A Turkish Private Equity Web Log

In an effort to cover the Turkish Private Equity Industry - for the promotion of Entrepreneurship, the private equity asset-investment model, and the communication thereof.


Grandstanding Traction Is One Year Old!
With the end of 2007, it marked a year since Grandstanding Traction took up its mission and started posting on the trials and tribulations of Turkey's Private Equity and Venture Capital space. For a review of the Grandstanding mission, please visit our first post : Grandstanding Traction Objectives. While I have tried unequivocally to post on all dealflow, exits and fundraisings in Turkey, of course I have to apologize if there was not enough time in the day or manpower to get the reader the latest news.

Here's what I have noticed and changed about the site:

  1. Subscriptions: - Since the beginning, I have always included the RSS subscription button on the upper left corner, as well as a Feedblitz Emailer button on the right sidebar. As of this post, Grandstanding Traction has around 70 feed readers, 21 of which are Feedblitz email readers. As a publisher, I just want to thank you for your readership. Please feel free to pass it on to your friends, or don't be afraid to comment on all posts.

  2. Venture Capital/Private Equity Links: - One of the main reasons I started Grandstanding Traction was to have one source for all VC related Funds and Firms in Turkey or of those that invest in Turkey. I envisioned a place where entrepreneurs could come and be able to locate a VC and pitch their ideas. At this time, I might as well update this with a few more VCs and PE Funds:

    • KOBI A.Ş. - A small fund of 20 million YTL paid-in capital, this fund is the funding arm of TTGV, the Turkish Technology Entrepreneurship Fund for legal reasons. So far they have three investments. Apparently, they want exits in 5 years.

    • Le Venture - This fund appeared in the last year, with its partners based out of England and Germany. They just closed their first round of funding in July 2007 and partnered with the European Founders Fund of Germany. So far, they already have 5 investments in Turkish Internet companies.

    • The Ottoman Fund - Though definitely not VC, and typically not private equity, The Ottoman Fund is a publicly traded fund on the AIM totally focused on real estate investment in Turkey. I provide a link simply because it represents foreign investment in Turkish projects (not to mention that they've taken a great name). I admit the real estate market in Turkey is booming, and the amount of interest in real estate investment trusts as well as shopping centers/commercial property merits its own site entirely. Unfortunately, due to time, I will try and slowly add these features to the site.

  3. Comments: - Over the last year, I have tried to put forth such topics that readers could comment on. Unfortunately, readers are either too intimidated or simply do not feel commenting is necessary - for that I apologize. In addition, if I failed to get all the facts, I ask my readers to please set the record straight either my emailing me or making a comment.


  4. Labels or Technorati Tags? - Since my first post, I have provided Technorati Tags at the end of each post so that the reader may simply click a tag and drill down on that topic at Technorati - a portal that ranks and indexes blogs. However, I cannot guarantee that the content you find on Technorati will be applicable or existant. For example, if I tag a post with "Mr. Joe VC", there may not be anything regarding him on Technorati. In addition, because of the pinging nature of Technorati and the Atom/RSS feed confusion of Blogger, Technorati has trouble updating its index. Some, this writer included, may even question Technorati's usefulness.

    On the other hand, if the reader clicks the Blogger "Labels", you will successfully drill down to all other Grandstanding posts on that topic/subject.


  5. Search Grandstanding Traction (and/or all community links) with Lejit! - In the right sidebar, you will see the Lejit Search Widget. By typing in a search topic, you will not only successfully search all Grandstanding posts but also all websites in my community. This includes all VC sites listed on this page (Ask the VC, Feld Thoughts, Sortipreneur, etc.). Also, if you're curious about one of its "fairly pretty", but "somewhat useful" features, click "Explore" and see how Grandstanding Traction is connected. You, too, can add yourself by simply adding a Grandstanding Traction link to your blog or website.


  6. Finally, Traffic... - What can I say? For a part-time blogger, there is nothing more satisfying than increased traffic/readership subscriptions and struggling to maintain the status quo. For those interested (on inquiry only), I can provide a more detailed analysis of my visitors, but for now, the breakdown is generally as follows:


    This is a representation of IPs that resolve to static corporate/commerical domains, and therefore can be categorized and labeled. However, this only represents 20% of total traffic.

In conclusion, it has been a fun year. For the future, based on time permitting, I would love to continue updating with posts, but I would also like to add a podcast with interviews with industry professionals. So if you like that idea, please let me know. In addition, I've also started helping entrepeneurs find funding through various funds, - so for all entrepreneurs - keep sending me those business plans and powerpoints, and I will give you a free consultation, as I have for others in the past.

I have met a lot of wonderful people with contacts both in the international and Turkish PE/VC industries as well as entrepreneurs in and outside of academia. I look forward to meeting more of you and continually striving to support both entrepreneurs and PE professionals. Only through your support can Grandstanding Traction continue its coverage of the grandstanding of Turkish VC/PE professionals and the traction of the Turkish VC/PE industry. In addition, click here if you would like posts emailed to your inbox (through Feedblitz) - or - fed to your RSS readers via Feedburner.

Labels: ,


Posted @ 23:07  
3 Comments:
  • At 1/15/2008 1:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi John,

    Excellent site to get an insider view of the turkish private equity market! Please keep up good work in 2008.

     
  • At 1/17/2008 6:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Dear Jon,

    Conratulations on your anniversary! I think, the PE/VC industry together with the foreign real estate investments will continue to keep you even busier in 2008.

     
  • At 2/21/2008 3:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Nice work Jon.

     
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