Startup Istanbul Podcast

I'm thrilled to have the chance to have an in-depth conversation with Silicon Valley legend Guy Kawasaki on the podcast . As one of the original Apple employees in the early days of the tech revolution, Guy has a wealth of wisdom to share from his decades of experience as an entrepreneur, author, and innovator. Guy Kawasaki has lived a remarkable life. As an early Apple employee, bestselling autho...

Peter Livingston , founder of Unpopular VC , shared his insights on angel investing and working with startups globally in my recent podcast interview. My next podcast guest will be Guy Kawasaki on March 7th. I had the opportunity to speak with him about his new book Think Remarkable and am excited to share this episode. With over a decade of experience and 400+ investments under his belt, Peter em...

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with veteran entrepreneur and investor Kent Lindstrom , partner at 8 Bit Capital , for an enlightening conversation on my podcast. My next podcast guest will be Guy Kawasaki on March 7th. I had the opportunity to speak with him about his new book Think Remarkable and am excited to share this episode. With firsthand experience as the former COO of Nuzzel...

I recently spoke with Shiyan Koh , Managing Partner at Hustle Fund , a VC fund investing in early-stage software startups. In our wide-ranging talk, Shiyan shared her fascinating journey into VC. This included changing her career from investment banking to becoming an early employee at NerdWallet. She also gave insightful views on startup fundraising, founder psychology, her investment checklist,...

I recently had the honor of interviewing Jason Fried , founder of 37 Signals , Basecamp, on my podcast. Jason provided so many fascinating insights about building a successful business by staying small and sticking to your values. In this post, I want to recap some of his key lessons that really resonated with me. "Just go and make something - don't overthink it or ask too many people for opinions...

In my recent conversation with Dan Toma , author of The Corporate Startup and Innovation Accounting , he shared invaluable perspectives on helping large companies succeed with new ventures. Dan advises testing diverse ideas over predicting winners early on. He explains innovation accounting uses custom metrics to assess concepts before traditional financials apply. This data-driven approach tracks...

In my recent episode of Startup Istanbul Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Manu Jain , co-founder and CEO of Vama App . Vama is an intriguing startup aiming to transform spirituality in India through a virtual temple and astrology platform. Some of the key things that stood out to me: * Vama has done significant pivoting of their product and business model based on user feedback before f...

In this episode, I'm talking with Allen Taylor from Endeavor Catalyst about the tough world of entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Allen brings 20+ years of experience and shares how these founders stand out with their resilience, especially in places like Latin America and Southeast Asia. It opens our eyes to the hard work happening outside well-known tech areas. We cover topics like the toughness...

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Daniel Dos Reis , Investment Director at Wamda Capital , about startups and venture capital in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey. With over 15 years of experience spanning startups, corporates, government, and top VC firms, Daniel provided invaluable insights from an investor's perspective. In this post, I'll summarize key takeaways from our wid...

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Bobby Katoli , co-founder and CEO of Ceres Technology , an AI-powered supply chain analytics platform. We discussed the origins of Ceres, the unique value proposition of their technology, and lessons learned from Bobby's journey as an entrepreneur. Decoding the Supply Chain with AI Ceres started out as a specialty coffee company, bringing high-quality b...

I had the pleasure of speaking with Seth Levine , co-founder of Foundry Group , on my podcast this week. Foundry made headlines recently when they announced their 2022 fund would be their last - closing up shop after 16 very successful years in VC. After Foundry Group's noteworthy announcement, I prioritized releasing this timely interview with Seth Levine to discuss the context behind their decis...

I'm excited to announce that Seth Levine , partner and co-founder at Foundry Group, will be a guest on my podcast next week. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask him, please share them here. I'll make sure to include your questions in our conversation! Additionally, listeners with questions will be invited to join me live in future episodes. Growing up, I was fascinated by airships. The...

I'm excited to have Seth Levine on my podcast next week. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask him, please share them here. I'll be sure to ask your questions during our conversation! Industrial automation is often viewed as complex, expensive, and only feasible for large corporations. But Rishabh Agarwal , founder of startup Peer Robotics , is on a mission to change that perception. I re...

