mustafa degerli – 2016 - start-up companies investigation - technology entrepreneurship and lean...

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LEAN STARTUPS

Mustafa Değerli

2016

Mustafa Değerli – Start-up Companies Investigation Page 1 of 30

Table of Contents

1. Found Start-up Companies in the IT Sector .................................................................... 3

1.1. Around the World ......................................................................................................... 3

1.1.1. #1 - MODIFACE ....................................................................................................... 3

1.1.2. #2 - Slack ................................................................................................................... 4

1.1.3. #3 - The League ......................................................................................................... 5

1.1.4. #4 - Spotify ................................................................................................................ 6

1.1.5. #5 - Kaltura ................................................................................................................ 7

1.1.6. #6 - Coursera ............................................................................................................. 8

1.1.7. #7 - Grooveshark ....................................................................................................... 9

1.1.8. #8 - Gowalla ............................................................................................................ 10

1.1.9. #9 - Pay By Touch ................................................................................................... 11

1.2. From Turkey ............................................................................................................... 12

1.2.1. #10 - Armut ............................................................................................................. 12

1.2.2. #11 - Düğün ............................................................................................................. 13

1.2.3. #12 - Trendyol ......................................................................................................... 14

1.2.4. #13 - BiTaksi ........................................................................................................... 15

1.2.5. #14 - Pabbuc ............................................................................................................ 16

1.2.6. #15 - TazeDirekt ...................................................................................................... 17


2. Detailed Information/Analysis about Companies ......................................................... 18

2.1. Around the World ....................................................................................................... 18

2.1.1. #1 - MODIFACE ..................................................................................................... 18

2.1.2. #2 - Coursera ........................................................................................................... 20

2.1.3. #3 - Grooveshark ..................................................................................................... 22

2.2. From Turkey ............................................................................................................... 24

2.2.1. #4 - Armut ............................................................................................................... 24

2.2.2. #5 - Trendyol ........................................................................................................... 26

2.2.3. #6 - TazeDirekt ........................................................................................................ 28

3. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 30


1. Found Start-up Companies in the IT Sector

1.1. Around the World

1.1.1. #1 - MODIFACE

Name MODIFACE

URL http://modiface.com/

Brief Info ModiFace Mirror

It is an augmented reality application specifically designed

for trying on make-up. Furthermore, the application is used

by dermatologists and plastic surgeons to show patients

what they will look like after a face-lift or other treatments.

Category Successful

Justification for Category

& Important Parameters

It is reported that ModiFace’s virtual makeup mirror is

improving sales by 31% as customers are more confident

that they’ll love what they’re buying.

The platform provided by the company provides a first-year

jump of as much as 84% in online sales.

The company’s annual revenue of 2015 is approximately

US $10 million.

The company is in the list of fastest growing of 500/5000

companies.

The company is SAMSUNG challenge winner.

The company is in the list of Profit Hot 50’s fastest growing

companies.

The company has been profitable from the time when it

started.

References(s) https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/19/facial-precognition/

http://theinstitute.ieee.org/career-and-

education/startups/modiface-is-transforming-the-beauty-

industry-with-augmented-reality


1.1.2. #2 - Slack

Name Slack

URL https://slack.com

Brief Info Slack

Slack is an acronym for Searchable Log of All Conversation

and Knowledge.

It is a cloud-based team collaboration tool.

Slack provides persistent chat rooms (channels) organized

by topic, besides private groups and direct messaging.

All content inside Slack is searchable, including files,

conversations, and people.

Slack integrates with a large number of third-party services

and supports community-built integrations.

Category Successful



More than 750,000 people use Slack daily.

Slack has more than 200,000 paid seats.

Slack attained $2.8 billion valuation owing to $160 million

funding from Social Capital and other venture capital firms.

In April 2016, the Slack raised an additional $200 million

of funding.

References(s) http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/16/slack-confirms-160m-

funding-round-at-2-8b-valuation/

http://fortune.com/2015/04/16/why-slack-just-raised-160-

million-at-a-2-8-billion-valuation/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slack_(software)


1.1.3. #3 - The League

Name The League

URL http://www.theleague.com/

Brief Info It is a discriminating dating application intended for

exclusive, successful individuals.

