It's like the Olympic Games, the scientific Olympics, which are held at the time of the Olympic Games. In Canada, the team was brought together. The youngest member was 15 years old, who was in the Silicon Valley Games, but he got a scholarship.
28 years old. We have 32 categories that you can participate in the contest if you have a patent. More than 70,000 visitors in 2019 and 1.1 billion dollars was just the invention trade. This automatically detects oil water and moves without oil stains and with the filter we made, it separates the water from the oil by 96% After an hour, if we reach that area, all the waste water in the area will be under the influence of the pollution It is cleaner and more convenient, it is a more consistent process But when you are making a mold and go to the material store to buy materials, I don't know, bring workers, bring energy, make a design that is very easy. Now you make all this, and you will be able to make a mold.
From the level of TRL, which is the stage of the model being built, to the level of NUM, which is the pre-commercialization stage, this 6 to 8 is really like a ninth of a hundred. Because this stage is not accepted. For example, in my field, the oil company says that I have built a machine and I have built a filter, and it works separately. No, you have to ride this and throw it somewhere where the oil is on the water and I will see it there.
If you want to go to the investor, you have to see half the company and you will not get anything. If someone really wants to enter this path and is very interested in failing, and have a lot of interest in trying and getting back up again solving these challenges and without any risk because you do all these things and you don't have any answer we don't have a special start, we just go in his heart we go in his heart How are you, dad? Thanks, I'm fine.
How are you? I'm fine too. What's up? Are you in Vancouver or Toronto?
No, I'm in Toronto. You're in Toronto. I'll talk to you there.
I was in Toronto 10 years ago and I was in Vancouver between Toronto and Vancouver. Thank you very much for coming to our event. It was very good.
The challenges you had were very well organized. Thank you for inviting us. Your team was very professional.
Thank you. I hope you come again to our event. We will use your information. What are you doing now? What are you working on?
I was checking your LinkedIn account. I don't know if I made a mistake. I saw what happens to the Persian president. What do they call it?
The National Specialist Team. Yes, you say it. Is it actually the National Specialist Team of Canada or the Canadian Specialist Federation? We posted it on LinkedIn.
Now, if I want to say the Federation from the beginning or the poster, I have to say the Federation. Which one is better? Yes, say it. Whatever you think, take the moment and I will be there.
Yes, I understand. I was a member of the national team of the national team of the national team. I was a member of the national team of the national team. I was a member of the national team of the national team.
I was a member of the national team of the national team. I was a member of the national team of the national team. I was a member of the national team of the national team. This is like football in Iran.
No, it is the general situation of football in Iran. Football is the most important sport in the world. It has the most offices in 110 countries.
It is the same as football in Iran, where they hold competitions in different countries. It is the same as the Olympics in Iran. You are selected for a program and enter international competitions.
If you win a medal there, you can become a part of that national team and that country. And in fact, from there to the next, you become a part of the national team and participate in international competitions. Now there are different themes in the competitions, each for a special field. Focusing on a specific field FEDEROSION office is located in Switzerland, Geneva Under the supervision of the National Organization FEDEROSION is the first office in the country It has been established since 1957 The second office is in Silicon Valley I started working in 2015 I took over the presidency of the Canadian Prime Minister, who went to the Canadian Prime Minister as a member of the international Prime Minister. And we were able to establish the National Prime Minister team next year.
We recruited him from the Canadian Prime Minister. It was a long time ago. And it was not until 2015 that we started this project again.
Since then, more than 10 World Cups have been held in Canada. The team members have been brought in. The youngest student was 15 years old, who was in Silicon Valley University and got a degree.
And let me tell you about Fetrosy. Before COVID, we had a chapter in different universities in Canada. We had more than 1000 employees in different universities in Canada. We had different workshops for them.
For example, one of the people who won the South Korean University of Technology Award from Canada after securing US$200,000 is now a member of Forbes 30 Under 30. From TMU University, if I'm not mistaken, which is now Toronto Metropolitan University, or the same old Ryerson two years ago, which is... We had a chapter and then we won the Tala medal in the competition. Now, after Covid, we are recruiting again. We have a chapter in various universities in Canada. The reason we saw that land is that anyone who is in this university can come and take a chapter in our workshops.
Or if they are entrepreneurs, they can come and be eligible for the chapter and the championship for the competition. One question that came to me is that... You said that this initiative started in Iran.
How did you apply to become president of this country? I was part of the team. One of the conditions that you need to have to become president of a country is the leadership of the 20 countries.
In a yearly meeting held in the country, the country must be approved. The country must be approved so that it can be part of the World Federation and can run the office in that country. I had a good history with the Federation from 2008, when I was 16 or 17 years old. I was a member of the team in Iran.
I had more than 10 world medals. I had seen and heard about different competitions and I had a good understanding of the themes of the competitions and the rules of the competitions and I knew all of them When I applied for this program, it took 6 to 7 months until the program was ready and the evaluation was done and then this department was really established Great! I think you were in Canada before I mean you had a job Yes, I came in 2011 It makes sense.
You said that you have many scientists who apply for this. How many of them are Iranian? Many of them.
I'm not sure how many. But you see, scientists are different. For example, there are scientists who are in Toronto or in... Most of the major universities are in the metropolitan area, and there are many Iranian universities. But for example, there are many non-Iranian universities like McMaster University.
