Mr. Amidi and Mr. Nozad refuse to discuss their returns, beyond saying that seven of their portfolio companies have been acquired. They acknowledge that at least one of them was sold at a loss. Still, their power-broker status has impressed some longtime Silicon Valley figures.

“They really get the way Silicon Valley works,” said Ron Conway, an investor who has helped finance dozens of high-tech companies, including Google. “They started as landlords to technology companies and then worked their way up the food chain.”

The Amidis ran a string of successful businesses in Iran, then fled after the Islamic revolution. They arrived in California in 1979 and quickly set up a number of new businesses under the umbrella of the Amidi Group. These included the rug store, the Medallion Rug Gallery; an international water distribution business, which, according to Mr. Amidi, brings in $150 million a year; and large real estate holdings, which are mostly managed by his brother, Rahim Amidi.

But as the boom in technology gathered force in the late 1990s, its lure proved irresistible. Medallion Rug and the University Avenue building proved ideal entry points for a family with scant background or connections in the technology world.

It was at Medallion Rug, for instance, that Mr. Amidi and Mr. Nozad met Andy Rubin, Danger’s founder, when he came in to buy a carpet. The sale turned into a lengthy negotiation during which they learned of Mr. Rubin’s start-up plans. Once the deal for the carpet was settled, Mr. Amidi and Mr. Nozad told Mr. Rubin that they invested in start-ups and wanted him to meet Mr. Amidi’s father, now deceased.

“He came over to our offices and we showed him what we were planning on doing,” said Mr. Rubin, who has worked at Google since it acquired another start-up he founded. “He looked at us, and he told Saeed and Rahim that he wanted to invest.”

Their investment fund put $400,000 into Danger, and the Amidis gave the company a discount on office space. Mr. Amidi says the decision was more a bet on Mr. Rubin’s abilities — as demonstrated during negotiations over the rug — than on the technology itself.