The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving

460: How to Build a "People-First" Culture with Unicorn Founder and CEO of One Planet Group, Payam Zamani

Jun 26, 2024

Payam Zamani, Unicorn Founder and CEO of One Planet Group, shares lessons from building a billion-dollar IPO, creating a 'people-first' culture. His journey from fleeing Iran to reacquiring AutoWeb is a story of resilience. The podcast covers challenges of starting a business in the early internet days, raising venture capital, and the importance of businesses beyond profit. Zamani's book 'Crossing the Desert' offers wisdom for navigating life's struggles with hope and guidance.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Founding an Online Business in the Early Days of the Internet

01:30 • 14min

Challenges and Lessons in Raising Venture Capital

15:39 • 10min

Navigating Through Post-Departure Entrepreneurial Ventures and Company Reacquisition

26:01 • 3min

Building a Business with Purpose Beyond Profit

28:59 • 16min

Inspiring Book Aimed at Providing Hope and Guidance to Different Struggles

45:01 • 2min

Discussion on Upcoming Book and Guest's Social Media, Gratitude, and Sponsor Mention

46:34 • 3min

Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 460, featuring an interview with the author of Crossing the Desert: The Power of Embracing Life's Difficult Journeys, Payam Zamani.

In this episode, Payam shares the most important lessons he learned from building a record-breaking billion-dollar IPO called AutoWeb, and how it fell apart. He took those early lessons and created his current company, One Planet Group, with the “people-first” culture he wanted all along for AutoWeb. As a result, One Planet Group’s success has allowed Payam to reacquire AutoWeb and bring it back to profitability.

In Payam’s book, Crossing the Desert, readers take an intimate look at how the paths we choose, the values we embrace, and the systems we decide to participate in (or not) can make or break us, not only financially, but spiritually. Payam’s story is a timely reminder that enduring and embracing life’s most difficult journeys can lead us to a brighter future—not only for ourselves, but for the people around us, and even the world.

Payam Zamani is an entrepreneur, investor, and the founder of One Planet Group, a closely held private equity firm that owns a suite of online technology and media businesses.

Born in Iran, Zamani was forced to flee at the age of 16 due to his religious beliefs as a Baha’i. He was offered asylum in the United States in 1988, settling in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon graduation from the University of California, Davis, he and his brother founded AutoWeb, one of the first online car marketplaces, which they took public in 1999.

Since then, he has built and currently owns multiple technology and media businesses, has invested in more than 50 companies, and is striving to redefine capitalism in an attempt to elevate business to serve humanity. He has been named the “Best CEO for Diversity,” is the recipient of Tahirih Justice Center’s Hope Award, and received an Award of Distinction from UC Davis in 2018. Zamani and his wife, Gouya, have two daughters, Sophia and Ella.

Get Crossing the Desert here: https://rb.gy/pio8ht

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