Shows
Founder's FAQYohei Nakajima | General Partner at Untapped CapitalFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Yohei Nakajima. Yohei is a general partner at Untapped Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the unexpected. Previously, he was a venture partner at Scrum Ventures and director of the pipeline at Techstars.
1-) How to fundraise better
2-) How to value companies
3-) Understanding the hype cycles and understanding customers
4-) How to decide to quit the company
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you...
2024-01-2422 min
Founder's FAQAdam Spector | Founder & CEO of LevyFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Adam Spector. Adam is the founder and CEO of Levy, which is the back-office operations team for world-class startups. Adam is also an angel investor for more than 100 startups.
1-) The Secret Formula for Success
2-) Focus on Distribution
3-) Attracting the Talent
4-) Riding the Wave of a Growing Market
5-) Building Company Culture
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the...
2024-01-1527 min
Founder's FAQSunil Rajaraman | Founder of HamletFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Sunil Rajaraman. Sunil is the founder of Hamlet, which connects communities to where they live by providing tools that give you the advantage of being a well-informed and empowered resident. He is also a scout at Sequoia Capital.
1-) How to find PMF?
2-) GTM with the most basic product
3-) Early team members
4-) Founder led growth
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through th...
2024-01-0918 min
Founder's FAQMatthew Rastovac | Founder & CEO of RespellFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Matthew Rastovac. Matt is the founder and CEO of Respell, which is a no-code AI platform.
1-) Learning from Failure
2-) Finding the Product-Market Fit
3-) Navigating Early Go-To-Market Strategy
4-) Building Trust with Investors
5-) The Vision of Respell
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com
2023-12-1223 min
Founder's FAQRaphael Ouzan | Founder & CEO of A.TeamFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Raphael Ouzan. Raphael is a serial entrepreneur and founder & CEO of A.Team. A.Team is a startup that operates as an exclusive network comprising skilled professionals like engineers, project managers, designers, and marketers. These experts collaborate and assemble teams to assist companies in resolving their most significant challenges.
1-) Story of A.Team
2-) How to set up coherence inside teams
3-) Going for the hardest problem to solve
2023-06-2127 min
Founder's FAQAndrew Luong | CEO & Co-founder of DoorvestFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Andrew Luong. Andrew is the CEO & Co-founder of Doorverst, a venture-back platform for owning income-producing real estate. They empower individuals to unlock homeownership, passive income, and equity by simplifying the process of buying and managing an investment property.
In this episode;
1-) Story of Doorvest
2-) Founder Product fit
3-) How is it to buy a home at Doorvest
4-) Main challenges in scaling
2023-05-2617 min
Founder's FAQMark Peter Davis | Managing Partner at InterplayFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Mark Peter Davis. Mark is a venture capitalist, serial entrepreneur, author, and community organizer. He is the founder of Interplay Ventures, an investment and incubation firm based in New York City. He is also the author of The Fundraising Rules, a handbook designed to help entrepreneurs raise capital. And lastly, he has a neat podcast dedicated to innovation, truth, and education; it's called "Innovation With Mark Peter Davis."
In this episode;
1-) Defensibility of...
2023-04-0528 min
Founder's FAQKarl Alomar | Managing Partner at M13Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Karl Alomar. Karl is a tech investor, serial entrepreneur, and managing partner at M13, a full-service venture firm that provides the platform for founding teams to create and develop high-growth businesses. Previously, he was COO at DigitalOcean from the ground up, which is one of the fastest-growing cloud infrastructure companies.
In this episode;
1-) Scale a company 100x
2-) To build on Web3
3-) Leading companies...
2023-03-2321 min
Founder's FAQKatelin Holloway | Founding Partner at Seven Seven SixFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Katelin Holloway. She’s the founding partner of the venture firm Seven Seven Six. Previously, Katelin was in many stunning companies. At Pixar, she worked alongside some of the most brilliant creative minds of the generation. She was also the head of people and culture at Reddit and Klout. She’s passionate about funding the companies that will shape the future of work, life, and sustainability.
In this episode;
1-) Following “Curiosity” and asking great questions
2...
