Lessons from investing in 1000 startupsㅣSaeed Amidi & Alireza Masrour at Plug and Play

The first startup we invested in was PayPal. Peter Till came to rent space from us. We had a chance to invest in Google. I invested $50,000 in honey and I got 40 million back. I invested 100,000 in Dropbox and we got 35 million back. So those are just two out of my 1000 companies.

我们投资的第一个创业公司是 PayPal。Peter Till来向我们租空间。我们有机会投资 Google。我在蜂蜜上投资了五万美元，最终获得了四千万美元的回报。我投资了十万美元在 Dropbox 上，最终获得了三千五百万美元的回报。这仅仅是我投资的一千家公司中的两个例子。

My name is Saeed Amiddi and I'm the CEO and the founder of Plug and Play. Plug and Play is considered to be the largest innovation platform in the world and we have 34 unicorns. Some of the most early famous investments we have done is like PayPal and Dropbox. Some of our most recent unicorn is like physical note or honey or rapi which is a delivery company but we are very very proud of finding the great entrepreneur when they are two to three people with the great idea and see it fund them and help them through all their journey.

我叫Saeed Amiddi，是Plug and Play的CEO和创始人。Plug and Play被认为是世界上最大的创新平台，我们孵化了34个独角兽企业。我们最早的一些著名投资项目就像PayPal和Dropbox。我们最近的一些独角兽企业就像Physical Note、Honey和Rapi，后者是一个快递公司。但我们最引以为豪的是，在伟大的创业者只有两到三个人和一个伟大的想法时，我们能够发现他们，资助他们，并帮助他们度过所有的困难。

I am originally from Iran. Primarily as an industrial family we were one of the largest conglomerate in Iran. We came to US to study not only me but also my uncles and all the family used to come to US to study and to go back home and help to advance our family business which was manufacturing textile, polyuretane, banking business and insurance business.

我最初来自伊朗。作为一个工业家族，我们曾经是伊朗最大的企业集团之一。我们来到美国不仅是我，我的叔叔还有我们全家都来美国学习，然后回国帮助推进我们的家族企业，包括制造纺织品、聚氨酯、银行业务和保险业务。

But we had a little revolution in Iran in 1979. We were growing very well. At the same time some of the people wanted more change and the change we really wanted was real democratic life and government but it really became too much control by the religion. The revolution happened in 1979 and all our industries were nationalized which really was a big loss for the family. We have not advanced as much as we should have in the last 20-30 years. All industries in fact. At the time of the revolution we did three months. By that time I was in Palo Alto by Stanford University.

我们在1979年经历了一次小的伊朗革命。我们的经济发展非常好。与此同时，一些人想要更多的改变，我们真正想要的是真正的民主生活和政府，但事实上宗教掌控了国家太多。革命发生在1979年，所有的工业都被国有化了，这对我们家族来说确实是一个巨大的损失。在过去的20-30年里，我们的发展并没有达到我们应该达到的水平，所有的产业都是如此。在革命的时候，我们待了三个月。那时我在斯坦福大学的帕洛阿尔托。

As a 19-20 year old I didn't know what business is the best business to start and it was primarily just to survive and to build a business. I started a company which is called Alps American Liquid Packaging which is in plastic business and bottled water business. It's a quite a large company with 2,000 employees, about 600 million dollar sales and at the same time we did real estate and in fact we even started Medallion Rug which is like a gallery for Oriental Rug.

当我19-20岁时，我不知道哪种生意最好创业，主要只是为了生存和建立一个企业。我创立了一个名为Alps American Liquid Packaging的公司，从事塑料业务和瓶装水业务。这是一家相当大的公司，有2,000名员工，销售额约为6亿美元，同时我们还从事房地产业务，实际上我们甚至开设了Medallion Rug，这是一个东方地毯画廊。

The first startup we invested in was PayPal. Peter Till came to rent space from us. My brother Rahim talked to him and we invested in his seat round. Then Larry and Sergei rented space from us in 165 University Avenue. We had a chance to invest in Google through an angel fund. I met Roo and Arash of Dropbox at Y Combinator but later on we invited them to our place for Kabab and we were able to co-invest in Dropbox with Sequoia. So I really had a front seat to see Google grow and become what it is today.