The League scans the social networks to ensure applicants

are in the right age group and that they are career-oriented.

The League is there to match up highly motivated and

interesting single professionals.

The League users mostly have advanced degrees.

The system has following differentiations: No Voyeurs, No

Random, No Games, No Fakes, No Noise, No Shame

The League is as fun and frictionless as Tinder, but with the

privacy controls, context and class that people want in a

dating application.

Category Successful (Fairly)



$2.1 million funding from Jon Vlassopulos, IDG Ventures

USA, Roman Feola, Naomi Gleit, Cowboy Ventures,

XSeed Capital, Peter Kelly, Russ Siegelman, Mark Leslie,

Allen DeBevoise, SherpaVentures, Structure Capital.

There are currently 100,000 people on the waitlist.

References(s) http://www.businessinsider.com/best-startups-that-

launched-so-far-in-2015-2015-5?op=1/#e-league-is-a-

dating-app-for-the-elite-3

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-league-raises-21-

million-2015-1

https://angel.co/the-league-date-intelligently

https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/28/the-league-launches-a-

rebuilt-event-centric-dating-app/

http://www.metro.us/lifestyle/the-league-vs-sparkology-

we-review-elite-online-dating-services/zsJohg---

NTj8P5O20GH6I/


1.1.4. #4 - Spotify

Name Spotify

URL https://www.spotify.com

Brief Info It is a Swedish music, podcast, and video streaming service

solution.

Spotify provides digital rights management, secure and

legal content from record labels and media companies.

With Spotify, music can be browsed or searched by artist,

album, genre, playlist, and record label.

The actual lack of sophisticated functionality has actually

proven to be an asset for Spotify for success as people

mostly love simplicity.

Category Successful



As of August 2016, Spotify had more than 100 million

active users and about half a billion registered users.

As of September 2016, Spotify has 40 million paying

subscribers worldwide, up from 30 million paying

subscribers in March 2016.

In 2011, Spotify had closed $100m in funding.

In early 2015, Spotify was valued at more than $5 billion.

Investments in the growth of the Spotify have been $1/2

billion in seven rounds of funding from 17 investors.

References(s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify

http://thenextweb.com/eu/2011/07/14/spotify-the-story-so-

far/

https://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/

spotify-why-it%E2%80%99s-been-so-successful-and-

what-it-needs-to-do-next/

http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-

strategy/online-business-revenue-models/spotify-case-

study/


1.1.5. #5 - Kaltura

Name Kaltura

URL http://corp.kaltura.com/

Brief Info Kaltura is an open-source video platform designed for

handling, publishing and dispensing video content.

Kaltura targets and caters to several slots: Enterprise,

education and media.

Kaltura levers the various particulars comprising the use of

video online. These are copyright, information control,

quality assurance, analytics system, moderation systems,

and etc.

Category Successful



Kaltura is being used by 300,000 enterprises, education and

media organizations, including Groupon, Bank of America,

Harvard, and HBO.

Kaltura raised $25 million.

Kaltura selected a few key niches and mastered them, and

this resulted in success.

Kaltura got $165.1M in 6 rounds from 14 investors.

Kaltura has 1,000 paying corporate and educational

customers whose video content is seen by an average of 700

million people a month.

References(s) http://www.inc.com/dave-kerpen/10-wildly-successful-

startups-and-lessons-to-learn-from-them.html

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/kaltura#/entity

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-

1.735734

http://www.geektime.com/2016/08/08/goldman-sachs-

brings-the-muscle-with-50-million-investment-in-israels-

kaltura/

http://nocamels.com/2016/08/kaltura-video-raises-50-

million/


1.1.6. #6 - Coursera

Name Coursera

URL https://coursera.org/

Brief Info Coursera delivers worldwide access to the world’s best

courses.

Coursera partners with top universities and organizations to

offer courses online.