And your focus is on something special? No, I mean... Something special, tech?
Because I see that you are also involved in oil and oil industry. Yes, no, the categories that we cover are based on our Fed's database. We have 28 to 32 different categories that you can participate in the department as long as you have the right to do so.
And these are closed categories, you can participate in one of those categories. All of them are included, if you have a degree in engineering or engineering, you know that the field of engineering is more important than the engineering or business students. We have more than one of these two groups.
So we don't have any restrictions on these two groups, for example, if they can't be a middle school. What do you do for the kids at the institution you have? Do you make an investor for them or introduce them to a series of incubators? How is this? Do you want to start from the beginning?
And now it is being established in your institution to go to the medal. Yes, to reach the medal. How is it? Or even after the medal?
Look, I want to say a journey from the beginning. For example, I said that a 15-year-old student, a 15-year-old student of Dastimaria, who was also Iranian, was in one of the ideas and innovations circles. Without ideas, you come into this circle and learn how to identify, how to identify problems.
and how to create the first example and how to present it. It came from the beginning of the revolution and reached a creative idea. Can you tell us what the idea was?
Yes, of course. It was created in 2017 and was made by the International Council at that time. It is a drone that cleans the windows of buildings. Recently, it was made in 2017. It's viral in two videos that you see that use it a lot.
I don't know if you can put a photo or not in the middle of the podcast. Yes, of course. I can send you the photo of the first prototype.
It's interesting, he made one thing and a blade that was attached to the front of the drone. And he was moving, cleaning the glasses. At that time, it was not 2017. The same new ideas, for example, it was 1 or 2 years ago. The big drones of that big DJ came in the first version. And this is the idea we're talking about.
I was very much into the Genie SE Then I went to Silicon Valley for a job But I was working there After that, this came back to my passion Inventor Whether he wants to start a startup Or just want to be an achievement in resume Many of the students we had in the team in Iran Want to be in the same situation as the Iraqi universities Or want to graduate from the International University and they need to go out for a resume. That's a different matter. But here we refer them to the incubator if they want to start a startup. So we can do this?
Yes, we can introduce them to incubators who are partners and if their plan is eligible and they can get the investor's help, they can get the investor's help. It is a very important point in the competition itself. It is a great opportunity because you are in a place where people from all countries of the world, people like you, have startups, have businesses, and all people who are part of a team of technical and business people, participate in marketing and networking for three days out of these two competitions. First of all, all the pavilions in the country come to see the game.
And usually, they have teams that come with them to play. They visit all the rooms. Well, they usually don't go to the same room as their country, others also visit. So it's a chance that you can meet a businessman from another country and play there. I want to give a very good example.
The South Korean national team game It had more than 70,000 visitors in 2019 and $1.1 billion was only in the invention trade. The Korean Fed itself invests in the project and the content of the competition is for the sake of Kipco, which is one of the LG's shareholders and the sponsor of the entire competition. The Korean Fed is the only company in the world The idea is that it is related to electronics. And everyone should be patented, and everyone should have a sample of what they have.
And everyone who wants to, will be able to pass on what they have. This is a great opportunity for someone who has a project to go to the same place as the president. And different televisions come there, so you get international exposure there.
Everyone sees you from different countries. And how is this? Is it held annually?
Yes, every year there is a different theme. I mean, it's not just that there is only one competition this year. Every year there are 10 to 15 competitions held. Each of them is on a different topic. For example, one is focused on high-tech, another is focused on electronics, and another is focused on green tech, clean tech.
Based on the experience we have, we separate them. For example, if we have a specific applicant, we have a request that his proposal is green tech, green tech, clean tech, and we don't ask for the competition. only on electronic devices so you use these devices before the competition yes, we use them so you use these devices in one year and then I'm correct if I'm wrong? yes, exactly so you use these devices and then the category is closed for the competition and then you prepare and then you send the device that fits the competition yes, we keep the ones that are eligible we remove the ones that are eligible and then we filter them again and then we take care We have more than 3-4 plans for each year.
We are not expecting to have 5-6 eligible projects every year. But we have 3-4 plans. I know you have a script from the Federation. But do you have a personal opinion on the election campaign? I am not the only one.
There are students in the FedRestaurant office, in our team, who work in different fields, they do research, especially for the different fields, such as research and research and then they send the results to the first-year students. In the first stage, if they do not have a patent or a certificate, we cannot take them. They will be expelled.
And they should have a certificate. International space and if I don't have a software there, their money will be stolen. And they can't even fix it for them. So this is for the first part. We have a series of factors, such as how much the software has the ability to turn into a business.
Or if there is a startup, how much it is capable of, how much the scale level is actually. And how the approaches are actually feasible, logical, to turn it into a startup. It's very interesting because what you are saying is very similar to the incubators and accelerators that are currently working outside.
This is also very similar to it. Yes, exactly. We are returning this and if it is in accordance with the standards of the Federation, it is more likely to break in the region. So, do you need a confirmation from them or just confirm it yourself?
We confirm that some of the competitions are still going on. We send some of the competitions to Fedroson's office in that country, they confirm it and after that they return. There are a number of competitions, if you want to calculate, there are about 7 to 8 stages to reach the final medal. Because in the competition hall, the competitions are just starting. For example, a competition in Geneva, Switzerland, We explain the rules to the viewers and the rest of the team.