我们最早投资的创业公司是PayPal。Peter Till找我们租地方，我的兄弟Rahim和他谈话后，我们投资了他的种子轮。接着，Larry和Sergei在165 University Avenue租了我们的空间。我们有机会通过天使基金投资谷歌。我在Y Combinator遇到了Dropbox的Roo和Arash，但后来我们邀请他们来我们这里吃烤肉，与Sequoia一起投资了Dropbox。因此，我真正坐在前排看到谷歌成长并成为今天的样子。

So I changed my focus from packaging and bottle water and real estate to technology. So I joined Plagum Play in August 2008. My first title was Funding Manager. Me helping the entrepreneurs and the startup to raise money and get funding. I started with that helping the companies and advising them how who is the right person for them. As they try to raise money, we learn more and more and more and I basically got to know better entrepreneurs the difference how we should invest.

所以我把我的注意力从包装、瓶装水和房地产转向了科技。我于2008年8月加入了Plagum Play。我最初的职称是融资经理。我帮助企业家和初创企业筹集资金和获得资金。我从帮助这些公司开始，向他们提供建议并告诉他们谁是适合他们的人。随着他们尝试筹集资金，我们学到了更多，我基本上更好地了解了企业家们的不同之处以及我们应该如何投资。

Then a few months in, Sergei told me okay you know we are investing and we do this one. You have a budget. Here's your budget start to invest. If you lose the money, you know what's going to happen. If not, we will continue. So that budget was $2 million. I talked about okay what I'm going to do with this one to make impact. So yes you can give 50k, 100k to every company that you see but what would be the impact. I decided to do an invest that budget only to the companies that we help them from scratch and we even inco-help them to inco-pray the company. So invested in about 90 plus companies, 91 and off of that, luckily we got four unicorns.

几个月后，谢尔盖告诉我：你知道，我们正在投资，而且我们做了这件事。你有一个预算。这是你的预算，你可以开始投资了。如果你输了钱，你知道会发生什么。如果不是，我们会继续。所以这个预算是200万美元。我考虑了一下，如果我给每个看到的公司50k或100k，会有什么影响。最终，我决定只将这笔预算投资于我们从零开始帮助的公司，我们甚至与他们合作成立了公司。我们投资了90多家公司，其中有4家独角兽幸运地获得了投资。

The most exciting thing is when I talk to an entrepreneur to decide to invest or not to invest is number one how passionate they are about the product they are planning to build and is the product does solve a big problem in the world. Like in the case of Google, organizing the world's information and then ranking the answers by priority was innovative. In the case of Dropbox everybody had hard time sharing files and pictures and videos. So it really the entrepreneurs had a great idea but after the great idea you have to also be able to build the technology and execute it with the right business model at the right time at the right place. So it's a combination of these that makes incredible start-up succeed and make a better world for us.

说起来最激动人心的事情，当我与一名创业者进行投资决策的交流时，我最关注的是他们对即将开发的产品有多么热情，以及该产品是否能解决世界上的重大问题。就像Google的情况一样，整合世界上的信息并按优先级排名是一种创新。在Dropbox的情况下，每个人都难以分享文件、图片和视频。因此，创业者有了一个巨大的创意，但是在伟大的想法之后，你还必须能够在正确的时间、正确的地点以正确的商业模式建立技术并执行它。因此，由这些组合使得令人难以置信的创业公司成功，并为我们创造一个更美好的世界。

There are three things that I have learned after 15 years or so that they are a key for finding or investing in good companies. The first one is people, the second one is people, the third one is people. Is all about the people who you have around them. If they trust each other they can build the company together. The rest will come with it if the idea from day first, first year, second year, stay the same and has its own potential, the company can be a easier billion dollar company.

我在15年左右的时间里学到了三件事，这为找到或投资于好公司至关重要。第一，是人。第二，是人。第三，还是人。都是与你周围的人有关。如果他们相互信任，他们就能共同建立公司。如果从第一天开始的想法、第一年、第二年都保持不变并且有潜力，剩下的就随之而来，那么这家公司可以轻松成为一个亿美元公司。

But if the idea is not that good and they figured out some of these may not work and change it, yes it has potential but the potential is not the easy as the time that you have the first idea of last idea. And what we have learned is that you learn from failure. I call it lesson learned from the company that they have failed or we have been part of it being invested in them. But there is no blog, there is no book, there is no way for you to know about the failure.

