| Turkish Mobile Applications Provider Pozitron Wins Harvard Business School's Global Business Plan Competition! |
| 10 February 2008 |
 It seems my friends at Pozitron, who I posted about in June 2007, have won the HBS Global Business Plan Competition. The news has been posted courtesy of Dan Primack of PEHub, who judged at the event. Pozitron (www.pozitron.com), a mobile and alternative communications solution provider based in Turkey, won the Global Business Plan Contest sponsored by the Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneurship Club on January 27. It was the first contest of its kind that brought together a panel of judges from the venture capital and technology sectors including IDG Ventures Boston, HarbourVest, and Thomas Financial.
 Pozitron is an R&D focused enterprise communications solution company taking tremendous strides in innovation and development in the mobile industry. It develops new technologies which makes wireless experiences more enjoyable and powerful. Founded in 2000, Pozitron provides professional service and solutions to meet the demands of its customers. Pozitron is the fastest executed principal partner of SUN Microsystems in the world. (There are only 8 principal partners in 96 countries). Pozitron created the first mobile banking application for Turkey’s largest bank, Türkiye İş Bankası. Everyday, over 100,000 users enjoy Pozitron’s mobile applications and more than 250,000 people communicate through Pozitron’s solutions.
Pozitron’s business plan, focused on its integrated mobile banking product, was chosen among a dozen of companies to represent Turkey. It then competed against several top firms representing Armenia, Colombia, Germany, Lithuania, and Mexico at the Global Business Plan Contest and secured first place after two rounds of deliberations.
"Mobile banking solutions are essential in our increasingly globalized world," says Pozitron CEO Fatih İşbecer. "As many people are starting businesses or doing trade, communications is an essential part to help them grow. We’re deeply honored that Harvard Business School chose our firm among a stellar group as having enormous potential."
Pozitron, last year, won its place as an "Endeavor Entrepreneur", and since then has been able to secure Iş Bank as a customer in building and implementing its Java-based mobile-banking application. "This is the hallmark of high-impact entrepreneurship," said Linda Rottenberg, Endeavor Co-founder & CEO, "We’re proud to have Pozitron among an innovative group of Endeavor Entrepreneurs who are creating new breakthroughs that are improving their communities."
For an entrepreneur to score such a major client before venture funding and providing necessary revenue, it clearly gave them a leg-up in the business plan competition. They are currently negotiating with other banks, and, as can be seen from the PEHub post, will most likely role it out with other international banks.
Another noteworthy point regarding this feat is that Pozitron was able to make use of 4 intership students from the G-Lab Program of MIT Sloan School of Management. These 4 students helped Pozitron toward their Latin American expansion strategy. For all you entrepreneurs out there, this is a great program, one that you should really check out.
Congratulations go to Fatih and Firat İşbecer!
 Technorati Tags: Endeavor, Pozitron, Entrepreneur Awards, entrepreneurship, Business Plan Contests, Harvard Business School, G-Lab, MIT SloanLabels: Business Plan Contests, Business Planning, Endeavor, Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Pozitron
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| Summary: METU/ODTÜ Holds Entrepreneur/Investor Summit |
| 25 November 2007 |
 At the beginning of November, I happily attended the Entrepreneur-Investor Summit hosted by Middle East Technical University (METU/ODTÜ) at the Ritz Carlton in Istanbul. I went there with many ideas and goals in mind. However, what I took away was somewhat different from my expectations.
First and foremeost, who attended the event? A fine list of panelists can be found on the Metutech site. However, the attendees constituted:
- International Banks - The EIF, the EIB and KFW presented their foci on helping other banks fund entrepreneurship through loans. Only the EIF through the EIB acts as Fund of Funds to the venture space.
- European Angels - The midmorning panel consisted of a discussion on the merits, successes and opportunities of setting up an angel investor network. This included The European Business Angels Network (EBAN), and the Italian Business Angels Network (IBAN) as well as The London Business Angels. All stressed the need for increased legislation on the taxation or tax incentives for angel investments - which could in turn aid innovation and entrepeneurship. Only a handful of Turkish Angels were believed to be present in the room.
- Entrepreneurs - Since the Summit was preceded by a business plan workshop online and presentations to a panel of angels for evaluation, it is only natural to see some entrepreneurs in the audience. Apparently, 18 entrepreneurs were able to present, but no word on if any got funded.
- Innovation/Entrepreneur Consultants - A few European firms attended and sat on panels to discuss their particular methodology behind becoming innovative, how to present a business plan, and how to succeed at finding investors.