And the medal category is a reward from the players. It has a different kind of reward. Each competition has its own strategy. It's very interesting.
I was listening to this song. MIT, in one of these fields that you are talking about... You were in the role of a leader, right? If you tell us about that, it would be very interesting.
Yes, it was a very different experience. Two leaders, there is a challenge, Emojity Solve, which Emojity is a company that works more for social enterprises. Start-ups that are in the field are not very technical.
So you were applying some of the solutions that you had? No, the solutions that I had were for the problems related to those areas. I see.
I don't know how they are doing now. Was it like this for the last two years or has it changed? It's interesting.
Yes, it was an interesting experience. Every year I had 20-25 Tahrir for the festival. What was the result?
Did you trust them? Yes, we trusted them. And then, if I'm not mistaken, they were filtered.
And the first prize was 40,000. And they had a return prize, if I'm not mistaken. And the university itself is like a case study of supporters. Great. And were these designs specific to hardware and software?
Yes, they had hardware and software, but the focus was not on the technology, but on the solution. It was interesting for me, because when I came from the tech part, I was like, why did they send me this design? It's not the same as the tech side, but it's more about the solution side.
I understand. That's why I was interested in what you just said. I was in Iran for a while, and you probably haven't been out for a while. There was a place called Noavari Azadi, where startups came in. It was very inside.
They were talking about their plans, and we were like a mirror. And yeah, what you said is very strange. Sometimes you get something that you're waiting for, like this Tekeshku, I don't know, that AI1 part, now it's not AI1 anymore.
Yeah. But you have a series of expectations that sometimes it's like, well, if this is possible, then it's new for me. It's strange. But yeah, it's very cool. Then I was looking at this, I saw a post, I think it was six or seven months ago, which was If I'm not mistaken, don't hit me.
But I think there was something that was similar to a stick, something black that if I'm not mistaken, it was like oil and these things. You said that this thing is ready to go for construction or something like that. Tell me about that.
Yes, of course. This hockey is my child. This was my third invention in 2008. After the first round of competitions I went to, in Switzerland. One day, I made three inventions in one water tank.
Because three events happened in the same time. And one of those inventions is the startup I have now. I am a water engineer.
One day, the oil tank that was going to the gas station was broken and the water was cut off somewhere. Because of the water that was poured into the water tank And we didn't have any water for two days We didn't even have any water for the water tank And what happened to me was that I realized that if I had a tool That could quickly collect this oil, it would help a lot And nothing else happened My father is a mechanical engineer And he works in an oil company many years ago They explained to me how beautiful this Porsche is, that they bring an oil skimmer, they don't know how to close it, they have to be careful, different tools have to be used, and this is the reason for this delay. Well, I made the first version in my home parking lot, and that was a very... It was very applied to this matter.
Yes, exactly. And since we were in an apartment, the parking lot was like... It wasn't an Apple parking lot that you could just pull the door up and down and it would be your own. A car came and went to the parking lot and then I took a person with a knife and cut the music and pressed it there. I went to a laboratory under the sea of the University of Esfahan, I didn't go to the university yet.
We did the first test there, but the technology was not like it is now. We have to use mechanical tools to separate this oil from water. The main point of this device is the speed at which you can separate these two.
The project was established in 2013. Because of the lack of technology, you couldn't see this. You could have proven that it was separating and the device was moving remotely. But the elements of becoming a business and a startup were not there.
The concept of the startup was not in 2008 or 2009. I came to Ryerson University in 2013. There was an incubator. At that time, the issue of startups had just begun. In 2012, I found a company in Toronto called Mars.
I don't know if you've heard of it or not. It's a very big organization. All incubators are located somewhere in the city of Mars. I had just started my entrepreneurship journey.
I learned how to write a business plan and what a startup is. The year after that, I was in the same position as the one who was in the Lawyers'Zone. I was sitting in the office of the manager who was my mentor.
I was talking to a person about a concept that is now viral in the world. Many business startups run like this and we have to bring these things to the universities. I don't know about BMC yet.
There are many universities, like U of T, that are two years old. I said, you are better than them. I said, in an incubator. They said, you are a two-person unit. I said, form, write down two-person unit.
Then, this became a start-up. I partnered with a Harvard University. We created a nano filter for this.
It was made from a distance. I will tell you about the long story short It was converted to the Batman black machine The Batman black that you saw in the picture With a company in the United States That makes the We decided to make this machine for us The design is completely our own We made the filter ourselves We are partners with another company to control the system. This is installed on a boat or inside the port.
Wherever there is an oil leak, this device is thrown into the water. It automatically detects the oil and moves on the oil leak. And with the filter we made, the water distance from the oil is separated by 99.6%.
The application is not only using oil, but also the ports have pollution. For example, if you go to the old port and look at the sun, you will see that there is a little color on a part of the water. I saw that a lot of times. Exactly, that oil is a source of pollution inside the water.
and this process separates them from water and makes them separate from the water. An interesting point about oil production is that after an hour, because it is very thin, a thickness of about a millimeter, after an hour, you cover an area of about 1 km by 1 km. Oil does not allow oxygen and light to pass from the sea level because of its oil properties. In fact, after an hour, if you reach that area late, All the water in the area is under the control of the flood.
