Arman Eshraghi, CEO of LogiXML, on the secret to his success

Arman Eshraghi’s story is one of entrepreneurial wit, determination and plain luck. After winning a green card lottery, Eshraghi left behind his native Iran — where he had started his first software company at the age of 18 — and came to the United States with big dreams and ambitions. “When I came to the U.S. I said, ‘There are 300 million people here — how many of them actually know software? Maybe a few million people. Then I said how many of them are willing to work very, very hard and dedicate more than 12 hours a day everyday for the next 10 years to this job? I said, ‘Probably not many,’” recalls Eshraghi. Along the way, Eshraghi’s tenacity and hard work paid off. In 2000, he established LogiXML, a business intelligence software provider. In the following Q&A, Eshraghi tells us how his company managed to bring in $5 million in sales last year and the steps that are ensuring it reaches $8 million in sales this year.

Tell us a bit about your background.

Arman Eshraghi: First of all, I have lived in many different cities in Iran. So for example I was born in a very small city, 10,000 people. I moved from there to another city for elementary school , another city for middle school, then another for high school, another for the first part of university and then another for a company and finally Washington, D.C. Each city that I have moved to is a little bigger than the previous one. I have been here for 12 years, longer than anywhere else.

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