Presentation of Bora Kızıl at Startup Istanbul 2016, 6-10 October, Istanbul, Turkey

2. Why Startups should stop focusing
only on growth?

3. You have 1% of chance to make 10 B$ and
100% of chance to make 10 M$. Which one
you choose ?

4. Me
Serial – Entrepreneur
Rocket Internet
Angel Labs
Ezako.com
Swimmer
Chess player

6. 50% of new companies will fail in the first 5
years!
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

7. 75% venture-backed firms fail in the first 5
years!
(Harvard University study done by Shikhar Ghosh)

9. 95% venture-backed firms fail to ever return
initial investments!
(Shikhar Ghosh)

10. It’s all about making your investors happy.

11. Ultra fast growth can be dangerous

12. Growth = traction = market validation

14. Quirky
Launched in 2009
Invention platform
Raised $185M
The startup ran out of money and filed for
bankruptcy

16. Steve Jobs
Apple board ousted Steve Jobs in 1985 from
the company he had created

17. VC funding is one path.

18. 300 US startups get access to VC money per
year.
736 startup acquisitions in 2015 in the US.

19. Loosing love money hurts more than VC
money.

20. Get smart, be inventive, automate!

21. EZAKO
2 years old
Clients in 5 countries
10 people company
Paid dividends last year

22. PlentyofFish - Markus Frind
90 million registered users
3.6 million active daily users
100% ownership
Sold for to Match for $575 million in cash

23. MailChimp – Ben Chestnut
No VC
12 million customers
$400M revenue in 2016
550 employees

24. Github
Bootstrapped from 2007 to 2012
In May 2011, more commits than SourceForge
and Google Code
Finally, raised $100M in 2012 from Andreessen
Horowitz

25. At the end, there is no magic
Do people want what you’re selling?
Will they pay enough?