After 5 hours, you have a very long time, and 5 hours is the shortest time that oil, chimera, gas, and gas can reach the pollution site. It is not useful. If you want to calculate the amount of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, I think it is 17% or 18,000 to If I remember correctly, it was used to bring in 1,800 or 1,800 million tons of waste. But it could only collect 17% of all the waste that had come in. You see, there is a show mode from one place to another.
From one place to another, it only shows you the world that I am trying to save for the sake of my environment. Don't put my support down. So there is a specific time for this collection?
Yes, it is not that useful anymore. The point is that you can buy time after the sale. It starts, it goes around that area, it collects the goods, fills the stores, and sells them. If the oil is lost, it has to reach a large store. For example, it takes 5 to 6 hours for that large store to arrive.
The money that is saved starts to go to a few tens of millions of dollars. A few hundred million dollars, because every drop of oil that you pour into the water, all the costs that you can count, that's 10,000 dollars. The waste that you have to pay for it, because it's not just collecting it. Years and years of environmental impacts on that area, on the ecosystem of that area, the waste is due to the company that caused this incident. When you are cleaning the water with our equipment, and the water filters and returns to the sea and you prevent the next environmental disaster it doesn't just collect oil very interesting and then these tanks that eject and get out of the tank should people take them back?
yes, they can come back it's actually pure oil It's pure oil. And what I'm curious about is that this oil is so valuable that we don't think of it as a value. We don't put it in the pitch or in the calculations.
It's not the oil that's in the warehouse. Because this is such a value that you are a loss that we actually save from the value of the value system. For example, the oil of 80 or 90 is not even worth it. I thought that if someone is not an operator and doesn't have this, after a while, this will be the same thing again. And it will come back to its original state.
I thought about that. Yes, no, this matter is not even there. Because as soon as this is detected on the media, where the same thing has happened, all the coastal guards, like Coast Guard, Canada and the US are responsible for this part and four other companies in Canada are responsible for it.
They reach a distance within that site and close the site. But their distance is a bit too long for this matter. If it was like their medical system, their distance would be very long.
If it was like that, it would not reach at all. Very interesting. I think we have only half an hour left.
We are talking together. How many children... I've seen a lot of things.
You don't talk about collecting oil, you know? You don't talk about the outside of I think engineering research is important. Where does this come from? From the family?
For example, families are very involved in this issue. Or someone who was in this system before. Because you know, for example, I saw you studied MBA, right? Yes. In Ryerson.
No, in Ryerson. Where? In Hoth.
Yes, Hoth. Yes, it was my mistake. I think this doesn't only apply to studying at the university.
Where do you think you get these experiences from? I mean, I want you to tell me. Where do you get these experiences from?
Do you read them personally? Yes, go ahead. I have no idea about the things I have done so far. They are not related to the university. I was talking about this in another podcast, that it's not bad to have no lessons.
If I go back to that time, I think I didn't go to engineering. I studied business more, because it's a practical part. Engineering didn't have any effect on me. But in my field, I don't know anyone who studies software.
I think someone who studies software is more... I'm working on it, and I learn the coding by heart. But for me, it was the same time in the university.
I went to the section I needed, for example, the first class was a class to study the sound of a helicopter. And well, I went and took a part of the sound, and a teacher came and taught me the sound. And then I went and passed a series of courses, for example, in electronics and these things in Tabestan.
It takes two years to make a prototype. But I learned the basics. But that's it. Where did you learn that you should make something like this?
Where did you get the idea? Where did you get the idea? This is a part of the mindset. I was 4 or 5 years old.
I used to go to the gym. I was looking for a solution for my father. I asked my father why we didn't do it. I saw war films with chemical masks.
I told him that if we remove the mask and filter and put it in front of the car's exhaust, we can't clean the air. My father said no, it's not possible. Now, we have to say it in a simple language, no, it's not possible. Then I said, well, if we remove the exhaust pipe, We had to find another exhaust pipe to filter everything.
We thought, how can we do that? But we had to know how to close the door. So, my mind was looking for problems and solutions.
After a while, when your mindset becomes like this, you automatically see problems everywhere. The issue of air conditioning came to me because I was very interested in aerospace. I had gone to a course to design aerospace. without any cold.
Then, those who fly, their body is fiberglass, it cannot be detected. It's just the sound that detects a lot. Many people came there, we were all students, they all wanted to fly with a drone, but I got to that point that if the drone is flying, why don't we make something to make the sound of the sound and make it completely without a radar. Then the solution came to my mind like this, I said, well, now, I'm going to make a drone that can fly.
With such a big problem, and the sound of the speaker is not available, there must be a high power that is taken from the speaker itself. Then automatically it is reached that we have a vaccine, which is a very small microphone, we cannot take it, plug it, recognize it, we take the microphone itself and replace it. So if I come here, I will probably take the same sound.
and make it weaker, or do something else, I can make that sound myself. And this was the spark that turned into a system that doesn't make that sound. But for example, in the series of works that we tested, it was able to reduce the noise level.
And well, this was with the technology of 2006. Now with the Bollango and Bandai, for example, one of the reasons was that we used a noise like the Bandai that we used, which is this noise. and the noise itself affects the sound it couldn't play both of them perfectly the small example is the headphones that Apple has which has a noise cancellation system it actually picks up the sound and it can make a much smaller scale of sound and you don't hear anything from outside this is how the idea comes to mind it's very interesting I'm very... I talk to you in some places very... I think so too.
