Siblings tend to know each other’s nuances and have each other’s back. So it’s no surprise that three recent Orange County startups—risky undertakings with a lot of sleepless nights—have been created by siblings: Newport Beach-based Movandi, Mission Viejo-based Hitsfu and San Clemente-based Grok. All founders say their siblings complement them.
Take Hitsfu. The startup helps app developers understand user behavior. Co-founder Iman Khabazian’s expertise is machine learning and computer programming. He creates the company’s vision. His sister Ellie Vilendrer is a corporate lawyer at her full-service corporate law firm Vilendrer Law PC in Beverly Hills. She keeps her eyes peeled for roadblocks, strategizes on implementing the vision, and tries to reduce risk.
All sibling pairs said OC is a strong place for a new company, including the number of engineers who live in Southern California, and the lifestyle.
“We think the mix of great engineering schools and amazing lifestyle opportunities, mountains (and) oceans … makes the OC a fantastic place to anchor a company culture,” said Grok Chief Executive Casey Kindiger. “Our goal is to attract the most committed and talented professionals in the world. Where else can you ski and surf on the same weekend without stepping on an airplane?”
Movandi
Reza and Maryam Rofougaran majored in electrical engineering at the University of California-Los Angeles. The sale of their company, Innovent Systems Inc., to Broadcom in 2000 for $440 million and their subsequent engineering work there helped create a wireless communications-chip powerhouse. Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli was one of their UCLA professors.
When Broadcom acquired Innovent, it helped make the former a wireless company, Maryam said. Innovent operated like a startup inside Broadcom, she added. As the former Innovent team grew to several hundred people, it maintained its “innovative culture,” helping Broadcom’s annual sales grow to over $3.5 billion in 2013.
After 16 years at Broadcom, the siblings said they felt they’d accomplished their goals to shrink wireless technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi onto wireless chips. They were ready to move on, especially after Broadcom was acquired by Avago Technologies Ltd. last year.
Last fall the siblings started Movandi in “stealth mode”—under the radar—and just recently launched. They said they believe there’s a big opportunity to apply their wireless expertise in what’s known as “high frequency, millimeter wave wireless.” Millimeter wave networking is a new technology, and there’s “room for innovation to optimize performance, reduce power, minimize size, and lower cost for professional and consumer applications,” Reza said.
This decade’s breakthrough technologies, such as the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, and the global adoption of smartphones, have created the need for faster and more reliable wireless networks.
“In 2020, it is expected that the number of people who own mobile phones will exceed the amount of people that have access to running water or even electricity,” Reza said. “We knew the wireless industry had to adopt much higher frequencies where more spectrum and bandwidth are available.”
The emerging 5G standard is using millimeter waves of 20GHz and above. The standard is considered the next wireless “revolution” of multigigabit connectivity.
Reza, the chief technology officer, focuses on researching and developing products for the new technologies. Maryam specializes in product engineering, operations and business development.
“We know how to best work together and complement each other’s styles to build a talented team, execute quickly and build innovative technology solutions,” Maryam said.
The duo has 800 patents and has filed for 200 more in the past 20 years covering Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. Reza said he’s one of the top 20 patent holders in the world.
Movandi already has a significant amount of venture capital funding: $9 million from the likes of Cota Capital in San Francisco and Sierra Ventures in San Mateo, and a strategic partnership with Taiwanese electronics maker Wistron NeWeb Corp.
Hitsfu
Ellie and Iman ran track together in high school and were teammates on the chess and computer programming teams at the University of Southern California.
One of the best things about working together is feeling comfortable pointing out shortcomings in each other’s ideas, Ellie said.
“I can be completely candid with him and vice versa,” she said. “As an attorney who has litigated many disputes between business owners, I know that our relationship serves as a strong competitive advantage. We don’t have to battle with office politics, and because we are transparent with one another, we ensure the strongest ideas are implemented.”
They chose to base the company here, even though Iman had worked in Silicon Valley, because they say OC tech companies are among the fastest growing in North America. Deloitte Development LLC’s 2016 Technology Fast 500 awards validates that assessment—two OC growth-stage companies ranked in the Top 40, both in Irvine: Digital marketing agency SearchMarketers.com, No. 4, and security-software developer CrowdStrike at No. 40.
“As OC natives, there is no place we would rather be,” Ellie said. “We do plan on tapping into the talent pool of Silicon Valley. Having lived there for seven years, Iman has a long Rolodex of talented people whom we plan to recruit to Hitsfu and relocate to SoCal when the time is right.”
Ellie said she leverages the contract lawyers and paralegals at her law firm so she can devote “substantial” time to the startup.
Grok
Casey and Josh Kindiger say their core skills overlap.
“Josh tends to be more sales and HR-focused, and I tend to be more operations and strategy-focused,” Casey said. “We’re good at covering for each other and stepping up as the business unfolds.”
Casey co-founded a company in 2001 in Chicago called gen-E Technologies, which predicts, analyzes and resolves network problems. Josh joined the company a few months later, and gen-E relocated to San Clemente. Casey ran the day-to-day operations, while Josh was in charge of sales, growing the company to more than $22 million in revenue and over 120 employees. They sold the business to a private equity firm in a confidential transaction, Casey said. Gen-E is now in Newport Beach.
In 2008, Casey and Josh launched Resolve Systems, which created automation software for IT and security operations. They started in San Clemente and also moved it to Irvine. Casey was chief executive for the first five years. Josh built the sales organization from the ground up. This year they sold Resolve to Insight Venture Partners for an undisclosed amount, Casey said.
So much for sibling rivalry.
