Hadi Partovi

I have a big career announcement:

I’m taking my experience teaching computer science to hundreds of millions and connecting it to my lifelong love of piano.

Announcing Payam Music: the first nationwide piano school, with a new way of teaching—the Payam Method—endorsed by Hans Zimmer and showcased on 60 MINUTES and USA TODAY.

With Payam Music, students learn faster, they outperform traditional methods, and they even learn to write their own music. Every year our students rank nationally for their composition and creativity.

If you’re worried about kids’ obsession with screens and social media, the solution is to give them a new obsession: piano. ❤️🎹❤️

Proven over 10 years, the learning outcomes of the Payam Method are extraordinary, and so is the team behind it. Besides Hans Zimmer, we’re announcing the support of iconic business leaders including Mark Cuban, Dara Khosrowshahi, Michelle Zatlyn, Drew Houston, and many others.

Payam Music is available in cities around the US and expanding rapidly. Our schools teach 1-on-1 lessons, in person and even online. We have limited spots, so if you or your child want to learn piano, sign up now! And if we don’t have a school near you, join our wait list, we’re growing fast.

Fall in Love with Piano
payammusic.com

So many stories of entrepreneurial grit over 30 years:
- Axon going nearly bankrupt
- IPO at a ~$10M valuation to repay debt
- Overcoming hundreds of lawsuits
- Convincing police to wear cameras they never wanted
- Growing from $10M to $30B

And a great discussion about Axon's approach to ethical policing and protecting civil liberties in the age of cameras, AI, and robots.

Learning piano should be engaging and encourage creativity, that’s what makes it a lifelong hobby. That’s how to make students fall in love with piano, and it’s a formula we have baked into the Payam Method of teaching. Thank you to the Puget Sound Business Journal for hosting me and Payam to talk about Payam Music. payammusic.com

By total luck, maybe for my birthday, I happened to see this message from a total stranger in my spam folder. It immediately brought me to tears.

With all the conflict and suffering in the world, it’s a beautiful reminder that we can all do something to help those less fortunate than us, or to help future generations. @apartovi and I are so lucky to receive messages like this about our father year after year, and to have grown up in his shadow.

——
I want to share a personal memory that means a lot to me.

I am a graduate of Aryamehr University (Sharif). I was among the talented students of my generation, a gold medalist in the International Olympiad, and entered Aryamehr University in 2000 with very high expectations.

Sadly, the university was only a faint reminder of its glorious past. I cannot tell you how much I suffered during my years in Iran. My US visa was rejected several times, and although I eventually moved to the US and am now an American citizen, my university years in Iran were very difficult.

But one of my sweetest memories from that time is something I still remember vividly.

One day, we were designing an experiment for an undergraduate chemistry lab. We needed some special instruments to achieve certain experimental conditions, and we were almost certain there was no chance the university would have them.

One of the lab assistants told me to go to the storage room in the basement of the Chemistry Department. He was quite confident that I would find what I needed there.

I went downstairs and started looking through the boxes. To my surprise, I discovered a huge collection of equipment, much of it still unpacked in its original boxes, from some of the best American scientific instrument manufacturers. Even at that time, many of those instruments were remarkably advanced.

As I was about to open one of the boxes, I noticed a name written on it: Firooz Partovi.

I didn’t know who Dr. Partovi was at the time. But I learned that he was the person who had purchased all those instruments and materials for the science laboratories.

I still remember the feeling of opening those boxes and seeing the extraordinary quality of what was inside. More than 25 years had passed since he had purchased that equipment, yet there I was, a student benefiting from something he had thoughtfully provided for future generations.

That moment remains one of my most beautiful memories from all those difficult years.

It also gives me a strange, bittersweet feeling about that university and Iran in general. Despite everything I experienced, I still feel a deep connection to both. And I sincerely hope that one day in my life, I will have the opportunity to give something back to that university and to my country, just as your father did.

I simply wanted to share this memory with you. If possible, please share it with your father and tell him that, more than 25 years later, there was a student who opened those boxes, saw his name, and felt deeply grateful for what he had done.

Please tell him thank you, from the bottom of my heart. God bless him.

——
(Photo of me and Ali with our dad 6 years after he joined as founding professor of the new university in Iran. Ali is the chill baby on the right )

As a board member at @axon_enterprise, I'm delighted for Axon to partner and invest in Skydio, the #1 American drone manufacturer.

In the next decade, millions of drones will serve as first-responders, to secure and monitor infrastructure, to save money and save lives.

Skydio is changing the world. Congrats @adampbry and @SkydiHQ