Coursera is a venture-backed, for-profit, educational

technology company that offers massive open online

courses (MOOCs).

Coursera works with universities and other organizations to

make some of their courses available online.

Category Successful



As of January 2016, Coursera offers 1,563 courses from 140

partners across 28 countries.

Coursera serves 16 million online learners.

Coursera has recently raised another $49.5 million in

venture funding.

Coursera have a valuation of roughly $500 million.

References(s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera

https://techcrunch.com/2013/01/31/coursera-wins-best-

new-startup-of-2012-get-schooled/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders

/2015/08/25/courseras-online-teaching-attracts-49-5-

million-with-an-india-twist/#6a0b9cb64a4a


1.1.7. #7 - Grooveshark

Name Grooveshark

URL None available for Grooveshark.

Brief Info Grooveshark was a web-based music streaming service

owned and operated by Escape Media Group in the United

States.

Users were able to upload digital audio files, which could

then be streamed and organized in playlists.

The Grooveshark website had a search engine, music

streaming features, and a music recommendation system.

On April 30, 2015, Grooveshark shut down as part of a

settlement between the service and Universal Music Group,

Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

Category Unsuccessful



Caused by copyright concerns and pressure from record

labels, many third party companies avoided themselves

from Grooveshark.

Grooveshark failed to secure licenses from rights holders

for the vast amount of music on the service.

Apple pulled the Grooveshark app for iOS from App Store

on August 16, 2010, and on April 1, 2011, the Grooveshark

application was pulled from the Android Market.

In May 2012, Facebook removed Grooveshark due to a

copyright infringement complaint and at the end of April

2013 Google Search started censoring “grooveshark” term

from its autocomplete feature.

Grooveshark could have been legally responsible for

hundreds of millions of dollars in reimbursements.

References(s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grooveshark

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/30/8526105/

grooveshark-shuts-down-settles-with-labels


1.1.8. #8 - Gowalla

Name Gowalla

URL None available for Gowalla.

Brief Info Gowalla was a location-based social network started in

2007 and closed in 2012.

Users were able to check in at places in their local vicinity,

either through a dedicated mobile application or through the

mobile website.

Gamification was included in the platform.

At the start of December 2009 it was reported that Gowalla

had raised $8.4 million in a round of venture capital funding

led by Greylock Partners and angel investors Chris Sacca,

Kevin Rose and Jason Calacanis.

It was acquired by Facebook on December 2, 2011.




Foursquare took the attention.

Checking in was not user friendly and it made things

difficult.

The company was a mobile web app before smartphone

technology was advanced enough to create a positive user

experience.

Based out of Austin, Texas, the platform just couldn’t gain

the critical urban mass that powers the early growth of a

mobile social app.

It didn’t offer a simple process of check-ins and rewards,

and offered too many things at one go.

References(s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gowalla

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235028

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-gowalla-shut-

shop-and-how-facebook-profits-from-its-

acquisition/38635/


1.1.9. #9 - Pay By Touch

Name Pay By Touch

URL None available for Pay By Touch.

Brief Info Pay By Touch empowered consumers to pay for products

with a swipe of their finger on a biometric sensor.

Pay By Touch combined two technologies: Biometric

recognition and electronic financial transactions.

Pay By Touch allowed secure access to checking, credit

card, loyalty, healthcare, and other personal information.

In March, 2008, without notifying its customers, Pay By

Touch shut down and is no longer in process.




Much of the company’s time was spent on improving the

biometric authentication at in-store hardware, software

level, and the hosted software level to avoid

misidentification of a consumer as someone else.

False Rejects of the system which undermined the

consumers’ confidence in the system.

In 2007, Pay By Touch lost $137 million on $600,000 in

revenues.

During the company's most successful years, CEO John P.

Rogers was accused of domestic abuse, drug possession,

and taking company money for his own use.

