeed Amidi

Summary

S Amidi, CEO and founder of Plug and Play, shares his entrepreneurial journey from starting a packaging and bottled water business at 19 to becoming a successful investor in tech startups like PayPal and Dropbox. Amidi discusses Plug and Play's role in connecting startups with corporations for innovation and scaling, highlighting their global expansion and various industry verticals.

Takeaways

• 😀 S Amidi is the CEO and founder of Plug and Play, a platform that connects startups with corporations for innovation and scaling.
• 🏢 Amidi's entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 19 with a packaging and bottled water business, which he still operates today.
• 💼 The Iranian Revolution forced Amidi to become an entrepreneur to sustain his lifestyle after his family lost all their assets.
• 🏢 Amidi's first company, which started in 1979, now employs about 3,000 people and generates approximately $600 million in revenue.
• 💼 Amidi's initial foray into the tech industry was through a real estate investment in a building that later housed PayPal as its first tenant.
• 💡 The first technology investment for Amidi was PayPal, where he invested $100,000 as part of a rent negotiation deal.
• 💼 Amidi and his brother made angel investments in startups, including Dropbox and Lending Club, learning from other VCs and angels in the process.
• 🏢 In 2006, Amidi purchased a large building to house over 400 startups, aiming to increase his chances of meeting and investing in great entrepreneurs.
• 🤝 Plug and Play facilitates connections between startups and corporations, offering startups a clear path to production and scaling.
• 🌐 Plug and Play operates in 22 different verticals, including mobility, IoT, fintech, insure tech, and now semiconductors, with a global presence.
• 🌟 The platform accelerates 2,500 startups a year, providing them with introductions to clients, customers, and investors, and co-investing where appropriate.
• 📈 Amidi's vision includes opening more offices in the US, focusing on specific industries and collaborating with economic development and corporations in each region.

Q & A

Who is S Amidi and what is his role at Plug and Play?

S Amidi is the CEO and founder of Plug and Play, a company that provides a platform for startups to connect with corporations for innovation and scaling.

What was the catalyst for S Amidi to become an entrepreneur?

The Iranian Revolution led to the loss of his family's assets, prompting S Amidi to become an entrepreneur to sustain his lifestyle and living expenses.

What was S Amidi's first business venture?

S Amidi's first business was a packaging and bottled water company, which he still operates today and has grown to about 3,000 employees and $600 million in revenue.

How did Plug and Play's first technology investment come about?

The first technology investment for Plug and Play was in PayPal. S Amidi's brother agreed to accept $100,000 of a two-year rent payment in advance as an investment in the company.

What was the significance of the Lucky Building in Plug and Play's history?

The Lucky Building was the first property purchased by Plug and Play, which housed interesting technology startups, including the first tenant, Peter Thiel of PayPal.

How did S Amidi's approach to investing in startups evolve over time?

S Amidi and his team began by investing in startups as angels, learning from other VCs and angels, and eventually moved to a platform model where they could introduce startups to corporations for innovation.

What was the turning point for Plug and Play in terms of scaling their operations?

The purchase of the Philips Electronics headquarters, a 180,000 square ft building, allowed Plug and Play to house over 400 startups and increase their chances of meeting and investing in great entrepreneurs.

How does Plug and Play facilitate collaboration between startups and corporations?

Plug and Play runs industry-specific platforms where they introduce startups to corporations for co-development, pilot programs, and scaling, providing a clear path to production and market access.

What is the current scale of Plug and Play's operations globally?

Plug and Play operates in 22 different verticals, accelerating over 2,500 startups a year, with 55 offices around the world, each potentially running one or many verticals.

What is the process for a startup to join one of Plug and Play's batches?

A startup must be selected by one of Plug and Play's corporate partners or co-investors, VCs. Once selected, they join a batch and are introduced to potential clients, customers, and investors.

What is Plug and Play's strategy for opening new offices?

Plug and Play plans to open new offices in collaboration with the economic development of the state and corporations headquartered there, focusing on specific industries and running one or many verticals in each office.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Entrepreneurial Journey and Startup Investments

S Amidi, CEO and founder of Plug and Play, recounts his journey from a 19-year-old in California to a successful entrepreneur. Amidi was compelled to start his first company, a packaging and bottled water business, due to the Iranian Revolution, which led to the loss of his family's assets. This venture grew to a 3,000-employee business with a revenue of 600 million. Amidi's entrepreneurial spirit extended to real estate and technology investments, including a significant early investment in PayPal. His business acumen and interest in startups led to the establishment of the Plug and Play platform, which has since expanded to various industries and global locations.

