01 / COMMERCIALIZATION
“The technology works. Why is the market still not responding?”
Clarify the customer problem, sharpen positioning, rethink channels, and turn technical differentiation into commercial value.
Strategic adviser to technology CEOs
A hands-on operator for the decisions you cannot fully debate inside your own company.
I work with CEOs of engineering-led technology companies on commercialization, US expansion, capital and M&A, changes of direction, and building a company that runs without them.
Four decades as a founder, CEO and operator, from early-stage companies to a NASDAQ IPO, given to a small number of long-running advisory relationships.
When CEOs call me
The question is rarely simple. The decision still has to be made.
My role is to help you expose assumptions, see the second-order consequences, and move from a difficult strategic question to a decision you can act on.
02 / US EXPANSION
“Are we ready for the US, or about to spend heavily learning the wrong lessons?”
Pressure-test the entry thesis, target market, partnerships, leadership needs, and the sequence of investments.
03 / CAPITAL & M&A
“Should we raise, acquire, sell, or keep building independently?”
Separate optionality from distraction and prepare the company, narrative, and leadership team for the path you choose.
04 / CHANGE IN DIRECTION
“I think the strategy needs to change. How do I test that before I unsettle the organization?”
Explore the uncomfortable what-ifs privately, then translate the decision into a sequence your board and team can absorb.
05 / STRUCTURE AND SUCCESSION
“The company depends on me. How do I build one that does not?”
Owner-led companies grow around one person. The board fills with insiders. The roles that are missing stay missing. No decision is final until you make it. We work on board composition, the functions the company does not yet have, a management layer that holds, and what your own job becomes.
Who I advise
Built for CEOs carrying the whole decision.
The strongest fit is an engineering-led B2B technology company with real customers, still controlled by the person who built it, facing a change that will shape the next ten years.
Typical company stage
Usually $3M to $100M in revenue. Established enough that a wrong decision costs real money. Small enough that the right one changes the trajectory.
- The company is owner-controlled.You decide, and you carry the decision afterwards.
- Your board is made of people who report to you.There is no one outside the structure to test a judgment against.
- A handover is somewhere in view.Not tomorrow, but near enough to shape what you build now.
- The issue crosses functions.It cannot be handed cleanly to sales, product, finance or engineering.
- You want candor without organizational consequences.Somewhere to think out loud before the board, the team or your investors are involved.
- You want continuity.The work compounds. By the third month I know the company well enough to be useful without a briefing.
- You want operating judgment, not a framework.Questions, challenge and follow-through, rather than a report that is read once.
Current advisory relationship
Tritem Microsystems
Advising the CEO of this German-Polish hardware-in-the-loop testing company since 2023. The work spans US market entry, positioning, key-account defense, new-vertical discovery, partnerships, and M&A readiness.
He doesn't just analyze; he translates complex offerings into clear value propositions that resonate with the right customers and partners... Working with him feels less like hiring an advisor and more like gaining a co-architect of your strategy: someone who challenges assumptions, accelerates decisions, and stays focused on what actually drives results.
Thad Halaczek, CEO, Tritem Microsystems
Operator experience
I have sat in the seat I now advise from.
I have made decisions with my own company, payroll, investors and board on the line, through booms, downturns, restructurings, fundraising, an IPO and an acquisition.
- Founder
Started two companies by age 28, working with companies in Japan, Germany, France, and the United States before rebuilding my career in Silicon Valley after the Iranian revolution.
- Genesis Microchip
As VP of Sales and Marketing and later COO, helped refocus an engineering-driven company toward high-growth display markets, built more than 65% market share, and took the company public on NASDAQ in 1998.
- DisplayLink
As President and CEO, raised more than $50 million, including during the 2008 downturn, and grew the company into the dominant global supplier of network display chips.
- Varioptic
As CEO, streamlined a ten-year-old liquid-lens technology company and sold it to publicly traded Parrot S.A., while founding Optilux to pursue mobile applications.
- Multiple ventures
Co-founded Sensoplex and Alea Labs, leading both as CEO (Alea for eight years), and served as COO of augmented-reality pioneer Atheer Labs.
- The common thread
Turning strong engineering and ambiguous commercial potential into a decision-focused strategy to grow, raise capital, enter new markets, or find the right acquirer.
Current vantage point
Still operating close to the decisions.
My advice is grounded in four decades of experience and kept current through active work with technology leaders in the United States and Europe.
Strategic adviser since 2023
Tritem Microsystems
Supporting strategy, commercialization, global expansion, key-account defense, partnerships, and M&A readiness.
Adviser & leadership team member
Poland in Silicon Valley
Connecting researchers and scale-ups with Stanford, Berkeley, and Silicon Valley, including relationships with 15 Polish universities.
Co-founding partner
Bridge2
Specialized support for US market entry, drawing on a team that has guided more than 45 companies across 12-plus countries.
How we work together
A direct relationship, deliberately kept small.
I treat advisory relationships the way I would treat a board seat: selective, candid and built to last. I work with no more than three to five CEOs at a time.
A weekly call
Sixty to ninety minutes, the same time each week, on whatever is actually on your mind. No agenda unless you want one.
A written note, two or three times a year
I put the accumulated conversation into writing: what the past year tells us, the few decisions that matter over the next twelve months, who owns each one, and by when. Written for you to think about, not to file.
Work between calls
Partner and acquirer conversations, a recruitment brief, preparation for a difficult customer meeting, and keeping the list of commitments.
How it starts
A focused first conversation
We begin with 45 minutes on your company, the decision on your mind, and what a useful advisory relationship would need to accomplish.
A deeper working session
If there appears to be a fit, we spend more time on the real issue and experience how we think together before either of us commits.
A three-month engagement
A monthly retainer covering the weekly call and the work around it. Most relationships continue well beyond the first three months.
I do not run projects inside your company, and I do not stand in for a function you need to hire. Where a role is missing, my job is to help you define it and fill it.
What colleagues have seen
Calm judgment when the stakes are high.
Hamid possesses a rare combination of wide-ranging knowledge, operational competency, and inspiring leadership that motivates teams to do their best, even in difficult situations. He is calm under pressure, thoughtful, and always focused on moving things forward.
Noam Livnat, co-founder, Motion Sense
He's both visionary and pragmatic, driven but not pushy. His integrity, open communication, and encouragement bring out the best of everyone in the team.
Tiemin Zhao, Technology Partner, Petram Ventures
Start a conversation
Tell me the decision on your mind.
Send a short note about your company and the question you are working through. I will reply personally, and if my experience is relevant, we can schedule a focused 45-minute conversation.