- Academicians - Of course, with ODTÜ organizing the event, there were quite a few academics in the audience asking poignant questions. The event was also organized with the help of International Relay Centers (IRC) Anatolia, TTGV, KOSGEB, and MetuTech.
- Turkish Finance Brokers - There were a few representatives of Turkish Brokerage firms in attendance. They were looking for both corporate venturing opportunities with entrepreneurs, or investors for their own funds. Perhaps they just wanted to hear about the current status of innovation, entrepreneurship, and news on the incubation/venture/private equity space. It is hit or miss whether they found what they were looking for.
- Government Representatives - The event was delayed as we waited for the arrival of the Secretary of the Ministry of Industry - Hilmi Guler, who then preceded to go on and on about the development of energy in Turkey and how it vaguely applies to increasing innovation and entrepreneurship. Perhaps showing the readiness for foreign investment in Turkey was the goal here. Needless to say, the entrepreneurs and guys in Turkey's garages present in the conference hall couldn't have cared less. TUBITAK spoke (in Turkish) about the number of patents and published works - much of what can be seen on their website. TTGV, frankly, gave a very enlightening presentation on TTGV's work and increased spending (despite their small budget). Mete Çakmacı of TTGV confirmed my supspicions when he stated, "{In Turkey} Entrepreneurs have naive expectations {about obtaining funds and the requirements of that investment}, they want a 'life-style' business."
 Notice anyone missing? Exactly. In all the sessions and panels, only one representative from an official Turkish venture capital firm was on a panel, and I have heard since the conference only a few were in attendance. Suleyman Yilmaz, CEO of Kobi A.Ş sat on the last panel. His firm comprises of 20 million YTL with the backing of TOBB, KOSGEB and various Chambers of Commerce from 15 cities.
In Mr. Yilmaz's presentation, he was fairly pessimistic regarding the current entrepreneurial environment. Some of his statistics were no different than any other VC. Of the 800 applications since the beginning of the fund, 3 investments were made. The translator mentioned that 400 of those applications/business plans were in very bad shape. Disappointingly, Mr. Yilmaz did not stick around for questions after the panel.
 Suprisingly, there were those at the conference who believed that only 2 or 3 venture firms existed in Turkey, which is definitely debateable. However, not suprisingly, the consensus of the presenters confirmed that on the demand side there is a lack of activity and an investment gap between the incubation stage and growth stages. This was summarized as a gap between €100K - €3/5 million. Anthony Clarke, Managing Director of GLE Growth Capital (as well as Chairman of British Business Angel Association (BBAA) and President of European Business Angels Network (EBAN)) stated, "There is not only an equity gap, but we have a management gap." For the investor, the supply side barriers are simply that management teams are just not good enough in most business plans and the variety of risks to invest in some countries are simply too great. Here's a link to Anthony Clarke's PPT "Angels and Angle Co-Investment Funds" via the Metutech website.
 Mr. Risto Kalske from Finland and Director of SITRA, The Finnish Innovation Fund, quite interestingly told the story of how Finland built a fund of funds to spur the venture capital market which in turn spurs the innovation of entrepreneurship. This in turn - worked - and it is only now, that Finland is starting to concentrate on Science and Technology Parks. This is exactly the opposite of what Turkey has done, and in my eyes confirms that the next great step for Turkey would be to establish this Fund of Funds. Here's the link to Mr. Risto Kalske's PPT "Public Measures: Encouragement for Private Capital?" courtesy of the IRC website
Overall, What Were the Results?
- European Angels gained a better perspective on Turkey. Unfortunately, Turkish Angels were not in attendance. A Turkish Business Angel Network has a domain registered but whether it has been formed is up to speculation (although there are 2 Angels from Turkey registered with EBAN). This is probably why Angel Network representatives did not hang around for the last session.
- 18 Entrepreneurs were able to improve their business plans and give their elevator pitches at the coffee breaks. (It would be interesting to learn if any of these entrepreneurs got funded - in the comments of this post.)
- For academics, METU learned what to do (or not to do) for next year. Perhaps there will now be a deeper focus on attendance, innovation building and closing the venture funding gap.
- As publisher of Grandstanding Traction, I received a number of topics and ideas on content to publish and improve this site. (To be continued...)
To conclude, upon speaking with a prominent Director of a Venture/Entrepreneurship consultancy, it was voiced that "At these types of conferences, you never know what kind of crowd is going to show up." Pardon the Forrest Gump analogy, but indeed, Entrepeneurs (and prospective fund managers) who were looking for investors - they most likely did not find them. For Business Angel Networks looking for Angels in Turkey to band together - they probably didn't find them. For academics looking for answers toward improving innovation and entrepeneurship - let's hope they found enlightenment. In addition, let's hope the government gets the follow-up memo.