05:04

🌟 Scaling Startups and Corporate Collaborations

Amidi shares his experience in scaling startups and the pivotal role of corporate collaborations. After purchasing a large building to house and support over 400 startups, he discovered his passion for working closely with entrepreneurs. This led to Plug and Play's involvement in various industries, including banking, automotive, and IoT. Amidi highlights the importance of providing startups with access to large corporations for pilot projects and scaling, which benefits all parties involved. The company's success is evident in its global expansion and the establishment of offices in strategic locations, such as Silicon Valley, Detroit, Tokyo, and Stuttgart.

10:06

🛠️ Building Bridges for Innovation and Scaling

The narrative continues with Amidi's focus on building bridges between startups and large corporations for innovation and scaling. He discusses Plug and Play's role in connecting startups with corporations like Ro diagnostic and Volkswagen, facilitating joint accelerators and co-development opportunities. This approach not only helps startups grow but also enables corporations to innovate and stay competitive. Amidi emphasizes the importance of having a clear path to production and scaling, which is achieved through strategic partnerships with corporations and investors.

15:10

🌐 Global Expansion and Future Outlook

In the final paragraph, Amidi outlines Plug and Play's global expansion and future plans. With 55 offices worldwide, the company is set to open 10 more in the US, focusing on specific industries in collaboration with local economic development and corporations. Amidi invites corporations and startups to collaborate with Plug and Play, sharing examples of successful partnerships, such as the 170 pilots with Mercedes. He concludes by expressing his enthusiasm for the entrepreneurial event and looking forward to future in-person engagements.

Keywords

💡Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. In the video, the term is used to describe the speaker, S Amidi, who had to become an entrepreneur after his family lost their assets during the Iranian Revolution. His entrepreneurial journey started with a packaging and bottled water business, which he still operates today.

💡Plug and Play

Plug and Play is an innovation platform that connects startups with corporations for collaboration and innovation. In the script, S Amidi explains that Plug and Play started with a small building and has grown to a global platform with 55 offices, working across various industries to help startups scale and corporations innovate.

💡Iranian Revolution

The Iranian Revolution refers to the series of events in 1979 that led to the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty and the establishment of an Islamic republic in Iran. In the context of the video, the revolution is mentioned as the catalyst that forced S Amidi to become self-sufficient and start his entrepreneurial journey.

💡Angel Investor

An angel investor is a high-net-worth individual who provides capital for startups, usually in exchange for equity or convertible debt. In the video, S Amidi and his brother are described as angel investors who made early investments in companies like PayPal and Dropbox, which later became very successful.

💡Co-Investment

Co-investment refers to a situation where multiple investors pool their resources to invest in a business venture. The video mentions that S Amidi and his brother co-invested with other venture capitalists in startups like Dropbox to learn from them and share the risk.

💡University Avenue

University Avenue is a street in Palo Alto, California, known for its proximity to Stanford University and being a hub for technology startups. In the script, S Amidi mentions that his business was located on University Avenue, which allowed him to encounter many interesting technology startups.

💡Corporate Innovation

Corporate innovation refers to the process by which established corporations develop new products, services, or processes to stay competitive. In the video, S Amidi discusses how corporations like City Bank and Volkswagen used startups to innovate and digitally transform parts of their businesses through Plug and Play's platform.

💡Startup Accelerator

A startup accelerator is a program, often lasting several months, that helps startups rapidly grow their businesses. In the video, S Amidi describes how Plug and Play operates accelerator programs for various industries, providing startups with access to clients, customers, and investors.

💡Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

Mergers and acquisitions refer to the consolidation of companies through various types of financial transactions. Although not explicitly mentioned in the script, the concept is implied when discussing the successful outcomes of startups that Plug and Play has invested in, such as PayPal and Dropbox, which have been involved in significant M&A deals.

💡Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California known for its high-tech innovation and venture capital. In the video, S Amidi mentions that Plug and Play has its headquarters in Silicon Valley and operates a mobility IoT platform there, emphasizing the region's importance in the tech industry.

💡SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is provided to customers on a subscription basis. In the script, S Amidi talks about the importance for B2B businesses to build something that a bank or an insurance company needs and is willing to pay for on a recurring basis, highlighting the SaaS model as a successful business approach.

Highlights

S Amidi, CEO and founder of Plug and Play, shares his entrepreneurial journey.

Became an entrepreneur at 19 after the Iranian Revolution, starting with a packaging and bottled water business.

