Startup Turkey

Thunder and lightening bookmarked eTohum’s Startup Turkey’s annual gathering this past weekend. It fit. The congregation of Turkish and regional entrepreneurs (from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Uzbekistan) stormed Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast for two and a half days of pitches and panels – the usual rundown for these events. What did I take away? Five points. I’ve outlined them below and will detail over the week ahead. Get out of Silicon (insert here): After talking to 23-year old Ankara-based Ali Cevik, I realized the importance of finding new markets and getting outside mainstream tech centers. I met the Arab Jeff Bezos: He’s Ala Suleiman who gave up a career in computer engineering to put books on tape for the Arab world. Entrepreneurial financing in between angel and venture isn’t mezzanine: It’s angel heavy. The iLab Ventures story The Arab world isn’t a country Broadbandgaria: South Eastern Europe’s Internet hope? Startup Turkey Take Away #1

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