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Silicon Valley investor Marvin Liao on my podcast. Marvin has a wealth of experience spanning over 20 years in the tech industry. He was an early team member at Yahoo, helped expand the company to over 45 countries, and has invested in over 400 startups. In our far-reaching conversation, we covered everything from the key moments that shaped Marvin's ca...

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Alec Sorensen , co-founder and CEO of Tradespace , on my podcast. Alec has a fascinating background and shared insightful lessons from his experience building Tradespace. Here are some key takeaways: 1. Persistence is key in entrepreneurship - whether fundraising, pitching customers, or building a product. As Alec said, "it's really an exercise in resil...

I talked this week with Peter Vesterbacka , entrepreneur and founder from Finland known for building major brands like Angry Birds , Rovio and Slush . Taking action is critical for entrepreneurs according to him, as learning happens by doing rather than just thinking. Entrepreneurs should execute on ideas through constant action, without fear of failure, to create opportunities and accelerate grow...

I have had the pleasure of knowing Eamonn Carey for many years. We first connected when we hosted him as a speaker at various events in Istanbul and Antalya. I always enjoy our conversations and learn so much from his experiences. Eamonn began his career as a journalist before transitioning into the world of venture capital. His background in journalism provided great preparation for his work in V...

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Arthur Wang , founder of Fud , about his entrepreneurial journey. Arthur Wang's family origins as Chinese American immigrants who ran restaurants influenced his entrepreneurial ambitions. He also inherited a passion for educating and helping others from his teacher relatives. This unique blend shaped his vision for empowering everyday entrepreneurs with...

I have a great talk with Casey Van Maanen is a Senior Analyst at LOI Venture , an early stage venture capital fund focused on young entrepreneurs in British Columbia. He has experience in venture capital, finance, and business management through roles at different funds. "It's never easy, but having grit and resilience is key." — Casey Van Maanen Here are my 3 key takeaways from the conversation w...

I had a great conversation with Tuomo Laine , founder and CEO of Twice Commerce , formerly known as Rentle. Additionally we met during our side event at Slush in Maria 01 last week. The Twice Commerce platform simplifies the process for businesses to manage rental, resale, and refurbishing operations. It facilitates the circular economy by helping companies extend the lifecycles of their products....

I had an insightful chat with Christopher Burns , Co-Founder of fundraising platform for nonprofits, Everfund . Christopher has been working on startups for over 5 years. Everfund emerged from their previous work building QR code donation tools for nonprofits. Our conversation covered Chris' lessons on customer validation, hiring failures, co-founder relationships, startup motivation, and more. He...

I had a wonderful conversation with Mosmos co-founders recently and asked them the question, "If you go back in time 2 years, when you were just starting Mosmos, what advice would you give to yourself?" Chengo Masha 's answer:- Focus ruthlessly on understanding the customer's problem first.- Don't get caught up in perfecting the solution too soon.- Let customer feedback drive building the right so...

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Yrjö Ojasaar , Partner at Change Ventures, about the startup ecosystems in Estonia, the Baltics, and the Nordics. Yrjö has a fascinating background, having worked as a lawyer in the US defending major tech companies before returning to Europe to work with startups. He has been the CEO of a Finnish clean-tech startup, a UK digital publishing company, an...

When Sean's wife signed him up to coach his daughter's soccer team, he knew little about the sport. However, as with any challenge, he wanted to take a data-driven approach. Since scoring itself didn't occur often enough to analyze, Sean tracked shots on goal instead. He then used each game as an experiment, constantly shifting player positions between quarters to gather data on different lineups....

Top notes from my conversation with Juan Camilo co-founder of Figuro Figuro: InsurTech startup Focus: Latin America * Platform: * Simplifies insurance buying * Streamlines quotes, buying, managing * More transparency, ease for users * Approach: * Uses tech to digitize old processes * Data-driven insights * Goal: Make insurance access equal for all 1. Outdated Insurance Distribution Is the Real LAT...