The “Startup Investment Conference” program was organized by the Digital Transformation Committee of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) at the Head Office building.

At the program, held with the participation of Informatics Valley Corporate Development Valley General Manager Emre Yıldız, MÜSİAD Digital Transformation Committee Chairman Fahrettin Oylum, MÜSİAD Mining and Energy Management Committee Chairman Cihad Terzioğlu, MÜSİAD Economic Security and Regulation Committee Chairman Osman Çalışkan, Mentors Network Turkey Founder Mehmet Onarcan, Tarvenn Venturess CEO Mustafa Kopuk, Informatics Valley Corporate Development Manager Emre Yıldız, Sertifier Founder Arda Helvacılar, Earnado Founder Barış Korkmaz, BTM İstanbul Director İbrahim Elbaşı and Startupfon Co-Founder Gülsüm Çıracı, topics such as “New Generation Entrepreneurship, New Generation Investment”, “Types of Startup Investment” and “Failure and Success Through the Eyes of Entrepreneurs” were addressed.

The New Trend: Idea Migration

Delivering the opening speech of the program, MÜSİAD Partnership Development and Coordination High Board Chairman Hikmet Köse stated that well-trained people have come onto the radar of global-scale companies and that our qualified workforce is being transferred by global companies.

Noting that the concept of “brain drain” has also begun to change today, Köse said that the concept of “idea migration” has now become the new trend. Emphasizing that global companies buy the ideas produced by qualified people at very cheap costs, Köse pointed out that at this point our entrepreneurs are carrying water to the mill of global powers. Stating that the enterprise and idea stage is of strategic importance in the reconstruction of our own civilization, Köse touched upon the need to contribute to our own country and our own values in the fields of startups and entrepreneurship, whatever the cost.

Startups Must Be Turned Into a Centre of Attraction

Taking the floor after Hikmet Köse, Knowledge Commercialization Centre Manager İbrahim Elbaşı emphasized that the concept of entrepreneurship has evolved towards an approach that is innovation-oriented, that maximizes innovative businesses and that addresses the entrepreneur rather than the enterprise. Elbaşı stressed that in this new era, described as “New Generation Entrepreneurship”, concepts such as seeing opportunities, being an implementer, acting swiftly and being sustainable have come to the fore.

Stating that not every technological investment means an “enterprise”, Elbaşı pointed out that the term innovation is a concept that also frames technology. Noting that with the “National Technology Initiative” launched by our state in the recent period our country's policy has shifted onto an axis focused on technology and startups, Elbaşı pointed out that startups must be turned into a centre of attraction.

Investors Must Break Free From the Classical Understanding of Investment

Speaking at the panel session held after the opening speeches, MÜSİAD Economic Security and Regulation Committee Chairman Osman Çalışkan shared his assessments on new generation entrepreneurship and new generation investment.

Stating that the concept of entrepreneurship has passed through stages such as forming a class of tradesmen, establishing industrial companies and becoming holding companies in the course of history, Çalışkan noted that today this situation has reached the dimension of overgrown firms coming together with new entrepreneurs.

Pointing out that the most fundamental condition for entrepreneurship is experience, Çalışkan noted that entrepreneurs being competent and experienced in the field in which they wish to do business is the basic criterion for success. Emphasizing that entrepreneurs' mastery of every detail of the sector in which they will do business may cause blindness in the sectoral sense, Çalışkan pointed out that in this respect a lack of knowledge may offer an advantage in producing a different perspective.

Emphasizing that investors must now break free from the classical industrialist mindset, Çalışkan pointed out that when we make up our shortcomings in competence and merit we will be able to compete with Western states.

Conveying that a transition process called intellectual capital is being produced and that attempts are being made to structure it, Çalışkan said that some countries are better at implementing this.

Stating that startups do not much accept certain rules, laws and boundaries, Çalışkan indicated that startups are companies that undertake ventures in an area whose definitions are not yet clear and that fill that undefined space.

Mentors Network Turkey Founder Mehmet Onarcan, for his part, gave information about the types of startup investment. Sharing his assessments on Angel Investment and Early Stage Investment, Onarcan gave information about the effects of the concept of mentoring on entrepreneurs.

The Smartest Solution Is Startup Investment

Speaking at the Startup Investment Adventure session, Startupfon Co-Founder Gülsüm Çıracı and Tarvenn Venturess CEO Mustafa Kopuk shared their experiences regarding the sector.

Pointing out that whatever sector business is currently being done in, it will undergo a revolution in the near future under the impact of digital transformation, Çıracı stated that the smartest solution is to invest in new startups and ventures.

Stating that only 1 out of a hundred ventures in Türkiye succeeds, Çıracı emphasized that entrepreneurs in Türkiye “do not fail” but are almost “zombies”. Noting that it is essential for investors to choose the right person for the job when investing in any venture, Çıracı indicated that what matters is to learn without sinking the business, without failing.

Tarvenn Venturess CEO Mustafa Kopuk, for his part, emphasized that investors must break free from the classical understanding of investment and turn to the subject of startups. Pointing out that professional investors in the USA invest %5 of their earnings in venture capital, Kopuk emphasized that investors in Türkiye think of themselves as the owners of the ventures they invest in and that this perception must change as a priority.

Speaking at the last session of the panel, Informatics Valley Corporate Development Manager Emre Yıldız, Sertifier Founder Arda Helvacılar and Earnado Founder Barış Korkmaz provided information on the subjects of failure and success.