2023-01-2627 min
Founder's FAQDilan Mizrakli Landgraff | Co-founder & Chief Strategy, People, Culture Officer at AntlerFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Dilan Mizrakli Landgraff. Dilan is the co-founder of Antler, a global venture capital firm enabling and investing in the world's most exceptional people building the defining companies of tomorrow. They are in more than 20 cities across six continents, including in hubs such as Austin, New York, London, Stockholm, Berlin, Bangalore, Singapore, and Sydney.
In this episode;
1-) Antler's philosophy on investments
2-) How to scale founders to overcome their challenges
3-) Three...
2022-07-0119 min
Founder's FAQBarry Hinckley | Founder & CEO of BeachSweatFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Barry Hinckley. Barry is the founder & CEO of BeachSweat, which is a virtual fitness platform. Previously, he was co-founder at Bullhorn and had an exit there. Barry ran as a candidate for US Senate as well.
In this episode;
1-) Story behind BeachSweat
2-) Mindset shift on fitness in pandemic
3-) Virtual fitness market
4-) Upcoming plans for BeachSweat
And lastly, BeachSweat is going out on Kickstarter.
2021-12-2114 min
Founder's FAQChuck Berkeley | Co-founder & CEO of PathogenXFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Chuck Berkeley. Chuck is the co-founder and CEO of PathogenX, dedicated to reimagining regulated medical waste disposal. Previously, Chuck was the director at Grey Medical. And, lastly, he's also an Olympic bobsledder.
In this episode;
1-) Story behind PathogenX
2-) How to build a hardware startup
3-) The market of medical waste
4-) Upcoming plans for PathogenX
Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can or...
2021-12-1714 min
Founder's FAQUgur Samut | Co-founder of GorillasFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Ugur Samut. He’s co-founder at Gorillas, a q-commerce company that has recently raised $1 billion. Previously, Ugur was Co-founder & CEO at Medigo. And lastly, Ugur invests in startups as an angel investor as well.
In this episode;
1-) Story behind Gorillas
2-) Q-commerce market
3-) Scaling as a founder in the hyper-growth
4-) How to hire A+ people
5-) The elements of culture
6-) How to le...
2021-11-1916 min
Founder's FAQEric Jorgenson | Strategist at ZaarlyFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Eric Jorgenson. Eric is a product strategist at Zaarly, where he was one of the very first employees. Outside of his time at Zaarly, he has spent time writing and condensing ideas on his blog Evergreen, which has educated and entertained more than one million readers since 2014. And he is the author of Almancak of Naval Ravikant.
In this episode;
1-) Long term games
2-) The ideal team
3-) Managing micromanagement
2021-05-0317 min
Founder's FAQBurak Cendek | Principal at Autotech VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Burak Cendek. Burak is Principal at Autotech Ventures, a venture firm that invests in transportation technologies and business models. Previously, he was a partner at Revo Capital, COO at Sente Foundry, and consultant at ZS Associates.In this episode;1-) How to evaluate the founder2-) How to pivot3-) How to leverage the board4-) High valuations Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you ca...
2021-04-0813 minFounder's FAQRachel Olney | Founder & CEO of GeositeFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Rachel Olney. Rachel is the founder and CEO of Geosite, a YC-backed startup that provides a SaaS platform enabling customers across a wide swathe of industries to leverage geospatial data. She instructs Technology and National Security at Stanford University. Rachel was also selected to Forbes 30Under30 Enterprise Technology List in 2020. In this episode;1-) Story of Geosite2-) Founder Startup fit3-) Finding A+ people4-) Culture setup5...
2021-04-0134 minFounder's FAQGorkem Turk | Industry Manager - Startups, Apps & Gaming at GoogleFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Gorkem Turk. Gorkem is the industry manager, specifically for startups, apps & gaming at Google. Previously, he was a senior associate at Value Partners and strategy leader at Procter & Gamble. In this episode;1-) How to fund the gaming startup2-) Pandemic effects in gaming3-) Skillsets of gaming founders4-) Benchmarks before raise moneyFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can order th...
2021-03-3121 minFounder's FAQLan | Founding Managing Partner at Basis Set VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Lan. Lan is founding managing partner at Basis Set Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups that are harnessing artificial intelligence. Lan built and led the Corporate Development Strategy team at Dropbox during its most acquisitive time. She previously managed teams at McKinsey in New York and Shanghai, advising Fortune 500 companies on issues including big data, AI, and growth strategy. Earlier in her career, Lan designed and developed brain training games as a founder and studied human...
