Founded by Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) for supporting entrepreneurship, the Commercialization Center of Istanbul (BTM) took five entrepreneurs to the Silicon Valley at USA as part of the ‘WinGlobal: Born Global Startups’ project. In addition to closely observing the ecosystem at the Silicon Valley, representatives of the five successful ventures toured the world-famous companies and seized the opportunity to become acquainted with the high-flyers.

For enhancing the global competitiveness and regional attractiveness of Istanbul’s economy, the Win Global: Born Global Startups project is launched by Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA). This project also aims to facilitate the globalization processes of the entrepreneurs as well as enabling their access to local and foreign business angels.

A FIVE-DAY PROGRAM

Entrepreneurs traveling with the BTM team visited the high-flying startups, the accelerator centers and angel networks. The team made a campus tour at their first stop, Google.

Their second stop was one of the most critical accelerator programs of the Silicon Valley, the Plug and Play. Ömer Alparslan, the Partnerships Manager at the Plug and Play evaluated the ideas of the BTM Entrepreneurs and advised them on certain areas.

Later, the team gathered with Onur Kardesler, one of the founding partners of Turkish ventures, Firefly that boomed and became quite famous. Mentioning his own story and their experiences in the US market, Kardesler mentioned the measures to be taken by the BTM entrepreneurs. The last stop of the first day was the Airbnb which became quite popular in Turkey in recent years.

PROTECTING THE BRAND

Within the scope of the Silicon Valley visit, BTM team toured the Stanford University and made a meeting on the investment processes in USA with the Eins Ventures and Band of Angels Member Hıdır Mag. Mag, one by one listened to the business ideas of the entrepreneurs and underlined the points considered by the US angels in ventures and entrepreneurs and gave advices.

The team then moved onto the Carr&Ferrell law firm and interviewed with senior lawyer Aylin Demirci there. Demirci presented the establishment, taxation, patenting and protection processes of the US companies. Demirci also shared detailed information on the US’ legal regulations on the establishment of companies which has been the issue the BTM entrepreneurs were most anxious to learn more about.

Cisco and more…

BTM entrepreneurs met Product Manager Aydın Bırık at Cisco and were informed on the process of change at the company. Later visiting one of the incubation centers at USA, The Vault, BTM entrepreneurs were informed on the details about the incubation and acceleration programs at USA and methods of application. Rohit Chhetri, the Community Manager of the Growth Circuit within The Vault evaluated the business ideas of the entrepreneurs. The team also listened to the adventure of Turkish enterprise Faselis’ launch to US market from the company’s CEO Aydın Sun.

Meeting the business angels

As part of their visit to the Silicon Valley, BTM entrepreneurs attended the Bootup Ventures Demo Day as well. Introducing their products, markets and global targets in a three-minute project presentation, the entrepreneurs expressed their need for assistance. Business angels asked entrepreneurs questions on project details and their investment requirements. During this different experience, the BTM entrepreneurs received precious feedback on the methods to advance their projects further.

WinGlobal’s new call period started

The second call period of the WinGlobal project enabling the entrepreneurs’ access to global markets drew heavy interest. 30 entrepreneurs selected out of approximately 400 candidates deserved the right to be WinGlobal’s entrepreneurs of the new period. These 30 startups accepted to the project will be included to a 16-week intensive program consisting of training, mentoring and investor matching. After these processes, the successful projects will be introduced to the investors at the BTM Stage Entrepreneur – Investor Meeting. Five entrepreneurs out of the latter group will be entitled to visit the Silicon Valley at USA.