Payam Zamani makes the founders his firm invests in sign a document headed "for the betterment of the world" before the money goes in.
Most private investors underwrite the business model. Zamani said the model is the part that changes, and that what he is actually buying is the character of the person running it — which is also why he says he is not afraid of AI.
"I'm not afraid of AI. I'm afraid of the innovator behind it."
Zamani was smuggled out of Iran at 16, arrived in the United States in 1988 with $75, co-founded the company that became AutoWeb.com in 1994 and took it public in 1999. He now runs One Planet Group and has written a book about it.
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Here are the 4 principles that matter.
👤 Guest: Payam Zamani, founder and Chief Executive of One Planet Group and author of Crossing the Desert
🎙️ Hosts: Paul Sweeney and Scarlet Fu, who anchor Bloomberg Intelligence from Bloomberg's Interactive Brokers studio in New York
📰 Published: 10 September 2026 on Bloomberg Intelligence
🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 7 min
Key Takeaways
Zamani screens for the founder's values first and treats the business model as the part that will change
Everyone he invests in signs a document headed for the betterment of the world
He says the left and the right in America are both chasing greed, in different directions
One wants someone else's money and the other wants to have it all
His answer to AI risk is about the people building it rather than the technology
He arrived in the US with $75 and was taking his company public in lower Manhattan eleven years later
He thinks the same path is still open: the American dream is an invitation, not a guarantee
He claims the companies that adopt his conditions do better on average anyway, because the conditions are also good business
1. $75 and a Brother
Zamani's account of why he left starts with a religious minority under a new government. He said he was born in Iran into a Baha'i family, and that when the Islamic Republic came about in 1979 life became very difficult for minorities — Christians, Jews, and particularly Baha'is. "And they killed hundreds of Baha'is in the 1980s. They expelled Baha'is from schools. I was expelled in the most horrific way from school when I was in sixth grade with an attempt to kill me."
He said the exclusion has not ended. "47 years later, Baha'is are still not allowed to attend universities in Iran."
The exit and the arrival, in his own figures. He was smuggled out of the country at 16 in 1987, became a refugee, and came to the United States in 1988 with "$75 in my pocket" alongside his brother. He went to college, and in 1994 co-founded an internet company that became AutoWeb.com, taking it public in 1999. "11 years after arriving in the U.S., I was in lower Manhattan taking my company public."
Asked whether someone arriving today could still do that, he said yes, with a caveat about effort. "I think so. I think that America represents a foundation that was built over 250 years. And this foundation is very strong, very robust. And the American dream is an invitation, not a guarantee. So you have to put in the work." His summary of the obstacles was that there are always speed bumps but "the road is never blocked."
Paul Sweeney set the conversation up against the culture he started in, saying that when he came up on Wall Street in the mid-1980s the line was greed is good, shareholder value was everything, and nobody had heard the word stakeholder.
2. Extremes of Capitalism
His diagnosis is symmetrical, and he applies it to both sides. "So I feel like extremes have become more extreme. If you look at extreme left in this country, extreme right in this country, they're both after greed." He added that the left is "kidding themselves thinking that they're not after greed," and drew the distinction this way: "But one wants someone else's money and the other one wants to have it all."
He was careful to place himself inside the system he is criticizing. "Now, I'm a capitalist. I believe in free markets, and I'm an entrepreneur. I've taken a company public. But at the same time, I think that extremes of capitalism can actually affect the businesses that we run and the environment we rely on."
3. Spiritual Capitalism
Asked what the term he coined actually means in practice, he answered with a change in how people see each other. "We need a spiritual transformation as a people. Because the only thing that will stop us from doing bad things is if our hearts change. And our hearts are not gonna change until I look at you as a noble being." The alternative, he said, is to treat a person as "a token of economic value" rather than as something well beyond that.
He named the problems he thinks all point the same way — environmental issues, racism and extreme partisan politics — and said that without that change, "I think that we're gonna see that things are going to point us down a day of reckoning."
4. Betting on Founder DNA
The screen is the person, not the plan. "The number one thing I look for is the founder. Business models change, they evolve, and that's fine. But is that founder the kind of founder I want to invest in?"
That is also how he frames technology risk. Referring to a well-known figure he did not name who has been warning about the direction of AI, Zamani said he has always said the same thing: "I'm not afraid of AI. I'm afraid of the innovator behind it." What worries him is backing founders who do not have the right values.
He says the industry's standard screen leaves the consequences out. "But unfortunately, when you think about the extremes of capitalism, we invest simply based on the idea of ROI, return on investment. We don't care about the ripple effect and potentially negative effects of investing in someone who does not have the right values."
The test he uses is what drives the person, and there is paperwork behind it. "If what drives them is just maximizing their wealth, I'm not talking the right founder. I need people who care about the betterment of the world. In fact, anyone we invest in, we have them sign a document that the headline of that document is for the betterment of the world." He said it is not a contractual obligation, but that "it allows us to sift through founders" and find the right ones.
His claim is that the screen costs nothing in returns. "And by the way, you know, the companies we invest in, that they follow the kinds of things that we suggest to them, they end up doing better on average anyways, because those happen to be good business ideals also. And the founders are by far more fulfilled because they don't feel empty that they got a lot of money, but an empty heart."
Paul Sweeney restated the framework back to him — that markets, industries and models all move but the founder's DNA is the constant being underwritten — and Zamani agreed in one word. Scarlet Fu added the inverse case, that a founder without the right values does more damage the more successful the company becomes.
Bonus Insights
Zamani opened by compressing his book into the time allowed. Asked for his life in 30 or 60 seconds, he said: "All right, I'll put 345 pages in 30 seconds." The page count is the length of Crossing the Desert, the book the segment was booked around.
Zamani's bottom line is that private investors are underwriting the wrong variable — the business model rather than the founder's values — and that in his own portfolio the companies that accept his conditions have done better on average, because the conditions turn out to be ordinary good business as well.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
One Planet Group (Zamani's firm, which makes founders sign a document headed for the betterment of the world before investing)
AutoWeb (The internet company he co-founded in 1994 and took public in 1999, eleven years after arriving in the US)
Books & Resources Mentioned
Crossing the Desert – Payam Zamani (His new book, 345 pages, and the reason he was on the programme)
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