References(s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_By_Touch

https://letstalkpayments.com/failure-story-what-happened-

to-pay-by-touch/

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/How-visionary-raised-

and-lost-a-fortune-3181454.php

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/07/10-

startups-that-failed-but-should-have-succeeded/dr-koop


1.2. From Turkey

1.2.1. #10 - Armut

Name Armut

URL http://armut.com/

Brief Info An online platform to get bids regarding customer needs.

People do write down their needs and expectations and they

get offers from relevant professionals to satisfy their needs.

With the help of the system, customers get offers, historic

information and comments from relevant professionals.

It is free for consumers.

Armut offers many services like transport, cleaning,

photography, and business card printing.

Customer fills out a form and receives a quotation, and upon

agreement to the quotation, the company provides the

services required.

Category Successful



The company achieved 400% growth in the year of 2014.

Armut was listed in the top 100 start-up category of Turkey

in 2016.

Armful’s corresponding technology is moderately

advanced, qualifying nearly 95% customer satisfaction.

Armut got $3,200,000 from Hummingbird Ventures in

2016 and $1,000,000 in 2014.

References(s) http://listelist.com/turk-start-up-sirketler/

http://www.teknoparkmedya.com/en-basarili-100-startup-

aciklandi.html

https://angel.co/armut/activity

https://startupxplore.com/en/startups/armut


1.2.2. #11 - Düğün

Name Düğün

URL http://dugun.com/

Brief Info Dugun.com is a wedding planning platform, providing a

smooth end-to-end wedding preparation experience.

Dugun.com is an operator of an online wedding planning

platform.

The company provides wedding planning services to

couples through their online platform.

Category Successful



The system works for over 200,000 prospective couples

each year.

Dugun.com raised $2M from Aslanoba Capital in 2013.

The online platform is visited by nearly 40,000 people daily.

Dugun.com collaborates with more than 5000 other

companies.

References(s) http://www.aslanobacapital.com/companies/

https://pitchbook.com/profiles/dugun-com-profile-

investors-funding-valuation-and-analysis

http://www.startupdergi.com/kose-yazarlari/sedef-seckin-

buyuk/evlenmek-icin-dondu-dugun-comu-kurdu.html

http://www.isfikirleri-girisimcilik.com/dugun-com-ile-

dugun-sektorune-yonelik-girisimcilik


1.2.3. #12 - Trendyol

Name Trendyol

URL https://www.trendyol.com/

Brief Info Trendyol is a fashion e-tailer.

Trendyol.com is the online fashion destination in Turkey,

offering over 2000 brands to over 10 million customers.

Category Successful



Trendyol raised € 2,220,000 in 2010; $ 9,080,000 from

Tiger Global in 2010; and $ 25,000,000 from Kleiner

Perkins Caufield Byers and Tiger Global.

Trendyol’s annual run rate is $350 million.

The company has served more than 12 million customers

across Turkey.

70% of all women in Turkey who shop online have shopped

on Trendyol.

Trendyol has over 10 million members.

References(s) http://www.startupranking.com/startup/trendyol/funding-

rounds

http://www.haberturk.com/general/haber/1250944-

trendyol-hits-new-record-to-ship-20-million-items-

annually

https://www.everipedia.com/Trendyol_group/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trendyol_group


1.2.4. #13 - BiTaksi

Name BiTaksi

URL http://www.bitaksi.com/

Brief Info BiTaksi enables people to request a taxi from their

smartphone.

BiTaksi is a mobile taxi network, offering a secure platform

to connect passengers with the nearest available taxi.

Category Successful



Leader in Turkey regarding the relevant category.

BiTaksi raised $2,000,000 from Aslanoba Capital.

Selected as the most successful start-up in 2016 in Turkey.

References(s) http://webrazzi.com/2013/03/07/bitaksi

http://www.aslanobacapital.com/companies/

http://www.borsamatik.com.tr/haber-detay/en-basarili-

startup-bitaksi/66806/


1.2.5. #14 - Pabbuc

Name Pabbuc

URL None available for Pabbuc.

Brief Info Pabbuc was an online shoe, bags, and accessories shopping

service.

The company stopped sales operations as of 30 November

2012 for an indefinite time.




