The seventh Startup Grind of Tehran, held on Sunday, saw a number of young entrepreneurs and start-up enthusiasts come together to discuss business plans, expand their social network and interact with the event’s special guest, Nazanin Daneshvar the founder of Takhfifan website.
Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs.
The community hosts monthly events in more than 150 cities and 65 countries featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons learned on the road to building great companies. Iran currently has three local Startup Grind chapters in Tehran, Isfahan and Zanjan.
Tehran Startup Grind provides a platform for the budding businesses to consult with like-minded people and even find business partners. A standing board called ‘The Wall’ allows the participants to post their requirements for particular specializations as well as their own skills on stick-notes along with their contact information to facilitate direct interaction between people of diverse capabilities.
The event’s program started with Milad Saberi, the director of Startup Grind’s Tehran chapter telling the audience about his experience attending the annual Startup Grind conference in Silicon Valley in February, which was attended by more than 1500 entrepreneurs from all over the world.
He spoke about the unique entrepreneurial ecosystem of Silicon Valley and the key conditions that typically define a healthy ecosystem.
Daneshvar was asked to narrate her experience as a young businesswoman in Iran, and the challenges she had to overcome for establishing her business.
Daneshvar established Takhfifan in 2010. In just about 3 years, the company has grown from a family-based business where she and her sister Negin handled every aspect of the business in a small rented office, to a staff of 60 in its Tehran office alone, with branches in six other cities.
Iran’s first group buying website, Takhfifan earns a variable commission on the sale of each coupon for discounted services.
They also bulk-buy wholesale products, sold through the same site and shipped all over the country. Currently, Takhfifan’s Tehran office signs 400 to 450 deals per month, with their website registering more than 10,000 visitors per day.
Startup Grind Tehran had previously organized six events, inviting successful Iranian entrepreneurs to speak about the challenges and opportunities in their businesses.
