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.
Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point, Blink and the TED Conference
27 September 2007
I first got turned on to Malcolm Gladwell by hearing his name among other VC Blogs. My first encounter was when I picked up his latest book: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Having read Blink first, I may have spoiled the effect of reading that book that he his most famous for: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Luckily, I was able to find a copy sitting next to Blink on the best seller rack.
I may be behind the times only finishing it now - it being first published in 2004. However, fret not, for it is still a prudent and powerful explanation of successful businesses, products and social networks in the world of Web 2.0 - beautiful in its simplicity.
For those who haven't read The Tipping Point, the idea is a comparison of the successes in business to the spread of a disease epidemic. Think of a common flu virus that hangs around going from person to person, remaining in equilibrium in its contagiousness. But then something happens - it reaches a tipping point where the equilibrium cannot be maintained - the flu spreads like wildfire - it tips. For example: have you ever considered "yawning"? How long after reading the word "yawning" and thinking about yawning - did you yawn? You may smile later. Malcolm Gladwell can explain why this is.
Applied to business, The Tipping Point helps explain exponential growth of ideas, products, trends and concepts, and will shape the way we look at social trends for years to come. For a great overview, see the Tipping Point Wiki, or else see the Tipping Point on Gladwell.com.
In addition, For a taste of Malcolm Gladwell live and in person, I urge you to watch this video of Malcolm at the TED Conference. It is long (18 min.), but it is well worth it (as are all TED videos). (You are able to expand the video to full screen in the lower right corner button.) In it he details the problem of a tomato sauce company, where the problem was not the sauce (as previously believed), but actually how many sauces the public desired.
I think Turkish producers and retailers could learn a few things from this lesson. You could say that Efes has been following this model lately, but in my opinion, all of those beers are just the same beer. Ulker and competitors Cadbury Schweppes and Kraft (Milka) in the chocolate space could be said to maximizing this concept as well. Any others?
Some Statistics from March: Grandstanding Traction gets some traction of its own.
06 April 2007
Since starting this blog in November, 2006, I have plodded forward not knowing where it would take me. Was there a need for an informational blog on Private Equity and Venture Capital in the emerging market of Turkey? I thought so. Should I expand on Europe, the Middle East and Africa? I didn't or won't know if I have the time. The real "Ah-Ha" came when AlarmClock:Euro posted about Grandstanding's exploits, and then the visitors started pouring in. One thing is for sure: the more I posted the more visitors started visiting. This should ring true for all content providers regardless. Having said that, I have tried my best to gather well-rounded material to give the clearest professional picture of events. In the future, I will do my upmost to report on fundings, dealflow, and exits. In addition, I am trying to make an extra effort toward providing a sector by sector analysis. Of course, having only two hands and 24 hours in a day is a hindrance, and therefore I beg your patience.
The following is a provided glimpse into the world of Grandstanding Traction's log files. It by no means is a complete picture. Recalling my datamining days, they are just a few "nuggets".
The mix of visitors hasn't suprised me so far. Moving forward, I expect the page views rate resulting from Turkey to diminish as more developed nations chime in.
This is simply a list of catalogued and categorized institutions for March where IP's were able to be resolved. So far, with no previous data to work with, I am not able to provide rank. It is simply too early. These lists are alphabetical, and only represent a chosen handful of total visitors, but provide an interesting outlook on what will be gleaned in the future.
I was able to provide a rank of search terms for the month of March. Of course the significance of TAV's IPO (posted here) and Murat Cavusoglu and Isak Antika's funding of Actera Partners (posted here) was in the limelight. Interest in Actera Partners has still not fallen off in April and will be updated later.
If you are interested in viewing more information regarding Grandstanding's logs, please contact me at turkvcanalyst@gmail.com.
Publisher: Jon H. Black TurkVCAnalyst: With 10 years experience working and studying in Turkey, an MS in Financial Economics, Jon H. Black is a published writer of multi-sector industries in oil & gas and banking & finance. In addition, he has offered due diligence services, dealflow sourcing and aiding private equity professionals entry into the Turkish market through entrepreneur and industry introductions.
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. Having read Blink first, I may have spoiled the effect of reading that book that he his most famous for: 
. Luckily, I was able to find a copy sitting next to Blink on the best seller rack.
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Publisher: Jon H. Black