The company was closed mostly due to disagreements

among shareholders/managers.

Unless the shareholders/managers share the same or similar

visions regarding the startup, the business becomes

unmanageable as it happened for the Pabbuc.

After Gittigidiyor invested on the Pabbuc, there has been a

split of vision between partners, and partners have decided

to go different ways.

References(s) http://www.turkishtimedergi.com/dijital-girisim/50-

basarisiz-startup-ve-hatalarindan-cikarilacak-50-ders-1-15/

http://www.etohum.com/tr/startup/1154/pabbuc-com

http://en.webrazzi.com/2012/11/30/pabbuc-com-closed-

down/


1.2.6. #15 - TazeDirekt

Name TazeDirekt

URL http://www.tazedirekt.com/

Brief Info TazeDirekt was the food and delivery business.

TazeDirekt was more than just e-commerce but many of the

products it sold were its own products.

TazeDirekt was an online grocery business whose focus

was to deliver fresh, organic, and regional products of the

highest quality that people hardly find at other grocery

stores.




Taze Direkt was not be able to manage cost overruns that

developed worse each day.

Budgeted lost for the starting phase for Taze Direkt was

extremely lower than the one occurred in reality.

e-commerce regarding the foods requires more expenses

when compared to other ones which are less risky.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and

practice; but in practice there is. While doing business,

unforeseen and some sort of environmental situations make

it a must the terminate the business as it was happened for

TazeDirekt.

Insufficient managers led to the bad management of the

company.

Distribution cost were dramatically higher than the ones

estimated.

References(s) http://webrazzi.com/2016/03/02/hasan-aslanoba-

tazedirekti-neden-kapattigini-anlatti/

http://www.turkishtimedergi.com/dijital-girisim/50-

basarisiz-startup-ve-hatalarindan-cikarilacak-50-ders/

http://shiftdelete.net/tazedirekt-neden-kapandi-69101

http://www.aslanobagroup.com/markalar/taze-direkt/


2. Detailed Information/Analysis about Companies

2.1. Around the World

2.1.1. #1 - MODIFACE

Name MODIFACE

Category Successful

Profile ModiFace technology is the basis of the leading patent

portfolio on skin analysis and facial visualization, and

powers over 150 web and mobile apps which have been

downloaded nearly 60 million times.

It is reported that ModiFace’s virtual makeup mirror is

improving sales by 31% as customers are more confident

that they’ll love what they’re buying.

The platform provided by the company provides a first-year

jump of as much as 84% in online sales.

The company is in the list of fastest growing of 500/5000

companies.

The company is SAMSUNG challenge winner.

The company is in the list of Profit Hot 50’s fastest growing

companies.

History and Important

Mile-stones

ModiFace’s story started in 1999 at Stanford University,

where the initial research on automatic face analysis began.

This work continued at the University of Toronto from 2001

to 2006, including the development of signal processing

algorithms that won a world-wide innovation prize from

MIT.

In 2006, ModiFace Inc. was born.

In 2012, the company got $3.80M funding.

Mission & Vision Not available on the web.


Business or Product ModiFace Mirror - It is an augmented reality application

specifically designed for trying on make-up. Furthermore,

the application is used by dermatologists and plastic

surgeons to show patients what they will look like after a

face-lift or other treatments.

ModiFace is provider of a virtual makeover application.

The company offers an image editing application using

which users can edit their images to get a virtual makeover.

Financial Structure The company’s annual revenue of 2015 is approximately

US $10 million.

The company has been profitable from the time when it

started.

Target Customer Targets especially women around the world as end-users.

Additionally, the company targets organizations that can

enrich their businesses with skin analysis and facial

visualization with ModiFace integration.

References(s) https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/19/facial-precognition/

http://theinstitute.ieee.org/career-and-

education/startups/modiface-is-transforming-the-beauty-

industry-with-augmented-reality

https://pitchbook.com/profiles/modiface-profile-investors-

funding-valuation-and-analysis


2.1.2. #2 - Coursera

Name Coursera

Category Successful

Profile Coursera serves 16 million online learners.