2021-03-2915 minFounder's FAQBaris Akis | Co-founder & President of Human CapitalFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Baris Akis. Baris is co-founder and President of Human Capital, a venture firm for engineers. With more than $500 million in assets under management, they’ve invested in 10 unicorns before they were unicorns (including Brex, Livongo, and Snowflake) and placed engineers as early hires at 16 unicorns (including Anduril, Robinhood, and Grammarly). Baris studied computer science at Stanford, where started and sold a web-development automation business and co-founded the Stanford Social Entrepreneurial Students’ Association (SENSA).In this episode;1-) O...
2021-03-2526 minFounder's FAQLisa Barnett | Co-founder of Little Spoon Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Lisa Barnett. Lisa is Co-Founder & President of Little Spoon, a fresh, direct-to-consumer baby food and early childhood nutrition company reinventing the modern parent's experience of keeping their child happy and healthy. Prior to Little Spoon, Lisa spent eight years as an investor and operator at some of the world's top consumer brands. Her venture experience included time spent as a Partner at Sherpa Foundry and, before that, an investor at VC firms Maveron & Dorm Room Fund. Lisa is also a...
2021-03-1820 minFounder's FAQDorie Clark | Author of Entrepreneurial YouFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Dorie Clark. Dorie has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognized as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith. Clark, a consultant and keynote speaker, teaches executive education at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School, and she is the author of Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine.1-) Finding core va...
2021-03-1719 minFounder's FAQAnkit Jain | Founder & CEO of InfinitusFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Ankit Jain. Ankit is a serial entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of Infinitus Systems. Most recently, Ankit was a Founding Partner at Gradient Ventures and a Director of Engineering at Google. Previously, he was the Vice President of Product at SimilarWeb, which he joined via the acquisition of mobile intelligence startup Quettra that he founded and led as CEO. Prior to Quettra, Ankit was the Head of Search, Discovery, and Infrastructure for Google Play, which he joined through the...
2021-02-1909 minFounder's FAQCenk Sidar | Co-Founder & CEO of GlobalWonksFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Cenk Sidar. Cenk is Co-founder & CEO of GlobalWonks, a technology-enabled marketplace that connects private and public enterprises with experts who understand the world. Cenk is also a global risk expert with a vast experience of assisting top financial institutions, multinational corporations, risk management firms, and legal firms operating in high-risk regions.In this episode;1-) Scale of GlobalWonks2-) How to run & grow a marketplace3-) Having leaders early on in the...
2021-02-1221 minFounder's FAQShawn Xu | Investor at FloodgateFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Shawn Xu. Shawn is an early-stage investor at Floodgate. Previously, he was managing partner at Dorm Room Fund and led 27 investments made across various verticals. He was also in the international expansion of Square.In this episode;1-) Why do you care about solving this problem2-) Paint a vision for how big and world-changing the business can be3-) How to pick the right VC partner4-) A great...
2021-02-0816 minFounder's FAQHiten Shah | Co-founder & CEO of FYIFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Hiten Shah. Hiten is co-founder & CEO of FYI and co-owner of Crazy Egg. Previously, he was the co-founder of KISSmetrics. He is also an investor and advisor to more than 100 companies. In this episode;1-) Setting up values early on2-) The ability to manage other people3-) Accountability, alignment, and communication4-) Handling disagreementsFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pr...
2021-01-2709 minFounder's FAQJake Saper | General Partner at Emergence CapitalFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Jake Saper. Jake is a general partner at Emergence Capital, a venture capital firm, invested in companies collectively worth $100B+, including Salesforce, Veeva, Box, Yammer, and Zoom.In this episode;1-) Authentic passion for solving the problem2-) Long-run relationships with the board3-) Ability to sell a vision4-) When to pivotFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through th...
2021-01-2217 minFounder's FAQElad Gil | Entrepreneur & InvestorFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Elad Gil. Elad is an entrepreneur, operating executive, and investor to companies such as Airbnb, Coinbase, Checkr, Gusto, Instacart, OpenDoor, Gitlab, Brex, Pinterest, Square, Stripe, Wish, and many more. He is co-founder at Color Genomics and its former CEO. Previously, he was VP of corporate strategy at Twitter after it acquired his firm Mixer Labs, and he was Google’s original product manager for Google Mobile Maps. And lastly, he is the author of High Growth Handbook.In th...
