From #Techroon (Tehran) to Silicon Roundabout (London)

Team offsite in the suburbs of Tehran

Team offsite in the suburbs of Tehran

We just came back from a week in Tehran meeting entrepreneurs and local investors. We also did a two day team offsite in the suburbs of Tehran. We already miss Tehran and the entrepreneurial energy there!

We specialise in investing in global Iranian entrepreneurs and work with them closely on strategic partnerships, talent management and global growth. On the global growth programme, we source startups in #Techroon (Tehran tech scene) and help them access European markets by establishing them in Silicon Roundabout (London tech scene). Our ultimate aim is to set them on the growth journey from there to Silicon Valley and the world by making the right connections.

In order to do this, we have built a global VC that can cater to the needs of global startups well. We ourselves have presence in the UK, Europe and Iran with an extended advisory team in Silicon Valley. Hence, it is very important for us to come together once a year and work on the fundamental building blocks of a high performing team. Right now, we are half-way through building the foundations of the only Global Iranian VC in the world. Last year, our team offsite was focused on the two commitments of Conscious Leadership: Radical Candor and Excelling In Your Zone of Genius. This year we added another three: Taking Radical Responsibility, Generating Appreciation and Creating Wins For All Solutions.

The results were outstanding.

We achieved a great level of understanding of our personal growth plans as well as team ambitions. We learned how we need to take a “by me” approach to the world rather than a “to me” one. We learned that the trap of victim-villain-hero is ingrained in the current thinking of society which is why some keep complaining without doing anything about their problems.

We learned how to generate appreciation of each other and the world around us, learned how to become sensitively aware of details and appreciate them and how to be sincere, succinct and unarguable about appreciation. We also learned how to marry these commitments together to look at the world through a filter of abundance and believe that every situation can have a win-win outcome.

The rest of the time we discussed our teams, strategy and how we can transform our startups into global leaders. Most of it comes down to how teams work together, more than funding, strategy or even technology.

Next year we are thinking of doing our team offsite in Scotland. We hope that by then we will have invested in a few more outstanding entrepreneurs and would like to witness a couple of our portfolio companies grow into Series A and beyond.

We are lucky to share our our experience of building and investing in high performing teams with you. Feel free to comment or come along to our next Breakfast Series to discuss technology, leadership and global startups.

This is the fourteenth in a series of posts about our investment criteria and ecosystem resources which was also posted on LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from teams with crazy (but commercial) startups. Get in touch or attend our breakfast series. Finally, don’t forget to get your IV Score to prepare for your next VC meeting.

Iratel Ventures (@iratelventures) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Iratel Ventures (@iratelventures). We invest in entrepreneurs building global companies. Venture…twitter.com