I'm trying to say Farsi on Friday. Because I tried a lot when I was a kid. Of course, more in the field of electronics and software. You have a very unlimited mind. You don't think much about what I think.
For example, when you went into oil or came into noise cancelling drones. I only had two ideas and I limited myself to that, which is electronics and software. And I gave ideas in that heat. I can actually agree with you in that part. But I find it very interesting that someone can do so much...
without thinking about Mars and it's background doesn't limit to electronic or software or anything else yes this is very interesting I have to talk about something separately it's very interesting for me I talk about it and move forward like this, yes or no? if I have the chance yes thank you very much Look, I have a few more questions for you. Don't you get tired of switching?
I mean, once you are talking about oil, once about sound, once about other things, you have other ideas in your mind, probably if you want to do something else. Aren't you tired of these? No, actually, the point is that this is what attracts me at the moment. I mean, the feeling changes because I have to get into an environment where I can do something else.
I want to be more connected to industry and industry, to learn new things about that industry, to learn about related technologies, and the topic doesn't get more complicated. For example, the startup I'm working on is a tourist one, and AI and tourist things are not related to the product at all. Or another of my plans is to... to attack the body, instead of attacking the body. And it was related to blood, body fat, and other things.
It was something completely different. The fact that it's being switched and a new field opens up is very interesting. Very interesting. The startup you mentioned is called Inno Vanguard, if I'm not mistaken. No, Inno Vanguard is my own company, a separate company that actually does startup marketing and building prototypes and actually starting a startup.
Because Federation is a non-for-profit and its work is more focused on the mandate of international competitions and it covers those parts more. Inno Vanguard is a bit more relaxed. A4 is more popular.
For example, if someone has an idea, we can make a prototype for him. We have worked in many fields and we have a strong team on this issue. We can create prototypes at the same time.
Or, in fact, the introduction of a startup, such as business plan, design, and any of these necessary parts for a startup, is actually done by a new Angard company. It's very interesting. If you want to play a SRT, what will you play tomorrow? A very interesting question. Very interesting.
At least, you should narrow it down a bit. What field will you play? Because I wanted to narrow it down, but I saw that you think it's very random, so I said I'll narrow it down. Look, I really wanted to play it. I want to be in the field of blockchain and fintech.
I think if I want to do something, I will do it in this field. But these two fields have never been included. But I want to do it in this field.
I want to make it more mature so that I can say 100% in the software. If this is an experience that we talked about failures, I want to do this strategy, but I will do it later. Yes Go, The company we are working with is a simulation company. We have two parts, one is software, where we simulate a place, and the other part is completely hardware, and we build and build our own hardware.
We make the environment real for you. The machine can be in the air, in the river, in the sea. You probably saw the simulations in the airspace that are simulating airbases.
The small model is that it can be used in different places and is not limited to a specific place like airspace or ships. We are still talking outside the room, but I want to explain something to the audience. So, many of the simulations that are in the market either have very large dimensions or do not simulate and they are faking it. The reason we had that approach is that I say this is going back to the software and electronics that are not very far from that limit. But yes, it was because we could actually take this limit from the brain.
I think there are many interesting points in our way of thinking and we can probably talk about it more. I want to talk about the experience of defeat. Did you use a specific tool or software to design the software?
I use a lot of After Solidworks I think I'm going to go to Solidworks But I went to Katia After Solidworks For the next project, we wanted to give our final design to this company, but they have their own company, so we hired this person who was a ship designer. He helped us and designed the final design, which was our main idea. company to do the work very good, you have completely defeated in this way very good it can't be without it do you agree? yes, of course I think from every 10 startups 2 or 3 of them will reach the end because all of them in my opinion will be I used to say that the stories of the founders are more interesting than the success stories Because when you hear the success stories, you don't see the past You think that the person who made this is so interesting But there are thousands of stories I didn't know this myself I don't think I have the same experience as you But I don't talk much about the small things that have been done Because in the mind of people, it is a small thing I don't know, it's a lot It's not bold, but if you really want to look at the little things that are broken, which are good and in the hands of the person, it's not useful at all. Yes, it's not even a good thing.
Exactly. It's exactly the little things that you look at that shape the puzzle. Exactly. Yes. Well, tell me about your experience of failure, about the challenge, about...
Now I'm trying to make it simple. Yes, you see this challenge... The biggest lesson I learned was this If I want to go next time And for this reason, this is a tourist attraction A tour If you want to make a product that is really marketable, and you can sell it on a large investment, it will be very, very, very difficult to build a building.
For example, I have been saying since 2013 that I have only been working on this project for three years. The reason was that I could not find a workshop anywhere that I could only build a 4-meter-long building in a short time. These were not the things I wanted.
The offices that use incubators give you a table. You see, they give you a desk and you ask what to do with it. I have a 4-meter table.
What can I do in this desk? What can I do in this office? For a long time, I was not here to take care of this project. Then when you are making software, you have to make sure that you are using the right tools. You bring a programmer, a table, a coffee, at least a energy bar, and that's it.
He has everything he wants. He boosts it. Yes, but when you are making a stove, you have to go to the material store first, buy the material, I don't know, bring the worker, bring the energy, make it, the design is very easy.