The bottled water business has grown to 3,000 employees with $600 million in revenue.

Purchased the 'Lucky Building' in Palo Alto, which attracted technology startups, including PayPal.

Invested in PayPal as their first technology investment, which led to further angel investments.

Made around 65 investments, including in successful startups like Dropbox and Lending Club.

Opened a large building to house over 400 startups to increase chances of meeting and investing in entrepreneurs.

Fell in love with working with startups and helping them define their product-market fit.

Started collaborating with corporations like City Bank to use startups for innovation and digital transformation.

Plug and Play now operates in 20 different verticals, including brand, retail, advertising, and media.

Has the largest platform in the world for mobility and IoT, working with major car manufacturers.

Opened offices globally to connect startups with corporations for co-development and scaling.

Plug and Play accelerates 2,500 startups a year, providing introductions to clients, customers, and investors.

B2B businesses can benefit from Plug and Play's introductions to build relationships and secure clients.

Plug and Play is expanding with 55 offices worldwide and plans to open 10 more in the US.

Involves corporations in verticals such as smart manufacturing, supply chain innovation, and semiconductor development.

Encourages collaboration between corporations and startups for mutual benefit and innovation.

S Amidi invites corporations and startups to collaborate with Plug and Play for growth and innovation.

Transcripts

[Music]

