IXIR almost invested in GITTIGIDIYOR 11 Years ago!

The Internet company IXIR that I started in Turkey in 4Q1999 (funded by Dogus Holding and Garanti Bank (both in Turkey) had an incubator arm, OKYANUX through which we discovered GITTIGIDIYOR at idea stage in 2000 and decided internally to invest and incubate them.

However ensuing collapse of Turkish economy and the burst of the Internet bubble taking place in the same time in 2001, took Ixir out of business. I am happy that we could not invest in them, because with the closing of Ixir they will be hurt.

The reason I write this bit of memory here is that OKYANUX was probably the first “real” incubator in Turkey and some 12 years ago! And we were attracting and finding the best future entreps in the country whose products would rule later in the decade such as Gittigidiyor, whose was acquired by eBay in 2011 for a nice sum.

The images shows the summary presentation that I gave to Ixir Brd of Dir (members from Dogus Holding and Garanti Bank) and telling them which ideas (and entreps) we selected to invest and incubate (Gittigidiyor was one of the three at that meeting) and asking their blessing. All my brd members gave us thumbs up that day.

4 Kasim 1999 -20. yuz yilda da Turk Internetinin En Buyuk Ani! (Nov 4, 1999 - The Biggest Moment In Internet in Turkey in the 20th Century)

Turk Internetinin Tek Bir Hamlede En Buyuk Kalemin Atildigi Ana Goruyorsunuz Bu Resimlerde. (These images captures the single biggest moment in Turkish Internet in 20th century)

Ixir de Turk Telekom Liasonumuz Arkadasimiz Alaettin 300,000 hat icin $4,000,000 Deposito Ceki ile Turk Telekom Dogru Yola Cikmadan Once Muhasebe Mudurumuz Ender ve Genel Md Yrd Cengiz den Ankara yerine yanlislikla Hawai ucagina binerse basina neler gelecegini dinlemekte. (Ixir ISP is writing a $4 million deposit check for 300,000 lines)

2000 yilin Mayis ayinda ayrica ilave $7 Milyon daha koyarak, $11,000,000 lik TC Internet tarihinin en buyuk Internet erisim hatti yatirimini yaptik, ki 2,000,000 abonemiz mesgul diye bir sey bilmesin. (by May 2000 Ixir had made a total of $11,000,000 investment for 300,000 active lines to provide an Internet access service without busy signal to 2,000,000 paying subs)

Ixir Efsanesini Facebook dan daha detayi ile ogrenebilirsiniz

IXIR - Farkli olmaktan ve Buyuk dusunmekten korkmayanlarin efsanesi

12 yil once bu ay, Subat 2000, Ixir hizmete gecer, Turk Internetin en hizli buyuyen sirketi olur, tam bir yil tum Turkiye onu konusur, tartisir, kullanir.

Kurulusu Eylul 1999, hizmete acilisi Subat 2000 - Sifirdan 300+ kisilik bir takim kurup, 6 ayda yoktan bir ISP, bir duzine portal, binlerce dagitim noktasi, Turkiyenin en iyi musteri hizmeti kurup acarak hala dunyanin en hizli kurulup acilan ve buyuyeyen (buyume hizi yuzdesi) Internet firmalari arasinda.

Buyuk rakiplerinden 3-5 yil geriden baslayan, ve tum Turkiyenin IMAGINATION inin yakalayan Ixir, sadece Turk Internetcilerine degil ama tum Turk girisimcilerine FARKLI OLMAKTAN ve COK BUYUK DUSUNMEKTEN korkmamayi ve bunlari rekabetci guce cevirmeyo ogretti.

100,000 hatla acilan Ixir Ersim hizmeti, acildigi gun rakiplerinin hepsinin hat toplamindan daha fazla hatti vardi (ve bir yilda 300,000 cikti); rakiplerinin bir veya iki abonelik plani varken Ixir 6 planla geldi; rakiplerin hepsionin toplaminda daha fazla noktada Ixir paketleri satildi (cunku kutulari mionacik yapip raf yerine checkout noktalarinda kasalarin yanina geldik); Turk Internet icerigi gazete, dergi, TV icin yapilmis icerigin webe tasinmasi seklinde giderken bir duzine markali vertical portalda (Chivi, Chilek, Nakhita, Sosyatix, Yepnew, Champion, Zakkin, NtvMsnbc, vs vs) sadece web de tuketilmek icin icerik yaptik.

En yavas gununde 1800 yeni abone kayit ederek, 13 ay surekli buyuduk. AOL ile satin alinma gorusmelerinin ortasinda 2001 basindaki es zamanli ama bir birinden bagimsiz cifte krize (ABD de Internet sektorunun cokusu, Turkiyede ekonominin cokusu) yenik dustu.

Bir yil once veya iki yil sonra baslamis olsa idi, bugun Almanya ile Hindistan arasindaki en buyuk Internet grubu olurdu Ixir (kisisel gorusum), sermayedari Dogus Holding i Turkiyenin ve bolgenin en buyuk Internet ve Web oyuncusu yaparak.

Ixir den bana kalan Turkiyenin en yetenkli ve konularinda “rock star” olan 300+ arkadisim ile omuz omuza cok buyuk bir hedefe inanarak 100m sprinter hizinda kosmanin hazzi ve anilari; ve Turkiyede cicegi burnunda genc girisimcilere farkli olma ve buyuk dusunme den korkmamayi birazda olsa asilayabilmis olmaktir.

Ixir ailesini olan tum mesai arkadaslarimi (ve eslerini), Ferit beyi, yatiricimiz Garanti Bankasi ve Dogus Holdingi, urunlerimizi satan tum bayilerimiz, hizmet aldigimiz tum tedarikcilerimizi, bir yandan rakibimiz olsada bize 300,000 hatti vermek icin kollari elinden gelen butun hizla sivayan Turk Telekomu, ve o tarihte rakibim olan firmalarin basindaki arkadaslarimi ve ekiplerini, Ixir in 12 yil once bu ay hizmete girdigi Subatta, Ixir Efsanesininin adina bir kadeh kaldirmaya davet ediyorum.

Silicon Vadisiden sonsuz sevgiler, babur

Today, my team and I may have advanced humanity a bit further! SENSEnews, the AnticipatingFuture-as-a-Service (AFaaS) delivered in charts, has shown that it can anticipate the performances of Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq indices fairly accurately. Earlier this year, we started to train SENSEnews algorithms on these three indices and after a month or so calibrating and fine tuning, we unleashed SENSEnews on March 1^st to anticipate the future movements (blue lines on these three charts) of DJI, S&P and Nasdaq. We let SENSEnews run for 6-months and today we ANNOUCED the results which you can see on these charts. SENSEnews is telling that the other color lines will match the curve and even the value of the blue color anticipation/prediction (and they do). Those of you follow my work at SENSEnews know that what makes this an advancement is the very fact that SENSEnews take in as input nothing but news that is available on public Internet and Social Media from tens of thousands of sources, and churches it as if millions of analysts work behind its scenes without using a single bit of fundamental analysis or technical analysis!