Now you make all this. From the level of TRL, the level of readiness, to the stage and the level of the sample that has been made, until you reach the 9th level, which is actually the pre-commercialization of the stage, this 6 to 8 really takes up a third of a unit. Because this process is not accepted.
For example, in my field, the oil company says that I have made the device, and the filter is not working. and they say no, you have to ride this and throw it in a place where there is oil on the water and I will see it there. So you can't bring oil to your home alone. You can't find oil that is not sold in a place like this. And you can't find a place where you can throw it on the water and make it polluted to test it.
So the challenger you put aside, it takes about two or three years to solve it and it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. This was the biggest lesson I learned for the next startup. And the mistakes I made were in team building.
It hurt me a lot. It hurt me and Agha Bandar a lot. I know you've been through a lot and had a bad experience in this regard. It was very bad. I brought two or three co-founders to this project.
It's like a relationship, you go into a relationship, you take a couple of red flags, you break up, you go into the next one. In fact, all of these pieces of the team building puzzle completed me. I got the red flag in the second year from the beginning, I got it in the second year, I got it in the third year, and fortunately and fortunately, I'm working with them on this project now. They didn't have any problems before, and now they are doing very well with each other, they are always moving forward. I want to give you more examples, but these two were very important to me.
It's a very interesting story. The experience is probably similar to everyone's. But finding these people themselves is a real challenge.
Finding them, then matching with them, then meeting them. Because many of these talents are like you now. They like to be in different fields and they feel confident after a while If you can't create a challenge for them, it will be harder for them But yes, this is a big part of failure In the game, it's more difficult Our failure is very precise But yes, I want to...
Yes, there are some failures in the software. Some of the failures are taught by the user. Some of them are a little bit annoying.
Yes, they are a little bit annoying. I remember in 2015 or 2016, there was a night of Allah in Digikala which I think was downloaded on the website for 8 or 9 hours. Because...
The people attacked the website and that was a challenge for the team because in a country like Iran everything is limited and you don't have any experience like Amazon and scaling was a bit strange at least in that year both for people and for the team and for the managers it was a bit strange how this could happen but we want to talk about the problems and Hi, welcome to my new video. I came to Canada in 2021. I had some offers for Amazon in 2016, but... Uber and these are a collaboration, I have a close acquaintance with the actual manager of Uber, Mr. Khosrowshahi How are you? Because of this, we have been receiving a lot of help from each other in Snap and in fact we were helping because It's very interesting, I want to tell you this now Yes, my friends will definitely hear it It's very interesting One of the problems that Uber has in software, at least outside of the geographic area of Khabar Miran, is that since there is very little latency on the internet...
The platform and system are designed for the internet. And especially when Uber came to take over Karim, Karim solved some problems for the internet. But the main issue is that if the internet is a cloud, and the latency is high, due to the Iranian filtering, many of their systems become problematic.
We talked a lot about this, and it was a very basic experience. like Daraa something more than what she said in the podcast but yes learning besides failure is a very interesting experience it's an interesting experience it's a very interesting experience what you've done yes, I really like scaling business it's very interesting it's very interesting Now, let's get back to you. Which one do you like more in InnoVanguard or other businesses?
Why? I really like clean oil because it's like I said to my kids, you have to have a feeling for a product, if you put a lot of time, you can pull it off. And this is Vanguard. For me, it's more attractive. Clean oil doesn't go to many different fields.
You work on the oil field and I want to tell you the truth, I am a ocean-lover. For example, I wanted to take a reader for a project and see how the heat is and how much heat is there. You have to be in the right environment to make the design.
I was wondering what kind of design I was going to do. I decided to change the project phase. When I went to the oil rigs that were doing the milling, there was so much dust and I said, we didn't even touch the project, we're back.
And well, it's not an atmosphere that I want to maneuver a lot inside it, to go to different fields. Of course, now, because of this, I'm under a lot of pressure and I didn't want to touch the project. So I went to the oil rigs. I also added other applications to the software. We added a design that is much more than just oil.
And strangely enough, we have a much bigger market for that. Of course, because we have different applications. But we don't want to focus on oil right now. We will focus on other things.
But we have actually built everything for it. We are adding the advanced applications to it. InnoVanguard supports all fields.
We have helped 50 startups in different areas. We have created different projects besides blockchain and fintech. We have created prototypes in all fields on our scale.
from the use that you made to the small medical device, well, the patenting process, and finally all of these make a challenge for you, which asks you how to scale the business, how to add features, how to target the market. and how to change the market, you have to think about it, study it, and know more about the industry. I said I really like this challenger and Vanguard is giving it to me. Yes, about the challenge you say, I think how many projects do you have?
Me? Yes. I have five, six, yes, six projects.
I have two or three projects that I have to put aside. The product itself is actually 5 or 6 products. How many of them did you want to bring into the business and grow with them?
I really wanted to work on one more project. It was a project that was in the German competition, which is the hardest competition in the world. It was the medal for Daimler. The material should be like this, when the machine is drawn on the asphalt at an angle of 8 to 90 kilometers, it should be fast and then and the car can somehow return to normal which has some challenges like if you want to return the car you have to detect the environment that is not clean and if the air pressure drops and you have a bigger loss I really wanted to do this change but the cost of prototyping was so high that none of the other projects could be converted into a startup This was just a clean oil, although it was expensive, but the regulations were a little less. It was easier to do it and bring it to the start-up.