Technorati Tags: Venture Capital, KOSGEB, ODTÜ, TUBITAK, TTGV, Turkey, entrepreneurship, Incubation, innovation, Funding Gap, incubator, VC, Angel Networks, Angel Investors, Business Planning, Conferences, MetutechLabels: Angel Investors, Business Planning, Conferences, Incubators, KOSGEB, MetuTech, ODTU, Trainings, TTGV, Venture Capital
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| ODTÜ-Teknokent and KOSGEB Hold "Entrepreneur-Investor Meeting": Training for Entrepreneurs |
| 23 September 2007 |
Middle East Technical University Metutech (ODTÜ-Teknokent) and KOSGEB (Small/Medium-size Industry Development Organization - see left sidebar) have teamed up and are holding an "Entrepreneur-Investor Meeting" in Istanbul. The Entrepreneur-Investor Meeting {Site Link} will take place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1st. A Forum will convene on Nov. 2nd to discuss, "Early-Stage Funding in Technology Start-Ups / Benchmarkings for Turkey".
For entrepreneurs of Turkey, this is exciting news, but you must hurry to register. The program includes an "Online Business Plan Preparation Training" between September 15, 2007 and October 15, 2007 where entrepreneurs are trained in the necessities of arranging their own business plan. Registration for this training will cost 450 YTL.
Then according to the website:
Technology entrepreneurs that successfully complete the training will present the business plans to be prepared by them to a team of experts in venture capital and business plan evaluation during the "Business Plan Review Board" activity to be held on October 31, 2007, where they will finalize their business plans by obtaining the opinions of experts as well.
During the "Entrepreneur-Investor Meeting", which will be organized on November 1, 2007, on the other hand, technology entrepreneurs will share their business plans with potential actual investors – business angels or venture capital companies. Our objective is to allow the minimum technology start-up to proceed on its way with new funding opportunities …
 Then on Nov. 2nd, the "Early-Stage Funding in Technology Start-Ups / Benchmarkings for Turkey" Forum will take place as an all-day event. This event is open to the first 200 registrations, and is only 30 YTL, so sign up today. The Forum panel looks to include many dignataries from TUBITAK, TTGV and various Angel Investment Networks from Europe. This shall be a very interesting forum to spectate as we well see some very professional opinions on the current state of incubation and Series A Round Venturing in Turkey with models coming from Europe.
For a long time, I have always stressed the idea of good business planning and its need for an educative place in the building of Turkey's innovation and entrepreneurship. In previous interviews with Turkish VCs, I am constantly amazed by the lack of knowledge in the business planning area from the entrepreneurs part. But now, with this Training and Forum, it looks like KOSGEB, TUBITAK, TTGV and ODTÜ are finally making some choices toward entrepreneur education. While not really a fan of what the government can do with its bureaucracy and many faceted organizations that take up the Turkish R&D space, it will be interesting to see their take on this forum moving forward.
Perhaps in the future, why is it that only the entrepreneurs who take the training are able to participate in the Business Plan Meetings with investors? Do entrepreneurs usually have 450 lira to pitch their ideas? I would also encourage atleast in the future a more open submission guideline, perhaps an extra day for outside submissions and evaluations by committee.
In addition, by the look of those attending on the forum, it looks like we will capture an interesting viewpoint by leaders in the Angel Investor space. Most curiously (and poignantly), none of these angel organizations are from Turkey. Yes, I realize, per my last post, that for Turkey's incubated companies getting out of the Science and Technoparks; they are having trouble finding financing and are being lost in a "VC funding gap". Continually we are seeing more and more incubation, and non-existant VC investment and/or higher VC investments, basically squeezing out the entrepreneurs looking for that Seed-Venture round. We will have to wait and see what our friends at KOSGEB, TTGV and TUBITAK feel about this issue.
Thanks again to my friends at Endeavor who passed this on to me.
Technorati Tags: Venture Capital, KOSGEB, ODTÜ, TUBITAK, TTGV, Turkey, entrepreneurship, Incubation, innovation, Funding Gap, incubator, VC, Angel Networks, Angel Investors, Business Planning, Conferences, MetutechLabels: Angel Investors, Business Planning, Conferences, Incubators, KOSGEB, MetuTech, ODTU, Trainings, TTGV, Venture Capital
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Publisher: Jon H. Black
