Ramtin Naimi

I have a venture capital firm that's just shy of $2 billion in AUM today.

With very humble beginnings, whatever they did instilled something in us, instilled some sort of a chip and a shoulder in us.

But the smartest thing that they had done

which I really give credit to my mom for.

And I don't know if it's specific to Iranian immigrants or other types of immigrants, but my mom was way more focused on us being in the best neighborhoods growing up versus the best house.

And she thought being exposed to what is possible is better than to have a nice house or a big house in a place where you're a big fish in a little pond.

We were the tiniest fish in the biggest pond in the neighborhood that we'd grown up in.

So I had friends whose fathers were the CEO of Visa or the CEO of Blue Shield and lived in these extravagant homes.

So I knew these things existed.

I knew the path to that wasn't just being a doctor, lawyer, and there was other things there.

So I think the best thing that my parents did for me and my brother was exposing us to that.

family.

I have a wife and three kids.

My wife is pretty involved in my business.

I actually met my wife at a holiday party.

When I first met her, she was the director of marketing and communications at Bessemer.

During our relationship, she became the head of marketing communications at Spark Capital.

And now she sort of freelances and keeps herself busy by making sure we don't screw those things up at Abstract.

She oversaw our entire rebrand.

She's very big on founder experience and aesthetic of the brand and the firm that we built.