Yes, I understand. Now that you say it, I also remember something. Let me repeat, we had a plan for Mercedes.
When I was younger, it was like this, after a number of events, Like your friends who have gone to the hospital. It was like this that many of the problems for drivers when they go to the front or back, if small children or people who are smaller, like animals, dogs or other animals in the front of the car, they do not see. There was a time when the sound was being heard inside the car or there was a conversation.
One of the things we were working on was not to make the cabin sound noisy. and the voice cancelling can be a bit more conscious so that if someone hits you from behind, and you're screaming and yelling, you can hear the voice. That, of course, has not been achieved in our region because of the younger generation.
And the passion for other things, which I myself haven't really caught up with, they are probably working on it or have done it, I don't know. It's very interesting to hear that. You really don't reach startup at that age.
Because people's minds are more focused on technology at that age. You don't really focus on business. 100% That's why I was so surprised.
Let's go now. How do we know? Let's go and scale something. As a kid, I was very interested in scaling systems.
And this didn't scale much for me. You know, it caused a big problem, but it wasn't scalable. No. Yes. I also have similar experiences.
But I want to ask you a question. In this path, one can definitely be up and down from the spiritual, financial and other things. What do you do to get rid of that state of being down and come up and go on? Look, the approach is different for each one of us.
For example, for a competitor, I ignored it for a long time. For example, I would open the book and see that someone is making something that is not in the original form, and I would close it. It might not be interesting, but I would close it at that moment.
After a week, I would go to the store and see what it has made. How much has it improved? Does it have room for improvement for me to take another step forward? But financially, I have worked in retail, I took money from there and put it on this. Or other projects that I worked on, I put the money on clean oil.
For this project, I really want to go to the investor, not at all. Because you know that the investor is the investment system in Canada. If it was really a product in the market before.
If you want to become an investor, you have to give the company a good deal and nothing will happen to you. Even after the MVP, this issue has been seen. Yes, yes, yes.
So that's why the challenge was different. It took a long time, two or three things took a long time. Maybe if I had a very good budget at first, I would have rented a job, and my team would have played together.
I used to rent and hire people. But because of this challenge, it took a long time. But it was solved.
Yes, sometimes I think that doing business requires a special time and in that clear. Some of the ideas. In that clear, if you did it, you did it, if you didn't, you should do it better.
Yes, I mean, you shouldn't do it. Yes, you shouldn't do it. But another question I have for you is, did you wait for the result of the work you were working on to be unreasonable? Or did you not wait for it, but you got a very good result? Is your job financially?
Financially, everything. Hmmm You know more about your job than me. The reason is that sometimes we don't think that the idea is very profitable.
But when we make it, it is really profitable. Yes, look, I had two different experiences. I mean the one that turned upside down. In 2015, Let's go back to the previous experience. I have a friend who is Saudi and has a heart disease.
He shared an idea with me. He said that we have a problem in Arabia. We have to play football in the football fields. Many football players play there.
It is the main entertainment. He has a private owner who sits in his house and rents the land. He collects his money and says that this is the land rent.
The challenge is that the person who collects the money takes a lot of his share back. You don't know who is going to that land, how many hundred lands you have rented. And from that side, you want to calculate the amount of money you don't give. You say, what do you think is the solution for this? I said, let's make an Airbnb app for the owner of the football field.
For example, rent this. And when I invest in it, I will be able to pay for it myself. The same person brought Daesh and gave us some money and we got a team from India They made me a poor person so that the app would be fixed I mean, I really try to be a peaceful person in some places but I remember that in the office, I would stay up at 3 in the morning until they woke up I would hit them on the head I would get angry and for example, the thing they fixed yesterday they fixed it today and today they took 4 other things from this and it took this long before that, I was a I had a co-founder who found a family problem and left.
He left and joined HimeMiner. This idea, when it was ready to launch, and everyone had finished it and it was ready to launch, you wouldn't believe it. Maybe three weeks after we entered the marketing part in Arabia, I think every two weeks he sends me a link that another company is coming to do this, another company is coming.
I think it's something good. Everyone was waiting for this to come and start giving this idea And I saw how fast they took the market and it failed It failed a little late, if it fails sooner, well, it would have been saved a lot of time But they took a lot of money from those companies and many of them had heavy exits A lot of this experience was what they say was a burning experience I really thought we would get good money from this, but it ended in a way I really... I thought that clean oil would be more profitable.
When I launched EIDA, I didn't have much experience in the Canadian market. I thought that as you saw in Iran, they say that you reach the water level to have a budget, then they pay you a lot of money, they buy from you, they buy a mansion, etc. I said that this is my oil plan, I will go to Canada, EIDA will buy from me 20 million on that patent.
But I think it's not. It's a long way to get there. Yes, we've heard and seen a lot of these stories.
Babak, has it caused you to go this way of entrepreneurship? Or do you think it was in you from the beginning? No, I think my father had a very positive impact. I was a business owner, from a job to a job.
I started my own business and I had different fields. At the same time, I worked in different fields. I had production, I don't know, it was aluminum, I don't know, it was oil.
You know, there were fields that had no connection to each other. And maybe one day I will leave this field and go to the next one and I will pursue business. And well, because they had an engineering background, I will go to that field. I think I've learned a little bit about that.