my name is s amidi and I am the

CEO and the founder of Plug and Play I

would very much like to share with you

my entrepreneurial Journey how I started

and more

importantly what we do today at plug

play I uh was about 19 years old living

in California by Stanford

University when uh we had the Iranian

Revolution and everybody asked are you

born an

entrepreneur or do you become one or can

you teach entrepreneurship to other

people in my case I had to become an

entrepreneur

to sustain my lifestyle and living when

the Iranian Revolution happened our

family lost the all our assets so my

father who came from Iran to be with us

mention to me you're welcome to stay in

the house I will pay your tuition at the

University but for pocket money you need

to survive on your own and quite frankly

that summer of

1979 I started my first company which is

a packaging and bottle water business

which I still run till today and it's

about 3,000 people about 600 million in

revenue and I call that my day job which

is my business I started when I was 19

and because I was on University Avenue

in

paloalto we got came across a lot of

interesting technology startups when I

made a little money we purchased the

building which is called now the lucky

building and uh the first tenant was

Peter tail of PayPal and uh my brother

asked for the financial statement

because when you rent real estate you

usually ask for financial statement to

see if the company or the individual can

pay the rent and during then Peter said

he doesn't have Financial because the

company is so new but he has a lot of

money so during the

negotiation my brother Raheem agreed

with him to pay about two years rent in

advance which at that time was

$200,000 and then we agreed with him to

put 100,000 of it in PayPal and like

anything in life that's was our first

technology

investment and then we other businesses

like bottle water packaging real estate

but we would invest in four or five

startups per year as an angel another

really exciting investment was

Dropbox when uh we met Drew and rash at

Y combinator and had a follow on meeting

and because of our lack of uh knowledge

of

Technology we used to show startups to

our friends that were either VCS in this

case was seoa and we were able to

co-invest with seoa in Dropbox but why

we showed the startups to other VCS

other Angels is because we wanted to

learn from them how they

deligence as well as how we felt it was

much better to

co-invest with someone more

knowledgeable than us all in all over

seven eight years we made around 65

investment but we were very lucky to

have PayPal

Dropbox uh Lending Club and a few others

so I kind of thought if on University

Avenue in this small building we come

across so many great startup what about

if I have a big building and in

2006 I purchased the headquarter of

Philips Electronics which is about

180,000 Square ft and my first

entrepreneurial goal was to become cash

flow positive so I filled it up with

about over 400 startups and I said I'm

going to have more chance to meet great

entrepreneurs and possibly invest in

them and uh have other hopefully like

Dropbox or PayPal and quite in fact I

fell in love with doing this to the

extent that I didn't visit my main

office for the bottle water business or

packaging business for eight months and

uh I realized that my

passion is meeting these entrepreneurs

and working with them to Define their

product Market need and then if they

need additional money introducing them

to other Angel friends of mine and other

VCS and uh when we had done this many

times every day I remember that City

Bank arrived to the building with us and

they said s this mobile banking is

moving so fast and we would love to give

some startups or data they had the

sandbox with I believe

50,000 clients Anonymous data and they

say can you attract 30 startups that can

develop different apps on mobile for

Banking and we would love to to

collaborate with them and after this 3

months maybe license the technology for

the bank and I remember that was my

first experience with

corporations using startups to innovate

and digitally transform parts of the

bank and that didn't stop there I

remember Volkswagen came to us and they

were looking for certain Technologies

and we scouted finding also 10 startups

that we introduced to

Volkswagen so this all happened in early

2000 between 2006 to

2010 but now plug and plays a little bit

extended our

activity we work in 20 different ver

call brand and Retail and advertising

and media ftech insure Tech Enterprise

AI we have a largest platform in the

world for mobility and iot with

Mercedes Porsche

Volkswagen Nissan Toyota Chrysler not

salanas I can never get used to that

name

but for GM Volvo Jaguar Land Rover

Bentley so together with this

OEM we look how they would like to solve

their challenges of connected car

electric car and autonomous and our

product is the startups we bring to this

platform we run the mobility iot

platform here in Silicon C Valley in our

headquarter but we also run it in

Detroit we run it in Tokyo we run it in

stutgart

Volvo asked us to open an office in

Gutenberg Sweden and jaguar Land Rover

asked us to open an office in Midland

near their headquarter in UK what is

exciting about connecting startups with

the these large

corporation is because you could have

the best technology in the world but if

you don't have the scale that these

companies do your technology may just

stay at the University or at a lab but

when you have a clear path to production

and

scaling corporations will win the start

startups will benefit as well as plug

and play and the

investors uh will benefit as well so we

try to build a bridge between each

University and Silicon Valley for

funding as well as for doing

pilots and then for scaling the business

for example Ro diagnostic which I

believe is the largest

diagnostic equipment manufacturer as

well as testing units they came to us

about six years ago and they say the

diagnostic industry is moving from labs

and hospitals to home so we've been

running a joint accelerator with them

for five years in Munich where they

Define the interest areas and we find

the best startups from US Canada Asia as

well as Europe

Israel and we bring them to their

headquarter near Munich and they would

do

co-development we co-invest in the

startups but the most important thing

they provide to the startup is the

relationship they have with the

hospitals so they could do immediately

pilots and if the pilot is

successful they can scale the technology

of the startups you know we I mentioned

we do this in healthc care and the

latest verticle we have launched is

semiconductor it is really funny we

almost have come full circle the

building I am in was the headquarter of

Philips electronic but most importantly

for their semiconductor and across the

street from me was their Fab you know

part of the reason Silicon Valley name

is is because of the semiconductor and

the chip

industry and now us and Europe and Japan

they all would love to have more

production more development in the

country rather than importing most of

the product from Taiwan and Korea and

Asia so we are very proud at Plug and

Play that in this

22

verticals we accelerate 25 500 startups

a year and because everything for the

startup is free the only

criteria is that one of our corporate

partners and co-investors

VCS has to select the startup so they

Join one of our batches and during the

three months that they are with us we

usually introduce them to 20

clients

customers and 20

investors and we make our decision to

co-invest or not to invest some of our

startups especially B Tob

businesses they tell me S from the

introduction that the team at plug M

playay has done we received our first

five clients

and the most important thing for B2B

businesses is to build something that a

bank or an insurance company needs and

is willing to pay half a million dollar

a year for as a SAS model so I am very

pleased to be here to kind of introduce

to you and to your audience the Plug and

Play and

nowadays we have uh

[Music]

55 offices around the world that in each

office we may run one vertical or many

for example in Tokyo we run eight

verticals fintech insure Tech Supply

Chain food and packaging Etc and we are

very excited to announce oun that we

will be opening 10 offices in us we

opened we already had a Detroit Chicago

Bentonville Northwest Arkansas with

Walmart for a supply chain Innovation

platform but noways I have traveled to

Texas

Florida Arizona

Indiana and we are thinking about

opening minimum 10 offices within the

next six months each one specialized in

a specific

industry with

collaboration with the economic

development of that state as well as the

corporations that have their

headquarter there you know for example

near Austin we are doing a smart

manufacturing vertical at Cedar Park

with the Dale computer has been a

partner of ours for a long time we are

inviting other companies like Tesla and

Oracle again it's a real pleasure to be

with you if you are a corporate that uh

would like to collaborate with us and

see what how we for example with

Mercedes have done

170

pilots and 70 out of the

170 Technologies is being implemented in

the car please let us know and if

especially if you're a startup or an

entrepreneur starting your journey we

would love to meet you to see if we can

be of help to you I really hope you will

have a great event and I look forward to

joining you in person next time and uh

enjoy this entrepreneurial event all

together thank you so

[Music]

much