Silicon Valley Entrepreneur & Technology Innovator; CEO of Five Startups; Author of "7-Steps to a Successful Startup"; UC Berkeley Lecturer

San Francisco, CA, USA
Live Event: $5,000 - $10,000 Virtual Event: $5,000 - $10,000 More Fee Info

Naeem Zafar Biography

Naeem Zafar is a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur, educator, and author with a career spanning innovation in technology and agriculture. Zafar has led five companies as CEO, raised over $100 million in venture capital, and participated in dozens of startups as an investor, board member, and advisor. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in electrical engineering, Zafar began his career designing chips and electronic systems at Honeywell before launching his first startup.

Zafar later joined Quickturn Design Systems in Silicon Valley, where he contributed to the development of the first emulation system for chip design verification. The company went public and was subsequently acquired by Cadence. He went on to serve as CEO of Veridicom, a company specializing in silicon fingerprint sensors that was acquired by Apple. Following two additional CEO roles at electronic design automation companies, Zafar co-founded Bitzer Mobile, an enterprise security company acquired by Oracle.

Building on his experience in enterprise technology, Zafar founded TeleSense to apply IoT and AI technologies to agriculture, focusing on democratizing data for post-harvest grain management. TeleSense developed wireless sensors for monitoring temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide to reduce spoilage in the post-harvest grain industry. The company provided real-time wireless sensing and predictive analytics solutions for stored grain and was acquired by UPL, a food sustainability company with revenue exceeding $6 billion.

In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Zafar has established a career in academia. He has taught entrepreneurship at the University of California, Berkeley, at both Berkeley-Haas and the College of Engineering, as well as in the department of Sociology. Zafar is a Dean's Teaching Fellow, lecturer, and Industry Fellow at the Center of Entrepreneurship and Technology at UC Berkeley, a Professor of the Practice at Brown University, and a lecturer at Santa Clara University. He teaches courses in entrepreneurship, technology strategy, innovation, and new venture finance. Zafar is also an amateur historian and lectures at the Institute for the Study of Western Civilization.

Zafar founded Startup-Advisor, a company dedicated to educating and advising entrepreneurs on business formation and management. He has authored five books on entrepreneurship, including "7-Steps to a Successful Startup," "Get Funded," "The Entrepreneur's Legal Guide to Starting Up!," "Market Research on a Shoestring!," and "Finance Essentials for Entrepreneurs." Through his writing and teaching, Zafar shares insights on startup strategy, venture capital, and business innovation. He is also an angel investor, providing seed capital to several Silicon Valley startups.

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Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 06/01/2026.

Naeem Zafar Videos

HOW TO BE INVESTOR READY? - Naeem Zafar. - YouTube

HOW TO BE INVESTOR READY? - Naeem Zafar. - YouTube

PAKLAUNCH SESSION: How to be Investor Ready? with Naeem Zafar DATE: Sunday 18th February 2024 Naeem Zafar is a CEO Coach and Board Advisor ...

Naeem Zafar, Field Studies Instructor at UC Berkeley - YouTube

Naeem Zafar, Field Studies Instructor at UC Berkeley - YouTube

Naeem Zafar has been teaching entrepreneurship at University of California Berkeley for the last 17 years.The field studies program is open ...

Best of Series: Naeem Zafar on Crisis, disruption and opportunities ...

Best of Series: Naeem Zafar on Crisis, disruption and opportunities ...

Career OnRamp - Business 101 Naeem Zafar as part of the Newton Lecture Series · 1.5K views ; Strategist discusses why the Fed could raise rates ...

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Naeem Zafar is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics. The estimated speaking fee range to book Naeem Zafar for your event is available upon request. Naeem Zafar generally travels from San Francisco, CA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Nicole Yeary, R "Ray" Wang, Peter Hinssen, Jez Humble and Jon Steinberg. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Naeem Zafar for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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