2021-01-1818 minFounder's FAQCristóbal Perdomo | Co-Founder & General Partner at Jaguar VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Cristóbal Perdomo. Cristóbal is Co-founder and General Partner at Jaguar Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Mexico City. In this episode;1-) Talking about valuation vs. talking about what to do2-) Founder’s obsession with the problem 3-) Unit economics factor outside of US4-) Role of a VC in pivotsFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-or...
2021-01-1212 minFounder's FAQSargun Kaur | Co-Founder & CEO of ByteboardFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Sargun Kaur. Sargun is Co-founder and CEO of Byteboard, a technical interviewing platform that is backed by Google's incubator Area 120. Previously, she was a software engineer on Google and was selected to Forbes 30Under30 in 2019. In this episode;1-) Story of Byteboard2-) How to get the first paying customer3-) Know what values adding to the customer before scaling4-) How to identify the right co-founderFounder’s...
2021-01-0921 minFounder's FAQKoray Bahar | Co-founder & CEO of FigoparaFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Koray Bahar. Koray is co-founder and CEO of Figopara, which is a b2b solution for SMBs to arrange due dates of electronic invoices by many options. Previously, he was founder & CEO of Foriba, a compliance service provider for electronic invoicing, which was acquired by Sovos. Lastly, he's an active angel investor.In this episode;1-) The culture setup2-) The checklist before fundraising3-) Investments over Zoom4-) Top...
2021-01-0419 minFounder's FAQEamonn Carey | Managing Director at TechstarsFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Eamonn Carey. He’s the managing director at Techstars London, a partner at The Fund, and an early-stage investor, advisor, and board member for companies across the US, Europe, and Asia. He has invested in over 50 companies around the world and he also runs a regular deal flow email for 800+ angel and VC investors around the world.In this episode;1-) Which startup to invest in2-) To be a coachable founder3...
2020-12-2822 minFounder's FAQShane Mac | General Partner & Co-Founder at The Logos FundFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Shane Mac. Shane is a general partner & co-founder at the Logos Fund that invests in startups defining remote work globally. Previously, Shane was CEO & Co-founder of Assist, the automated assistant platform for messaging and voice, which was acquired by Conversocial in 2019. And he's currently an SVP at Conversocial. He's also co-founder and chairman at Squared Away, which employs military spouses as executive assistants. He ran product at Zaarly and worked on Gist.com, which was acquired by BlackBerry. ...
2020-12-2220 minFounder's FAQDuygu Oktem Clark | Founding Managing Partner at DO Venture PartnersFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Duygu Oktem Clark. Duygu is the founding managing partner at DO Venture Partners that invests in early-stage tech startups, and coaches corporate innovation through partnerships with startups. She is also on the jury in the European Innovation Council funds to select, support, and invest in top-class innovators and entrepreneurs. Prior to DO Venture Partners, Duygu was a business development leader in the European Investment Fund. Before then, she was the founder of Turk Telekom Startup Accelerator, which is Turkey's first...
2020-12-1810 minFounder's FAQTim Young | Founding General Partner at Eniac VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Tim Young. Tim is a Founding General Partner at Eniac Ventures with two exits as an entrepreneur and over 20 years of experience advising and investing in 100+ early-stage startups. Prior to founding Eniac in 2009, Tim founded Bridge, an enterprise software company focusing on corporate training, which he led to an 8-figure exit. Prior to Bridge, Tim led product at Quoteship, a B2B marketplace for logistics, which exited to Logistics.comIn this episode;1-) Founder’s pa...
2020-12-1610 minFounder's FAQJohn Mannes | Investor at Basis Set VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is John Mannes. John is an investor at Basis Set Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on supporting startups using machine learning to address big problems across industries. Prior to Basis Set Ventures, John was a TechCrunch writer covering machine intelligence startups, machine learning research and major AI initiatives from big tech. His work has also been featured in The Washington Post, NPR and Education Week.In this episode;1-) Drivers of the founder Startup needs
2020-12-0717 min
Kariyer Sohbetleriİlker Köksal - Girişimci Ruhlar ve Bilgisayar Mühendisliğiİlker Köksal Kimdir?
