Ardy Arianpour fled Tehran at six years old with his family and four suitcases. Forty years later, he\u2019s helped scale a $1 billion acquisition, saved his father\u2019s life with his own technology, and built a health data platform sitting on 150 million patient records.<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old founder and CEO of Seqster grew up in San Diego, the city his family landed in when they escaped war in Tehran in 1986.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Growing up, while most teenagers<\/a> were working at lemonade stands and ice cream parlours<\/a>, Arianpour was working at the Salk Institute and teaching himself to trade stocks online by 16. In 1998, he featured in Time Magazine<\/a> for making big returns as a teen broker and investing in his pension, all while still in high school.<\/p>\n But his big break didn\u2019t come from a stock windfall. After studying biological sciences at university and then getting an MBA from the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management, he spent years scaling Ambry Genetics as its senior vice president, where he led its $1 billion acquisition by Konica Minolta\u2014and earned so much in the process he could have retired.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter my success at Ambry, I honestly didn\u2019t have to work anymore and could have sat on a beach for the rest of my life,\u201d Arianpour tells Fortune. Instead, he founded Seqster.<\/p>\n The idea was straightforward: critical patient data exists everywhere in health care, but it\u2019s fragmented across systems and almost never in one place when it matters most. What he didn\u2019t expect was how quickly it would become personal. Shortly after launching in 2016, his father was diagnosed with colon cancer. Using Seqster, Arianpour pulled together his father\u2019s scattered medical records, assembled a team of specialists, and had a treatment plan in place within six hours. His father was in surgery within a week.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when it became clear,\u201d he adds. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t just a data platform. It was a way to turn fragmented information into actionable, life-saving insight.\u201d<\/p>\n It happened again when his wife experienced severe heart rhythm episodes and was told that specialist care could take nine months. He used Seqster to consolidate her records, accelerate access to the right doctors, and secure surgery within weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, Seqster sits on 150 million patient records, integrates with more than 20 electronic health record systems, and counts Fortune 500<\/a> companies worth between $5 billion and $300 billion among its customers. In the first three months of 2026 alone, Arianpour launched four new products, including an AI-powered clinical trial recruitment tool that can screen 10,000 patients in under an hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n Off the clock\u2014to the extent that concept applies\u2014Arianpour still lives in San Diego. He skips lunch<\/a> most days, spends $500 a month on acai and carrot juice, and doesn\u2019t remember the last time he took a proper day off. He even closed a deal on New Year\u2019s Day. But when he does escape, Ibiza is his idea of a perfect vacation.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Fortune\u2019s series, The Good Life<\/a>, shows how up-and-coming leaders spend their time and money outside of work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Being in the C-suite is a high-pressure job with long hours, board responsibilities, and intense scrutiny. But what is it like to be a top executive when you\u2019re off the clock? Here\u2019s what he told us.<\/p>\n The Money<\/p>\n What\u2019s the best financial decision you\u2019ve ever made\u2014and how much did it make or save you?<\/p>\n The best investment I ever made was in Seqster itself. I put my own money in when no one else would, because I believed in what we were building. That conviction cost me sleep and savings, but there is nothing I would do differently.<\/p>\n And the worst?<\/p>\n The most valuable thing is time and the worst investment was spending time with big tech companies and getting nothing in return.<\/p>\n What\u2019s in your wallet?<\/p>\n I have a picture of my wife, a fortune from a Panda Express cookie (I am super superstitious) and I always have a $100 bill for emergencies\u2014my Dad taught me to always keep $100 in case you can\u2019t use credit cards. My go-to credit card is Chase Sapphire Reserve. It has the best perks for airport lounges and hotels since I travel for work every week.<\/p>\n Do you invest in shares?<\/p>\n