Very interesting. What's the last book you've read? The last book I've read was 48 Rules of Power. Okay. Can you explain it to me?
Yes, this is actually the 48 rules of power that cause the following... Your management, your business, and your relationship with your company You have that power, or that, I say, superiority But you have that power to handle and control Which is interesting, for example, different strategies that are real That is, based on the stories of many examples that really bring you a lot of joy That... I think it has really affected the way I use it. I've seen a series of songs in this genre, and I'm thinking about what I should sing next. I don't know what I should sing next, but it was an interesting book.
If you want... I want to start this way and if you want to give me some advice, what would you say? I will flashback to the previous question, it is a book that has always remained in my mind and I recommend it to everyone. Maybe this is also related to this question, I don't know if you have heard of the Moms Test. It was a very, very good book, I think I read the book 3 or 4 times.
Especially for those who want to do the and he wants to test his idea, I highly recommend this book to you. He comes and says, well, you have an idea, now you think that it is a very good idea, he shares it with your parents and says, wow, I'm so proud of you, my son, what a great idea you gave, you should definitely follow it, but in fact, it is not like that. You have to remember how to do market research, and really see if it has the value that you want to follow it.
who is your market, how you should increase your value for those who want to start up and come from engineering background I think it's a very good book back to your question entrepreneurship and start up is very popular now you saw that many people are saying entrepreneur it's a journey that requires a special spirit It's not like if someone enters the industry, he will be a millionaire overnight. Unlike what many people say, a millionaire overnight doesn't exist in my opinion. So if someone really wants to enter this industry, he should be very interested in failing, and be very interested in trying and getting back up again. and solve these challenges without taking any risks because you do all these things and you reach the end and no one answers you.
This passion is very important in this path. I think there are two sides to life. One side is a very safe life, which is good in my opinion.
It doesn't have a good or bad side, it depends on each person's character. I think that's the best way to live. They are calm and they care about their lives.
It's a 9 to 5 relationship. Some of them don't care about their lives. They are just worried about their lives.
They are just looking for entrepreneurship. Their income and reward is clear. They have a monthly income that makes them feel calm and safe. We are sure that this will happen under any circumstances. But this is not a guarantee, but if it happens, it will be a very good thing.
It has a very big reward. This is what a person can do first in his or her identity, to see which person is the one who helps a lot from these two ways. That is, he opens the door to the first.
And then it became clear that in the entrepreneurship field, I am the one who has to do everything for him or her. Without any last-minute events. And if he fails somewhere, he has a backup plan.
If he reaches a certain level of achievement, he still needs another power that he doesn't lose. He needs those too. One of the things that you said is essential. Yes, you are right.
I don't know how much I will succeed. As a last question, how much will you ride on this AI wave? For business or for e-mail searches?
It's very scary. I think about it again and I ignore it and I will put it back in a week. But I hope it stays at this level.
Don't go too far. Have you got any ideas? Why? When I say it's touristy, I mean it works with AI.
I mean before we started this project. But, AI works. If you ask AI about AI in general, I think it is progressing at a fast pace. Although I don't know if it is successful or not.
Many say that many jobs are not going away, many new jobs are being built. But the number of jobs that are going away is not low, it is very high and it is worrying. If you learn to work with those tools and work with them daily, you may be successful in your job. But really be careful.
Be careful if you don't learn it. For example, a person who has been working in a job for 30 years, 10 years, 10 years, 10 years, and the last year, for example, if you are a worker, and learn it in a way. It's very difficult. I want to answer this question.
Last night I was working on a project for a company. It was an Android app. And this software we are using is called Android Studio, in the language of Katrin. I opened it and there was an update.
I clicked on the update. The software that was installed came up and said that From now on you can have a Gemini to code. Then I was like, well, now it probably can't work that much. Then I wrote a prompt for it and said, for example, the thing I wanted to do in my mind, I said I want to do this, I want to do that, which part is this? And it wrote that code.
The thing that I probably wanted to do for an hour, with, for example, I don't know how to go, I don't know how to bring tea, and drink coffee, and these stories, it was collected in five minutes. I agree with you. I myself am in my 30s and it is very difficult for me to learn this system again.
But in terms of these things, it is what it is. Yes, you work in a team. Think about that band that doesn't work with you at all. It has nothing to do with you.
Now something has come that is completely... and the robot will take the job from it. Yes, exactly. Even the robot is matching with AI, it has to do with the worker.
It can't wait for the worker to say go and learn AI after you have done a lot of work. They won't take the job from you. Yes, this is a bit of a trend or a bit different, but I remember in the old days, in Iran, when there was a trend of writing and creating programs, people always said that people were very hardworking. I think it's not like that, but I think it's not on the same scale as we think it is. Maybe in the next few years.
I don't know. I hope so. Thank you for coming. Did you have something you wanted to say?
No, everything is fine. Everything is fine? Yes.
I will put the books you mentioned and the photos you mentioned in the video and post them below. How can people link to you? The best way is Instagram Instagram? Yes We will put your Instagram in the description And that's it, thank you for coming Thank you very much. You were very kind.
You were very kind. I enjoyed it very much. Me too.
I hope that every time you succeed, you will have the opportunity to talk to me at night. Of course. Yes. I am looking forward to that time.
Thank you. Thank you. You are welcome. Thank you. Goodbye.
Goodbye.