British-Persian, currently in the Alpine region and working remotely on a portfolio of bets.

Born in Shiraz, heart of the old Persian empire, under difficult circumstances. Escaped to London at five. Grew up lower class, attending some of the worst-rated schools in England. Ran businesses in high school. Worked 40+ hours a week in hit-target-or-die cold sales while completing a full-time degree in financial engineering. Didn't start as a coder. Learned to sell, then build. "Born in Iran, made in England."

No investors, no employees, no boss. Customers only. VCs: don't contact me.

The Rational brand launched in 2020, drawing from Poor Charlie's Almanack and the Incerto. Seek sanity, not vanity.

Now

• Rational Founder — long-form podcast on enduring texts and worldly wisdom. Relaunching soon with private club and notes library. Previously Rational VC, ranked Top 25. 40+ hours archived.
• Rational.School — tech hiring course and 1-on-1 coaching. 500+ people placed.
• RemoteStreet.com — tech talent placement. Currently limited to Rational School alumni.
• Rational.Fund — small fund. $2M+ AUM. Co-invested w/ Founders Fund, OSV, Balderton, et al.
• RationalX — advisory on AI, product, and growth. If I like the biz.

Past

• Senior Software Engineer, Tesla, at the Gigafactory.
• Investment Banker + founding team at Silicon Valley Bank London (wore many hats).
• Broad experience across tech and startups in US, UK, and EU.

Interviews

Stephen Wolfram, Jim O'Shaughnessy, Ben Awad, Will Bruey, Eric Jorgenson

Interests

Reading timeless texts, autodidactism, latticework curiosity, sovereignty, asymmetric bets, architecture, steaks after deadlifts, martial arts, hiking, flâneuring the Alpine region, mentoring Iran's youth, Zoroastrianism.

Elsewhere

Essays, RSS, X, LinkedIn, yari [at] hey [dot] com