但如果这个想法不是那么好，他们也发现其中一些可能行不通并进行了改变， 是的，这个想法有潜力，但这个潜力并不像你第一次想到或者最后一次想到的那么容易实现。并且我们从失败中学到了很多。我称之为从那些失败的公司中学到的教训，我们可能会成为他们的投资者之一。但是没有博客，没有书，你不可能知道这些失败。

However you can read about all the successes and so on, you learn from it but there is massive amount of failures among the companies. In numbers you have about 1% of the company has the chance to be a nonincorporate. About 50% 20% of every single startup that they started they failed. About 20% of them first year. So you learn more about those than the others because number wise these are way way more than the others.

无论您如何可以阅读有关所有成功等方面的信息，您都应该从中学习，但公司中存在大量的失败案例。数字上，约有1％的公司有机会成为非公司化公司。对于他们每个创业公司的50％20％，都会失败。大约有20％的公司在第一年就会失败。因此，您会更多地了解这些公司，因为根据数字，它们比其他公司要多得多。

And we use that one as a way to help the startups. I thought if I take a look at the thousand companies I will know everything. Today I will say I have no clue what works but we have a very good understanding of what it's not going to work because we have seen the failures. And then we use those information and connections to help entrepreneurs to not do the same mistake.

我们使用这种方法来帮助初创公司。我曾想着，只需看一看那成千上万的公司，我就能了解一切。然而今天我必须承认，我不知道什么样的方法能够奏效，不过我们确实非常清楚什么样的方法不会成功，因为我们看到了失败的例子。随后，我们利用这些信息和联系方式，帮助企业家避免犯同样的错误。

How? When I see an idea of yours you talking to us about an idea and we have seen five other companies have tried the same little different approaches and they failed. We say okay you may watch for this one and this one and this one. And also those entrepreneurs don't mind to share the lesson then. So we introduce them. So we try to help the companies fail faster. That means if you know it's not going to work why you should spend a year on it you pivot this one in two weeks, two months. Why connecting the dots?

当我们看到你提出的一个想法时，你向我们谈论这个想法，我们发现还有其他五家公司试过类似的方法，但都失败了。我们会说好的，你可以看看这个和那个，同时那些企业家也不介意分享他们的经验，所以我们会介绍他们。我们试图帮助企业更快地失败。也就是说，如果你知道这个想法行不通，为什么还要花一年的时间呢？你可以在两周、两个月内尝试不同的方法。为什么要连接这些点呢？

And the reality is starting a startup is incredibly hard. It is a lot of ups and downs. And I believe when you work in a team of two to three people one time you are down your partner picks you up one time he or she is unhappy because they hurt no no no you pick them up. I believe the chances of succeeding with the great team is so much more than if you're a single entrepreneur. And almost the 1500 startups we have invested in less than 10 is like an entrepreneur that has the majority of shares. We really like entrepreneurs to say I have 30% 30% 30% we feel that camaraderie and teamwork really helps to succeed for the startup. At least it's been my experience.

实际上，创业非常难。有很多起起落落。我相信，当你和两到三个人一起工作时，有一次你会遇到困难，你的搭档会帮你摆脱它，有一次他或她会不开心，因为他们受伤了，不，不，不，你会帮他们走出来。我相信，与伟大的团队一起成功的机会比单个创业者更多。我们投资的近1500个创业公司中，少于10个是像创始人拥有大部分股份的那种创业者。我们真的喜欢创业者说：“我有30%、30%、30%”，我们感觉到了战友之情和团队合作对于创业公司的成功真的非常有帮助。至少在我的经历中是这样的。

There is a friend of mine at Sequoia Dugleoni I believe he's Italian. So we had a discussion going back 25 30 years that we talked about why so many startups in Silicon Valley have an immigrant entrepreneur. Of course I had difficulty. I was an immigrant from Iran but right after the Iranian revolution there was about a year and a half of hostages American hostages in Iran.

我有一个朋友，在Sequoia Dugleoni工作，我相信他是意大利人。过去25至30年间，我们曾经讨论过为什么硅谷有那么多移民创业者的问题。当然，我很难理解这一点。我自己也是来自伊朗的移民，但伊朗革命后，美国人质问题持续了一年半。

Over 300 Americans were kept as a hostage. Of course I had people my good good American friends tell me Said if you feel uncomfortable let us help you but I think any any difficult journey you go through gives you strength. That's why immigrants are so much more successful in America because they have to learn and learn language they have to learn the new community and they need to succeed in this new community.

