Farhad Mohit
Farhad Mohit is a serial entrepreneur, the founder/Chairman & Chief Product Officer of the Internet's new craze. Right now he is the CEO of Gripe. He is a specialist in product Management, Idea to Reality, Running large-scale internet business, negotiating with portals, algorithm based site optimization / software development, raising money, leading / motivating teams and having fun in the process.
Farhad was born in Tehran, Iran on February 24th, 1969. He left Iran with his family in 1978 and lived in France, England, and Northern California before settling in L.A. in 1984. He holds double major BS in Math/Computer Science & BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from the University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School. While at Wharton, Farhad dreamed up BizRate, a Web site that rates e-tailers and tracks down merchandise. He wrote the business plan as his master's thesis, then started BizRate in June, 1996 which has since become the largest customer feedback network in the world, garnering millions of customer ratings each month and helping tens of thousands of online stores establish trust with new customers, by display of our BizRate Certified medals.
In 1999 he started Shopzilla and helped manage it through the bubble of 2000, to profitability by 2003, and a successful acquisition for $565MM by EW Scripps (SSP) in 2005. In the process Shopzilla became and remains one of the largest, fastest growing and most successful shopping search engines in the world, helping millions of consumers make smarter buying decisions from tens of thousands of online stores, each day. In 2007 he founded to help newspapers gain high-quality user-generated editorial content while helping blogs and citizen journalists distribute their viewpoints into the mainstream more easily. Recently Mohit founded Gripe, a location aware mobile app that lets you use your word-of-mouth power to get complaints with any business of service provider heard and resolved, possibly on the spot.
In addition to his entrepreneurial activities Farhad leads an active social and philanthropic life. He is a TED Patron, sits on the board of the Soliya.net, is a board member at the Iranian Scholarship Foundation, and is a founding trustee of The Farhang Foundation.
Farhad Mohid hobbies are reading, writing poetry, short-fiction, travel and appreciation with friends and family. His favorite poets are Jorge Luis Borges, e.e. cummings, and Persian poets, Rumi because "his poetry is all about the joy of now, the ecstasy of living in the moment". He says I don’t really have too many business idols. If you want to draw inspiration, draw it from people who are truly inspirational like writers, artists, and philosophers–not money grubbing carpetbaggers. Business is business; don’t take it for anything more than it is—a means to an end. The end is a wonderful life. Mohit usually wears tattered clothes and doesn't spend much time on grooming. He says "I would feel uncomfortable if I blended into the crowd. I am a quirky, unique person. People don't forget me. I believe that's a service to the company,". He also says that the money he received changed his life in some ways. He says "I own a nice house, for instance. I am involved in several philanthropic activities. I am funding my latest start-up myself. In other ways, not so much. I drive the same style car I did in college, a VW GTI. I wear the same clothes and have many of the same friends. And my mother still worries if I’ve eaten enough and had enough sleep."
Mohit has three advices for up and coming students and/or fellow Iranians. If you want to be an entrepreneur, here are three things to consider:
1) Drop all your other options. Options create distractions. Also: You will encounter severe hardships and seemingly unbeatable odds, if you have options you will take the option (i.e. second job), instead of fighting through the hurdle.
2) Choose your idea and your partners objectively. Your idea must be able to stand on it's own feet and not need your TLC to lean on.
Your partners don't have to be your friends (in fact, it's better if they're not). All that is necessary is that they complement your skills and be compatible with you in personal makeup. My personal criteria for my partners are as follows: They must be honest, intelligent and passionate -- without these three attributes we won't be compatible. Aside from that, they must be as different in skill set / interests from me as possible.
3) Don't procrastinate... Do it now! if you're going to fail, better fail sooner rather than later, because later you always have more to lose (i.e. a family to support, a lifestyle to maintain, etc.)
