NexGen DC Hosts Dana Shakiba
December 14, 2012, Washington, D.C. – On December 13, 2012, NexGen DC hosted Dana Shakiba to come speak about his experiences to DC PAAIA members and NexGenners.
Dana Shakiba is the founder of Appadana, a mobile application development company based in Washington, DC. In 2011, Dana left a successful decade-long career in civil engineering to start Appadana, with the goal of creating mobile apps for civil engineers. Upon release of his first app, Flo Hydraulic Calculator, which was featured by Apple and in ENR and CE news magazines, Dana decided to expand to a larger market: photography.
While working in a coffee shop one day, the idea for Polamatic, the official Polaroid app was born. After being told numerous times by Polaroid’s legal and marketing departments that they would never grant permission to release the app, he pushed forward to not only become an official partner of Polaroid but to eventually be featured by Apple on their App Store homepage, iCreate Magazine, and Gizmodo, as well as many other online publications. Polamatic has reached the top ten overall paid apps in 15 countries.
Dana was very humble about his success, saying: “Accomplishments of yesterday are just that: accomplishments of yesterday. What’s more important is bettering tomorrow.”
With the success of Polamatic, Dana has been invited to Facebook, Google, and Apple headquarters, where he has been approached with various mobile development opportunities based on their platforms. Today, Dana is leading the development of Appadana’s next app, Swipe. Swipe is a photography app scheduled to be released in December 2012.
“Iranians are very smart, resourceful people,” Dana said. “They want something, they go after it. Iranians tend to really find their own way. I believe I was never meant for a standard position.”
Dana shared with the audience the top ten lessons he has learned from his experiences, hoping to inspire many other Iranian Americans. On January 10, 2013, NexGen DC will again bring another esteemed member of the Iranian American community to speak to DC PAAIA members and NexGenners: Ms. Haleh Esfandiari of the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Click here to learn more about the PAAIA NexGen DC Lecture series.
Click here to view a photo gallery of the reception on Facebook.
