Northern Tehran City with Alborz Mountains in the background, Iran. Wikimedia Commons It is difficult to overestimate the economic potential of Iran to those of us who have lived here and equally easy to sound crazy to those who haven't.

There is no greater contrast to the young, educated, plugged-in, forward thinking, modern Iran I see today as I sit in downtown Tehran than the monolithic, irrational, and ideologically-driven characterization I often hear at home in New York. Both can't be right. This is how it all may go wrong.

Through 2037, Iran will have an age bubble—not an age wave—where the entire country has as many people aging out of their mid-30s as entering their early 20s. So for the next two decades,the entire country effectively will not age while it holds the world’s largest hydrocarbon reserves, has a 120% mobile technology adoption rate, enjoys the world's highest concentrations of PhD candidates, and sits at the geographic center of a world that is pivoting to the East. But despite all of this, the entire country trades on the Tehran Stock Exchange at a P/E of 5 with a dividend yield of 14.

It is possible to argue the abundance of PhD candidates is due to a lack of jobs so those who can attend school, do—often at the expense of the state. Infrastructure is stressed to the max. At my apartment in northern Tehran, I have near daily power outages. The reality of Iranian traffic and pollution dwarf the legend, and Iranian water use and waste make the Emirates look like Eden.

Despite the challenges Iran faces, what I found surprising is the Iranian progressive approach—and awareness—of the problems they face and their new place on the world stage. At the tomb of Khomeni, on the anniversary of his death, I fielded a surprisingly open and wide-ranging conversation about drinking, gender roles/identities, and Western values from a cascade of mullahs who seemed more Episcopalian than Evil Empire. It was simply an honest conversation among women and men who find each other both genuinely bewildering and very different than what each expected. I see investors set up for the same surprise.

Make no mistake, the Iranian stock market is a fully modern, electronic, centrally cleared (if somewhat illiquid) exchange with only a few rules that differ from any exchange you may see in the West. Unlike the west, capital gains and dividends are 100% locally tax free. The market is underpriced, and there are decades of equity supply to satisfy a world hungry for stable returns. Furthermore, it is actually quite easy for a foreign investor to invest in Iranian stocks.

Iranian shareholders look at electronic display boards in Tehran's stock market. Reuters/Raheb Homavandi

For Americans, it remains to be seen how open Iran will be post-deal. For the rest of the world, is seems like it is going to be wide open. There is one very large caveat : the cash must be held in local banks in order to cash settle with the Central Securities Depository of Iran (CDSI).

But right now, that's not such a bad deal. Banks are paying 20% interest in savings accounts with inflation clocking in at 15%. There are real gains available to holders of the Rial, but the operational hurdles of investing in Iran can be daunting.

For example, Iran requires any company that is profitable to distribute 10% of profits to its shareholders—a great way to generate cash flow for investors. However, these dividends are issued to share-holders at local bank branches on paper and in person. There are no hedging vehicles, few single-stock futures, and no stock options.

The political risk of dropping nine figures into an Iranian bank is not inconsequential. New tools and investment structures are needed to resolve the economic mistrust, and this is where innovation within the product space can fill the gap.

After the initial pop of exuberance after day one of the deal, it is likely the Rial will be more responsive than the stock market. Equity prices will decouple their correlation from oil as hundreds of billions are released to the Iranian government. Impatient investors in Tehran will likely put selling pressure on the market to diversify and feast on the new capital cornucopia available to them while the West wrestles their cash through a smaller spigot than most suspect.

After losing his life fortune in the South Sea bubble, the obvious I-can’t-possibly-lose bet of his lifetime, Isaac Newton quipped "I can calculate the movement of stars, but not the madness of men.” Don't be too surprised if you see a sluggish market response after the initial pop in the I-can't-possibly-lose buying opportunity of our lifetime. It isn't pessimism about the deal - it's just the madness of men beginning to be priced in.

There is a lifetime of opportunity to be had in Iran. Investors just have to find it.