The rise of Iranian-Americans in the tech industry
What's the story
The appointment of long time Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as the new Uber CEO underscores a larger phenomena happening in America for some time now - the rise of Iranian-Americans in the tech industry. With several people from the Iranian community currently occupying prestigious posts in America, the rise of Iranian-Americans can hardly be said to be unexpected if one looks hard enough.
The Khosrowshahis
Meet the unimaginably successful Khosrowshahis
Dara Khosrowshahi's appointment as Uber's CEO was far from an anomaly. Dara's brother, Kaveh Khosrowshahi, is currently the managing director of American boutique investment bank Allen & Co. Dara's cousin, Amir Khosrowshahi, is the founder of AI company Nervana which Intel acquired last year for $400 million. Two of Dara's other relatives were involved in the creation of Google Spreadsheets and Google Ventures.
The Partovis
Another pair of gems from the Iranian-American community
Dara's cousins, the Partovi twins, have also had their share of success. Ali Partovi was a co-founder of internet ad company LinkExchange which Microsoft acquired for $265 million in 1998. Meanwhile, Hadi Partovi co-founded the speech recognition company TellMeNetworks which Microsoft also acquired for $800 million in 2007. The Partovi brothers are also tech investors who were early investors in Facebook, Airbnb, and Dropbox.
Others
Success of Iranian-Americans not limited to few families
The success of the Iranian-American community has not been limited to particular families. Pierre Omidyar founded e-commerce giant eBay. Omid Kordestani worked as a senior advisor to the Google's Office of the CEO and Founders. He is currently Twitter's Executive Chairman. Hamid Akhavan-Malayeri served as the CEO of Unify GmbH & Co. KG (formerly Siemens) from 2010-2016. The list goes on.
Science
The Iranian-Americans' success in the field of science
Tech apart, the Iranian-Americans have contributed massively to the advancement of science and technology. From among a huge list of such eminent scholars and scientists, several require mentions - the late-Maryam Mirzakhani (first woman and Iranian winner of the Fields Medal), Anousheh Ansari (the first Iranian and woman to fly to the ISS), and Bobak Ferdowsi (part of Mars Curiosity mission) among many others.
Reasons
Is Iranian culture the key to their success?
Without going into more specifics, the point here is to understand the Iranian-Americans' success in tech. This can largely be understood through Iranian culture which puts an emphasis on caring for friends and family, and nurtures a dedication towards the study of math and science. Another major reason is that Iranian-Americans arrived impoverished and homeless in America, and did not take life lightly.