About

I run Startupist Ventures Fund I, a small fund based in Tallinn, Estonia. I invest at pre-seed and seed, anywhere in the world, with checks of $25,000 to $200,000.

I write Brainwaves, a weekly letter read by 42,000 founders and investors, and I make short videos for the Startup Istanbul YouTube channel.

In 2008 I founded Etohum, one of Turkey’s first accelerators. It has supported more than 400 startups and run more than 500 events in Istanbul, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Dublin. In 2016 Gust listed it among the top 20 active accelerators in the world.

Startup Istanbul grew out of Etohum. It has received more than 220,000 applications from 170 countries. Steve Blank, Tim Draper, Michael Seibel, Brad Feld, Guy Kawasaki, David S. Rose and Hiten Shah have all spoken on its stage.

With Turkish Airlines we ran Invest on Board: startup pitch videos of under two minutes, played on the in-flight screens of every THY aircraft.

Companies from the Etohum years include Cambly, Connected2me, Invidyo, Bookme.pk and Pembepanjur.

I started as a management trainee at Interbank in 1995. In 1997 our internet banking project won the Ahmet Dallı Banking Award. I moved to Intertech in 1998 to work on business development.

From 1999 to 2002 I led e-commerce and customer work at Vestelnet, part of Zorlu Holding. I led the VeezyGo project, ran the company’s incubation program and managed its startup partnerships.

In the same years I explained the new economy on air: “Yeni Ekonomi Dersleri” on 92.3 radio and “com.tr” on Habertürk TV, plus columns in eWeek, Vee-mail and Bthaber.

In 2005 I published Kümesteki Kartal Neden Uçamaz? (Why can’t the eagle in the coop fly?). It tells the stories of Turkey’s first internet founders, including Yemeksepeti, GittiGidiyor and eBebek, years before their exits. Its core line still guides me: many people never fail because they never try.

For seven years I taught e-business strategy and entrepreneurship at Istanbul Technical University, where I started the E-Fikrim startup competition. I also taught e-business strategy in the Bahçeşehir University MBA for two years.

1994

BSc Management Engineering, Istanbul Technical University

1997

MBA, Boğaziçi University

2005

MSc International Business Administration, FHTW Berlin

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