Who Is Saeed Amidi, The Man Who Founded Plug and Play?

Lost Everything in the Iranian Revolution and Fled to the United States
Started a Leasing Business in the U.S., Building Ties with Logitech Founders
Google Moved In as a Tenant, Creating the "Lucky Building" Legend
Invested in Unicorns Such as PayPal and Turing

Could there be a story more like a movie than this? Saeed Amidi, founder and chairman of global venture capital (VC) firm Plug and Play, comes from a wealthy family in Iran. His family built a vast fortune in Iran through business. A life in which he lacked nothing soon hit a turning point.

In February 1972, when the Iranian Revolution broke out, Chairman Amidi's family lost all of their assets and fled into exile in Palo Alto, San Francisco, in the United States. To support the family, his father began selling carpets in the United States. Chairman Amidi also struck out on his own and started a bottled water business.

That was when the first relationship that changed his life began. A startup called Logitech set up shop right next door to Chairman Amidi's store. With his characteristically easygoing and sociable personality, Chairman Amidi became close with Logitech's founders.

He then heard that many startup founders in Palo Alto were struggling to find office space. Chairman Amidi soon purchased a two-story building in Palo Alto and started a leasing business targeting venture founders.

The very first tenant was Logitech, with whom he had become friendly. Logitech successfully went public with an initial public offering (IPO) while based in Chairman Amidi's building and then moved out. Another startup moved in as the second tenant: Google. The three founders expanded their staff to 30 employees in Chairman Amidi's building, grew the business, secured investment, and then moved out on their own.

On the heels of these consecutive startup success stories, yet another new startup moved in: the now-famous PayPal. At the time, PayPal was an obscure startup that could not even properly pay its rent. Chairman Amidi closely observed the determination and passion of the new startup's founders.

He made a proposal to one of the founders, Peter Thiel: "I will not take rent for a year, and instead I will invest that money in your business." This was the moment he awakened from being a businessman to becoming an investor.

A few years later, eBay acquired this startup for 1.7 trillion won. With the successful M&A of startup PayPal, Chairman Amidi enjoyed his first investment return. Peter Thiel, who had been PayPal's co-founder, went on to create Palantir, and Chairman Amidi founded Plug and Play in 2006, embarking in earnest on venture investing.

He is known for placing greater importance on a founder's determination, passion, and resilience than on metrics or short-term returns when making investments. This is because, from experience, these were the common traits of successful startup founders.

Chairman Amidi still looks first and foremost at the founder in person, alongside the business itself, when making investment decisions. In an interview with The Asia Business Daily, he emphasized, "I like people who work hard and are passionate. And they must have expertise in what they do."