After 4 years working with Frog and supporting our portfolio companies, Shirin’s entrepreneurial instincts have taken over once again and she is building her own venture, which is undoubtedly destined for great things. For enquiries about our operating partner programme, please contact Mike Reid.

We are still in close contact with Shirin, and here’s a quick bio in her own words:

Bio

I have always been a rebel.  Since the moment I realised I was a girl I knew I was being treated differently in my culture and I didn’t like it.  I made it my life mission to prove to everyone girls are just as capable as boys.  When I moved to the UK from Iran with my parents, I excelled at school and decided to read Electronics at one of the leading engineering universities in the UK.  Being the only girl on my course did not bother me.  I went on to work as an engineer in the male dominated telecoms sector and was on an accelerated career path within Vodafone.  But somehow that wasn’t enough, so when I saw an opportunity in the market to start my own software business, I took it.  After 10 years of leading my company as founder CEO, I achieved the biggest sale of my career and exited my business.  During my entrepreneurial journey I picked up a number of awards; Top Woman in Mobile, Blackberry Award for Top Woman in Technology, Top Woman in Business, and European Female Entrepreneur of the year in 2013.

After the exit and whilst I enjoyed my year off, catching up with my son and daughter, and actually finally attending school sports day after missing them for 10 years, I decided the easy life was simply too boring.  I could have started another company, however, I realised I actually enjoy helping other entrepreneurs.  I was lucky to have an amazing Chairwoman on my board and I wanted to do the same for others.  So I joined Frog Capital as operating partner with exactly that mission, to help companies achieve beyond their potential.  I also joined Cambridge Angels to start investing my own money into early stage businesses and help mentor them to greatness.

I was Chairwoman of Accelercomm, a fabless semiconductor company which I helped get off the ground with founders Professor Rob Maunder and Taihai Chen, three years on recognised as one of top 100 startups to watch in semiconductor.  I was on the board of Skimlinks, a Frog Capital company and am proud to say we achieved a fantastic exit despite the difficult environment in May 2020.  I was Chairwoman of Opensignal, which we also successfully acquired by a strategic buyer.

I have since co-founded Oxford Algorithms Ltd (a stealth startup in AI), and Chairwoman of Neurofenix offering much needed tele-rehab to stroke survivors which was one of my angel investments three years ago.

Whichever company I have been closely involved with has been a success so far.  This could well be just luck, however the more it happens the more I become convinced that I may have had something to do with their success.