The inaugural edition of Entrepreneur’s Thursday was held on April 18, 2024, through a collaboration between Aposto and Paribu Ventures.
In partnership with Aposto, we have introduced Entrepreneur’s Thursday—a new event series tailored to the evolving needs of Türkiye’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The series targets startup founders exclusively, tackling shared challenges and prioritizing founder-to-founder communication as the core learning method through presentations, panels, and interactive discussions. Entrepreneur’s Thursday, which debuted on April 18, will be held bi-monthly, with each edition exploring a new theme.
Following the first event, we connected with each participant as fellow entrepreneurs and gathered their feedback firsthand. I’d like to share a few of the recurring challenges they brought up.
A common concern among startup founders was that many events fall short of providing substantial experience- and insight-sharing. What they’re looking for are formats that allow for deeper, more focused sharing of experience and insight. They recognize the value of founder-to-founder communication and are seeking an environment that fosters mutual learning and shared growth.
A prime example of the importance of founder-focused environments is Y Combinator—one of the world’s leading accelerator programs—credited with helping launch companies such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, DoorDash, and OpenSea. Y Combinator is built on the principle that the most valuable insights often come from founders learning directly from their peers. STATION F, one of the most prominent entrepreneurship programs in France and Europe, distinguishes itself with its ‘Founders Forum’ events—casual gatherings where founders openly share their experiences and insights.
In short, entrepreneurs are seeking spaces for rich peer-to-peer interaction—a need that goes beyond Türkiye and resonates across the global startup ecosystem. That’s because no one understands the challenges entrepreneurs face better than their peers—and the most effective solutions to their “unique” problems often come from those who’ve successfully navigated similar paths before. It’s fair to say that resilience plays a vital role in achieving long-term success. This is something all entrepreneurs can relate to. Simply sharing their journeys can be a powerful source of motivation for these individuals.
With Entrepreneur’s Thursday, our goal is to fill this gap in entrepreneurs’ lives over the medium to long term. Identifying or articulating a problem may seem straightforward—but the real challenge lies in effectively creating the space to address it by combining the right environment, expertise, curation, and moderation. By that measure, it’s fair to say that the inaugural event organized by Aposto and Paribu Ventures was a success. Still, much like a startup, we aim to grow and improve at every step of the journey. Our initial assumptions about Entrepreneur’s Thursday have, for the most part, proven accurate. We’re now committed to closing a gap that grows more evident with every event, aiming to make a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of founding partners.
For the first edition of Entrepreneur’s Thursday, we selected “Economy and Finance” as the central theme. As part of this theme, we featured in-depth presentations under two subtopics highly relevant to startup founders. Haluk Bürümcekçi, Founder at Bürümcekçi Araştırma & Advisory, shared his insights and analysis on the global economy and Türkiye’s first-quarter data. Meanwhile, Gökçen Müftüoğlu Çapa, Partner and Head of Financial Due Diligence Services at Forvis Mazars Istanbul, offered practical guidance on navigating the Series A due “diligence process” efficiently—highlighting how to optimize time and effort—along with valuable tips on financial management. In the final session of the day, we hosted a “founder-to-founder” conversation between Mehmet Ertan Uygun, CEO and Co-Founder at Getmobil, and Umutcan Savcı, Co-Founder and CFO at Aposto. The discussion covered topics including Getmobil’s latest investment round and international investors’ perspectives on Türkiye’s startup ecosystem.
For more in-depth coverage of Entrepreneur’s Thursday, see the April 29 issue of Aposto’s Pareto.
Bu içerik en son 12 May 2025 tarihinde güncellenmiştir.
