3.4
3.9 
4.1 
4.0 
3.6 
When Persian Rug Merchants Get Lucky with Google
Fund: Amidzad
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-12-21
I know a number of companies who have taken investments (as follow-on) from these guys, and every one refers to these guys as "dumb money."
Don't get me wrong, they understand how to run their successful family businesses: be it the water company, Plug and Play (another real estate play), or selling their persian rugs (the equivalent of selling cars), but DO NOT think that they understand anything about the future of investments, they will defer to their friends in the valley who they think are smarter and be part of the "add-on capital."
The Amidzad and Plug and Play organization itself is not well demarcated. The other review about them being "absolutely useless" says it best. Our experiences were that if they cannot give you a direct answer initially or you're not speaking directly with Saeed or Pejman, leave immediately.
PRIVATE: Members OnlyNon Tenants Beware
Fund: Amidzad
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-12-31
Absolutely Useless and Waste of Your Time
Fund: Amidzad
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-02-25
Amidzad is two people venture, not four. Guys in charge are Saeed and Pejman.
They are sleazy and try to get people to lease their Plug and Play office. My friend told me about them a while back. He also told me that they are all about bullshit. I didn't agree with him since on their website they talk about Paypal and few other noteworthy startups. Well, it's all B.S..
They first show lots of interest. Then they throw big names like: "you know Pejman, we should talk about this with Ron (Conway)" or "I think Michael Mortiz would like to hear their pitch"...
Then we went for the second time, it was supposed to be a 60 min pitch and Q&A. One was late, the other said he had to leave, we got interrupted 3 times by other people including the property manager. The whole meeting was about 20 min including all interruptions. And they never answer their email. Saeed bounces things to Pejman and vice-versa. So unprofessional and immature!
So naturally, I tried to understand more about these jerks. Here is what learned:
- they are rug dealers and not venture capitalists
- they are well-connected in the valley because they deliver rugs to rich people houses and not because they are savvy investors in technology
- their business is real estate and they will do what they can to sell you that
- they are writing checks for 25k to 75k max. In couple of cases they did 150k
- they tag along with other investors (which is very good for you and for them)
- they rented few rooms to Paypal founders and now they consider themselves original investor of Paypal.
- they are 98% talk and 2% action
- Pejman is a total jerk. Avoid him if you can
- Saeed is soft spoken and likable. But beware of appearances
Happy gold digging :-)
PRIVATE: Members OnlySeemed Like an Active Fund: Moved Quickly to a 'soft No'
Fund: Amidzad
Posted by anonymous on 2009-09-29
One of the founders of Amidzad is Saeed Amidi. He is also the founder of PlugandPlayTechCenter in Sunnyvale, a shared office space for startups.
Saeed claims to be an active investor.
He was very soft-spoken and rather pleasant to deal with. He also claimed that he moves fast when he likes something and brings in other investors. Seems to be well-connected.
In our case, it didn't work out - it ended pretty quickly in a "soft" no.
PRIVATE: Members Only (1283 Characters)