Earlier this year at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, Kleiner Perkins partner, Mary Meeker, made a fascinating presentation related to the leadership role immigrants to the United States have made in the technology sector of the economy. Politicians & the media tend to focus their attention on the economically challenged immigrants to our nation and why these individuals should be provided access to the wonderful ladder of opportunity available in America.  I agree with them that we should be a compassionate nation welcoming those in need.  I would not be where I am today, if this country did not welcome my family members from Russia, Germany, Poland, and Hungary.  Many of whom started out at the lowest rungs on the economic ladder, including my grandfather Simon who sold fruit by cart during the Depression.  I also believe that the United States should use the limitless ladder of economic opportunity available in its free market capitalist system to encourage immigration of the best and brightest the world has to offer to this nation because innovation & entrepreneurship create good paying jobs for tomorrow and stimulate future economic growth for the country.

Returning to Ms. Meeker, it was conveyed during her presentation that approximately 60% of the twenty-five most valuable technology companies in the United States had a founder that was either a first or second generation immigrant.  The names which were familiar to any reader of the Wall Street Journal and/or leading technology industry trade journals spanned the globe in origin and included the following fifteen:

Steve Jobs of Apple (2^nd Generation – Syria)

Jeff Bezos of Amazon (2^nd Generation – Cuba)

Sergey Brin of Google/Alphabet (1^st Generation – Russia)

Eduardo Saverin of Facebook (1^st Generation – Brazil)

Larry Ellison of Oracle (2^nd Generation – Russia)

Bob Miner of Oracle (1^st Generation – Iran)

Jensen Huang of NVIDIA (1^st Generation – Taiwan)

Herman Hollerith of IBM (2^nd Generation – Germany)

Andrew Viterbi of Qualcomm (1^st Generation – Italy)

Francisco D’Souza of Cognizant Technologies (1^st Generation – India)

Kumar Mahadeva of Cognizant Technologies (1^st Generation – Sri Lanka)

Pierre Omidyar of EBay (1^st Generation – France)

Garrett Camp of Uber (1^st Geneartion – Canada)

Elon Musk of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX (1^st Generation – South Africa)

Adam Neumann of WeWork (1^st Generation – Israel)

As the President & CEO of the Pacific Northwest’s oldest business brokerage firm, IBA, I can confirm that this success in the public sector by first and second generation immigrants in the technology sector to the United States is mirrored in the private sector regionally.  IBA, frequently the preferred mergers & acquisition intermediary firm for technology entrepreneurs wishing to convert their vision, business acumen, and effort to cash in a liquidity event, has successfully facilitated transactions involving immigrants from India, Russia, Iran, Morocco, England, China, Japan, Korea, and many other nations around the world.  It has been our experience that these individuals are a pleasure to work with and willing & capable students related to the sophisticated, nuanced process involving the purchase or sale of a privately held company.

If you are a technology industry entrepreneur interested in learning what your company is worth and the process associated with selling a business for a premium value in an environment of confidentiality while employing “best practices” our knowledgeable, experienced, high skilled team of professionals in our technology industry transaction division would welcome the opportunity to provide an overview of the services we provide all our clients.  IBA has successfully completed transactions in the technology industry involving Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s), contract component manufacturing companies, E-Commerce businesses, infrastructure design & support companies, software developers, and service companies in a spectrum of niches & capacities.  All information provided to IBA will be held in strict confidence.  100% of IBA’s compensation for professional facilitation of the transaction is paid upon successful completion of the transaction.

IBA, the Pacific Northwest’s premier business brokerage firm since 1975, is available as an information resource to the media, business brokerage, and mergers & acquisitions community on subjects relevant to the purchase & sale of privately held companies and family owned businesses.  IBA is recognized as one of the best business brokerage firms in the nation based on its long track record of successfully negotiating “win-win” business sale transactions in environments of full disclosure employing “best practices”.