Didem Altop put it particularly well in our latest Turkish VC podcast conversation: what is the best economic development policy? More entrepreneurs.
If you help people build successful companies, the benefits go far beyond those companies themselves. They create jobs. They develop talent. They bring new technologies and ways of working into an economy. Successful founders become angel investors and mentors. Employees leave to start companies of their own. Plus over time, the effect compounds.
Didem has seen this process from an unusual vantage point. She was involved in building Endeavor Turkey in the early days of the Turkish startup ecosystem, and today she is a General Partner at Treeo VC, investing in founders making the leap into the US market.
Another idea from our conversation that stuck with me: Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility. We’re all familiar with Corporate Social Responsibility. Didem argues that companies (of all sizes) should also feel a responsibility to support the entrepreneurs around them. And not just by sponsoring startup events. Work with startups. Become their first customer. Run a PoC. Be a design partner.
For a young company, getting that first customer can be transformative. It gives them revenue, but more importantly it gives them a real environment in which to test their product, learn what customers actually need, establish credibility and build something other companies will also want to buy.
The corporation gets something too: access to the latest ideas and technologies without loss of focus. Sure you could take the idea and develop it yourself in-house, but isn’t it so much smarter to stay focused on what only your company can do?
I think Didem is right that we should see this as part of how a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem works. Governments have a role. VCs have a role. Universities have a role. But established companies have an enormous role as well — not only as investors or sponsors, but as customers.
In our conversation, Didem and I also talk about how Turkey’s startup ecosystem has developed, why she describes it as being in its “adolescence,” what happens when Turkish founders make the leap to the US, the opportunities Treeo is seeing in AI, and her own journey from ecosystem builder to venture capitalist.
It’s TRVC conversation #34/100+: From Turkey to the US: Helping Founders Who Make the Leap | Didem Altop, Treeo VC
If you like these conversations, drop a quick “On to 100” (or just the 💯 emoji) under my LinkedIn post about this episode. Thanks!
— Yunus