Forbes’un globalde 30 yaş altı 30, “30Under30”, listesine kabul edilmiş bir teknoloji girişimcisidir. Kurmuş olduğu iki girişim bulunmaktadır. Bunlardan biri satılmış, diğeri ise operasyonlarına devam etmektedir. Ilker, teknoloji girişimlerine hem danışman hem de yatırımcı olarak destek vermektedir. İlker aynı zamanda Founder’s FAQ kitabının yazarı ve Forbes’un teknoloji kategorisinde de yazmaktadır. İlker, Bilkent Üniversitesi Bilgisayar Mühendisliği lisans diplomasına, Koç Üniversitesi’nden MBA derecesine sahiptir.
2020-11-301h 29Founder's FAQMatthew Hartman | Partner at Betaworks VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Matthew Hartman. Matt is a partner at Betaworks Ventures, based in New York City. Matt started his career building the technology platform for Trammell Crow Company (acquired by CBRE) before joining Hot Potato (acquired by Facebook). He co-founded ReferBoost, a profitable b2b company in the real estate and social media space. In this episode;1-) How to help the portfolio founders2-) How to assess the founder product relatedness3-) Betaworks...
2020-11-1800 minFounder's FAQErbil Karaman | Chief Product Officer at EarninFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Erbil Karaman. Erbil is the chief product officer at Earnin. Before Earnin, he co-founded 500Startups Istanbul fund, and right now, he's the venture advisor in there. He was head of product at Lyft and led and started many product teams at Facebook, including Internet.org. As a founder, he co-founded SpeedDate, which was acquired by Match.com, and he's also an active investor and early backers of many unicorn companies.In this episode;1-) How to...
2020-11-0400 minFounder's FAQGagan Biyani | Co-founder of Udemy & SprigFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Gagan Biyani. Gagan was co-founder and President at Udemy, one of the biggest online education companies, and was also co-founder and CEO of Sprig, a food delivery company. Combined, both companies have raised over $250 million in venture capital and employed over 1,500 employees.In this episode;1-) Dealing with uncertainty2-) Founder Values Founder Strengths3-) Due-diligence of Co-founders4-) When to raise a roundFounder’s FAQ is a...
2020-10-2300 minFounder's FAQLeo Polovets | General Partner at Susa VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Leo Polovets, co-founder and General Partner at Susa Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm with having portfolio companies such as Robinhood, Andela, Flexport, and Stedi.Before Susa, Leo was the second engineering hire at Linkedin, where he helped build the first versions of products like Linkedin Jobs and Linkedin Groups. He then worked on payment fraud detection algorithms at Google and was also an early engineer at FactualIn this episode;1...
2020-10-1900 minFounder's FAQPejman Nozad | Founding Managing Partner at Pear VCFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Pejman Nozad. Pejman is a founding managing partner at Pear VC, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups, based in Palo Alto. Pejman has over 15 years of experience investing in early-stage high tech startups. He built a $40B+ portfolio, investing in over 300 startups and seeding several multi-billion dollar companies such as Dropbox, DoorDash, Guardant Health, Lending Club, SoundHound, and Gusto. And lastly, he is a soccer fan.
2020-10-1400 minFounder's FAQJennifer S. LeBlanc | Founder of Changing Tides MovementFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Jennifer S. LeBlanc. She is the best-selling author of Launching for Revenue and Changing Tides She is the founder of the Changing Tides Movement, which was developed out of the pressing need for a collaborative community focused on the unique experiences of women founders, entrepreneurs, and investors. Jennifer is known as a high-energy and inspiring keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for startup accelerators and corporate teams. In her private coaching work, Jennifer works with female founders, entrepreneurs, and change agents...
2020-10-0800 minFounder's FAQSteve Barsh | Managing Partner at Dreamit VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Steve Barsh. Steve is a Managing Partner at DreamIt Ventures. He has over 30 years of experience starting, leading, launching, and building multi-national companies as well as early-stage venture work. He has helped launch over 100 companies that have generated over $1B in value. As a founder, Steve also started his first company while he was graduating college and sold that company 7 years later to MCI where he went on to lead the combined division. In this episode;1...