On Coursera, anyone, anywhere can access over 1,000

online courses and specializations in dozens of fields in

order to achieve meaningful career, educational, and

personal enrichment goals throughout their lives.

Coursera partners with top universities and organizations to

offer courses online.

Coursera is a venture-backed, for-profit, educational

technology company that offers massive open online

courses (MOOCs).

Coursera works with universities and other organizations to

make some of their courses available online.


Mile-stones

Founded in 2012.

As of January 2016, Coursera offers 1,563 courses from 140

partners across 28 countries.

Coursera has recently (2015) raised another $49.5 million

in venture funding.

Mission & Vision Mission is providing universal access to the world’s best

education.

Vision is not available on the web.

Business or Product Coursera delivers worldwide access to the world’s best

courses.

Offers massive open online courses (MOOCs).


Financial Structure Coursera have a valuation of roughly $500 million.

Coursera has recently (2015) raised another $49.5 million

in venture funding.

Coursera got following funds till 2016:

Oct, 2015 $11.6M

Aug, 2015 $49.5M

Nov, 2013 $20M

Jul, 2013 $43M

Jul, 2012 $6M

Apr, 2012 $16M

Target Customer Anyone interested in learning something available on the

Coursera.

References(s) https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/coursera#/entity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera

https://techcrunch.com/2013/01/31/coursera-wins-best-

new-startup-of-2012-get-schooled/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders

/2015/08/25/courseras-online-teaching-attracts-49-5-

million-with-an-india-twist/#6a0b9cb64a4a


2.1.3. #3 - Grooveshark

Name Grooveshark


Profile Grooveshark was a web-based music streaming service


States.


Mile-stones

On April 30, 2015, Grooveshark shut down as part of a

settlement between the service and Universal Music Group,

Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

Apple pulled the Grooveshark app for iOS from App Store

on August 16, 2010, and on April 1, 2011, the Grooveshark

application was pulled from the Android Market.

In May 2012, Facebook removed Grooveshark due to a

copyright infringement complaint and at the end of April

2013 Google Search started censoring “grooveshark” term

from its autocomplete feature.

Grooveshark could have been legally responsible for

hundreds of millions of dollars in reimbursements.


Business or Product Grooveshark was a web-based music streaming service


States.

Users were able to upload digital audio files, which could

then be streamed and organized in playlists.

The Grooveshark website had a search engine, music

streaming features, and a music recommendation system.

Financial Structure Grooveshark got following funds till closing:

Nov, 2010 $110.6k

Apr, 2010 $3.44M

Jan, 2007 $1M


Target Customer Anyone around the world interested in contributing and

enjoying the content.

Why Failed and What

Could Have Been Done to

Make Success

Caused by copyright concerns and pressure from record

labels, many third party companies avoided themselves

from Grooveshark.

Grooveshark failed to secure licenses from rights holders

for the vast amount of music on the service.

Proactive measures could be taken to prevent copyright

issues.

The company could consistently monitor the uploads and

prevent the cases which resulted in the damages.

The company could talk to related bodies to smoothly

resolve the issues which will result in win-win situation for

all parties.

The company should have agreements with the users to

make them responsible for the uploaded content.

References(s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grooveshark

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/30/8526105/

grooveshark-shuts-down-settles-with-labels

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/

grooveshark#/entity


2.2. From Turkey

2.2.1. #4 - Armut

Name Armut

Category Successful

Profile An online platform to get bids regarding customer needs.

People do write down their needs and expectations and they

get offers from relevant professionals to satisfy their needs.

With the help of the system, customers get offers, historic

information and comments from relevant professionals.


Mile-stones

The company was founded in 2011.

The company achieved 400% growth in the year of 2014.

Armut was listed in the top 100 start-up category of Turkey

in 2016.

Armful’s corresponding technology is moderately

advanced, qualifying nearly 95% customer satisfaction.


2016 and $1,000,000 in 2014.


Business or Product It is free for consumers.

Armut offers many services like transport, cleaning,

photography, and business card printing.