超过300名美国人被扣为人质。当然，我的美国好朋友曾告诉我，如果你感到不舒服，让我们来帮你，但我认为任何艰难的旅程都会让你变得更坚强。这就是为什么移民在美国更加成功，因为他们必须学习语言，学习新的社区，并在这个新社区中取得成功。

You know it's different than if you succeed in your own country in your own neighborhood rather than if they throw you across the world and say learn a new language learn a new culture and succeed. Honestly I was so busy working I didn't feel any prejudice but I am sure it was there but I was so busy working and trying to accomplish what I am hoping to accomplish that I didn't think about it.

你知道，在你自己的国家、自己的社区里成功，跟被人丢到世界的另一边，让你学习新的语言、新的文化，然后取得成功，是不同的。说实话，我非常忙于工作，没有感觉到任何偏见，但我相信那种情况是存在的，只是我忙于工作，想要实现自己的目标，没有去想它。

You know I had a joint venture with Tim Draper who is a really close friend of mine that I used to do the diligence for a month a lot of companies and then we met usually on Wednesday one o'clock once a month and we looked at four startups together and our agreement was he would invest $300,000 I would invest $100,000 in one of the four startups and one of these startups was Airbnb and after their pitch we agreed to invest $400,000 at two million valuation and we decided to do this and we shook hand and everything and then usually we would provide the term sheet the following week.

你知道，我曾与蒂姆·德雷珀合作，他是我非常亲密的朋友。我们经常在每个月的星期三下午一点见面，花一个月时间对许多公司进行尽职调查，然后一起看四个创业公司。我们的协议是，他会投资30万美元，我会投资10万美元在这四个公司中的一个，其中一个是Airbnb。在听完他们的演示后，我们同意以200万美元的估值投资40万美元，并且我们握手达成了这个决定。通常我们会在第二周提供有关投资细则的书面建议。

During this period rightfully so many people turned down Airbnb Tim also said Said if somebody gets hurt in one of these rooms $400,000 is not enough to go through a legal challenge and because of the liability and legal challenge he decided to back out and I backed out. That $100,000 would have had given me a return of $200 million so you live and learn so I hit some success stories I miss some success stories and if I can also share with you tell about two years ago I would only invest plug-and-play money and so many people told me Said you should have a fund and you know because you have shown a track record that you guys are such a good investor I honestly was uncomfortable investing other people's money but that was also a mistake.

在这段时间里，理所当然有许多人拒绝了Airbnb。蒂姆也说，如果有人在这些房间中受伤，40万美元不足以应对法律挑战，因此由于责任和法律挑战，他决定退出，我也退出了。那10万美元本来会给我200亿美元的回报，所以你活着并学习，我取得了一些成功案例，错过了一些成功案例，如果我也可以和你分享，告诉你两年前我只会投入Plug-and-Play的资金，很多人告诉我说你应该有一个基金，因为你已经表现出极好的投资者能力，但我真的很不舒服投资别人的钱，但那也是一个错误。

I feel money is one of the metrics of success and even though you have to see what you're going to do with the money because you could misuse it or use it for a good cause I am using the money to reinvest in more startup create more growth and I enjoy it. I think it's very very lucky that my business is my passion and my playground in fact funny name plug-and-play I call plug-and-play my playground if I did all of I did and I didn't make money I don't think I'm successful how many jobs you create how many entrepreneurs you help and how much money you make is a big metric of success and I cannot say I and I like making money I enjoy making money.

我觉得钱是成功的维度之一，虽然你必须看看你要用这些钱做什么，因为你可能会滥用它或用它做一些好事。对我来说，我会把这些钱投资到更多的创业公司上以创造更多的增长，同时享受这个过程。我认为我的事业就是我的激情和游乐场，实际上我还给它取了一个有趣的名字叫Plug-and-Play。如果我做了所有的事情却没有赚到钱，我不认为我是成功的。你创造了多少就业机会，帮助了多少企业家，赚了多少钱都是成功的重要标志，而且我不能说我不喜欢赚钱，我很享受赚钱的过程。