2020-09-2916 minFounder's FAQSean Byrnes | CEO & Co-founder of OutlierFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Sean Byrnes. Sean is CEO & co-founder of Outlier. Previously, he founded Flurry which was the leader in mobile analytics and advertising space and it was sold to Yahoo! in 2014. Sean advises some early-stage technology companies and invests in many others.In this episode;1-) The biggest challenge while scaling the company2-) How to set up a culture3-) Is it really all about the founder?4-) Having a track...
2020-09-1415 minFounder's FAQJosh Constine | Principal Investor & Head of Content at SignalFireFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Josh Constine. Josh is a Principal investor and head of content at venture capital fund SignalFire. He invests in early-stage startups across verticals with a focus on social apps, visual communication, remote work, entertainment & media, and tech's transformation of new sectors. Previously, Josh was the Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he wrote over 3500 blog posts about social tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat as well as early-stage startups across verticals.In this episode;1-) How to assess...
2020-09-1022 minFounder's FAQElizabeth Yin | Co-founder & General Partner at Hustle FundFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Elizabeth Yin. Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed-stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014).In this episode;1-) Right approach on valuation talks.2-) When to pivot.3-) What to really show off at...
2020-08-2018 minFounder's FAQPhin Barnes | Partner at First Round CapitalFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Phin Barnes. Phin is partner at First Round Capital, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco and New York. Previously he was creative director at AND1 and founder of responDesign. He’s also a sneakerhead.In this episode;1-) Leveraging the board.2-) Assessing the founder’s core assets.3-) Proof points to raise the round.4-) Maximizing the potential for success while picking the right valuation.Foun...
2020-07-1722 minFounder's FAQJeff Gothelf | Co-writer of Lean UX, author of Sense & Respond and Forever EmployableFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Jeff Gothelf. Jeff is the co-writer of the award-winning book Lean UX, author of Sense & Respond and Forever Employable.In this episode;1-) Resolving the uncertainty.2-) Protecting the willingness of the team.3-) Leveraging the risks.4-) Politics inside teams.Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Yo...
2020-07-1315 minFounder's FAQNiko Bonatsos | Managing Director at General CatalystFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Niko Bonatsos. Niko is managing director at General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments.In this episode;1-) Evaluating the founder.2-) Due diligence of co-founders.3-) Investing in second-time founder.4-) Right partner into the board.Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, an...
2020-06-2515 minFounder's FAQDennis R. Mortensen | Founder and CEO of X.AIFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Dennis Mortensen. He is the founder and CEO of X.AI, which is an AI-powered Scheduling Network. Dennis has raised more than $44M for X.ai. And previously, he has founded multiple companies and he has multiple exits. In this episode;1-) The right approach for fundraising.2-) Stick to the pain.3-) Scaling the team.4-) Born of culture.Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders an...
2020-06-1024 minFounder's FAQCharles Hudson | Managing Partner at Precursor VenturesFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is is Charles Hudson. He is the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a seed-stage investment firm based out of San Francisco. Prior to launching Precursor, Charles was a Partner with SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed-stage investors in the Internet and mobile startups. He was also the Co-Founder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games. And lastly, he’s the lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business.In this episode;1-) How to evaluate the founder....
2020-06-0113 minFounder's FAQAdam Cheyer | Co-founder of Siri & Viv LabsFounder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Adam Cheyer. He is an inventor, entrepreneur, engineering executive, and a pioneer in AI and computer-human interfaces. He has been a co-founder of successful startups, including Siri (sold to Apple), Viv Labs (sold to Samsung), and Sentient. He is also the founding member of Change.org, the world's largest petition platform. Adam has authored more than 60 publications and 37 patents and he is also a magician.In this episode;1-) Exits2-) The four assets...
2020-05-2623 minFounder's FAQWelcome to Founder's FAQHi, I'm Ilker. I'm 2x founder, Forbes 30Under Lister, and author of Founder's FAQ. Founder's FAQ is a book for founders and also having podcasts series. And in here, I will have notable guests; Impactful founders, top tier VCs and VPs of scaling startups. We'll cover the answers to all the possible questions of a founder in a startup journey—whether revealing lifesaving principles for the startup's survival path, building A+ teams, creating an evolving machine, setting up a neat culture, or interpreting the true path for the fundraising. Join us and learn more.
2020-05-2301 min