Customer fills out a form and receives a quotation, and upon

agreement to the quotation, the company provides the

services required.

Financial Structure The company achieved 400% growth in the year of 2014.


2016 and $1,000,000 in 2014.

Target Customer Anyone in Turkey who needs services in transport,

cleaning, photography, and business card printing.


References(s) http://listelist.com/turk-start-up-sirketler/

http://www.teknoparkmedya.com/en-basarili-100-startup-

aciklandi.html

https://angel.co/armut/activity

https://startupxplore.com/en/startups/armut


2.2.2. #5 - Trendyol

Name Trendyol

Category Successful

Profile Trendyol is a fashion e-tailer.




across Turkey.


on Trendyol.



Mile-stones

Trendyol raised € 2,220,000 in 2010;

$ 9,080,000 from Tiger Global in 2010;

and $ 25,000,000 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and

Tiger Global.


Business or Product Trendyol is a fashion e-tailer.



Financial Structure Trendyol’s annual run rate is $350 million.


across Turkey.


on Trendyol.


Target Customer Anyone (especially women) who want to shop online in

Turkey.


References(s) http://www.startupranking.com/startup/trendyol/funding-

rounds

http://www.haberturk.com/general/haber/1250944-

trendyol-hits-new-record-to-ship-20-million-items-

annually

https://www.everipedia.com/Trendyol_group/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trendyol_group


2.2.3. #6 - TazeDirekt

Name TazeDirekt


Profile TazeDirekt was an online grocery business whose focus

was to deliver fresh, organic, and regional products of the

highest quality that people hardly find at other grocery

stores.


Mile-stones

Started in 2014.

Lasted in 2016.


Business or Product TazeDirekt was the food and delivery business.

TazeDirekt was more than just e-commerce but many of the

products it sold were its own products.

Financial Structure Taze Direkt was not be able to manage cost overruns that





estimated.

Target Customer Anyone in Istanbul and Ankara (Turkey) interested in

buying fresh, organic, and regional products of the highest

quality that people hardly find at other grocery stores.


Why Failed and What

Could Have Been Done to

Make Success

Taze Direkt was not be able to manage cost overruns that




e-commerce regarding the foods requires more expenses

when compared to other ones which are less risky.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and

practice; but in practice there is. While doing business,

unforeseen and some sort of environmental situations make

it a must the terminate the business as it was happened for

TazeDirekt.

Insufficient managers led to the bad management of the

company.


estimated.

I would prefer to invest with more manageable amounts

instead of giant amounts.

I would collaborate with major actors in the field like

Migros and Carrefour to benefit from them and share the

risk with them.

I would outsource the distribution service as it was too

costly for TazeDirekt at the beginning stages.

I would work with more proficient managers who have

proven skills in the foods and e-commerce industry.

References(s) http://webrazzi.com/2016/03/02/hasan-aslanoba-

tazedirekti-neden-kapattigini-anlatti/

http://www.turkishtimedergi.com/dijital-girisim/50-

basarisiz-startup-ve-hatalarindan-cikarilacak-50-ders/

http://shiftdelete.net/tazedirekt-neden-kapandi-69101

http://www.aslanobagroup.com/markalar/taze-direkt/


3. Conclusion

In addition to the points they I highlighted in previous parts, I want to underline following

points for this paper.

On the topic of start-ups in Turkey, there are too scarce information available on the

Internet. This leads to that it is too hard to draw a conclusion regarding the

performances of start-ups in Turkey. There shall be an open database to share and

disseminate information regarding the performances of start-ups.

Knowing the customers and their needs/expectations is very invaluable for success

regarding any start-ups.

There are always risks associated with start-up initiatives, but some of the

organizations transform relevant risks into opportunities instead of treating them as

threats.

Although there are more and more initiatives lately, when compared to developed

countries, Turkey’s start-ups are remarkably lesser in numbers, sizes, and gains.

Political, environmental, technological, social, and economic realities truly matter

for start-ups, and all these shall be taken into account during the whole process form

ideation to exit.