Lessons for entrepreneurs in Iran and everywhere else: what nearly two decades of founding and running technology companies from Isfahan taught Amir Erfani.
Entrepreneurs in Iran build under constraints most founders never see — and those constraints teach discipline. These are lessons drawn from founding Sepano Data Processing, Shipnow, and Rozamoon.
1. Own your engineering
Every successful product in this portfolio was built by an in-house team. Owning the code, the infrastructure, and the roadmap is what makes 17-year client relationships possible.
2. Revenue is the best investor
Shipnow grew 6000% in five years with no outside capital. Bootstrapping forces a product to earn its keep from month one.
3. Local first, then global
Winning Isfahan came before Dubai, Hanover, or Oakland. A dense local network — the computer union, the entrepreneurship center, municipal projects — compounds over time and travels with you.
