Built by builders.
Founders, angels, and engineers who've shipped, sold, and stopped — and helped first-time founders do the same. The people you'll actually be in the room with.
Ada Raimova
Program Lead
Originally from Central Asia, Ada is a community & ecosystem builder working across Türkiye, the EU, and Central Asia. She speaks five languages and is fluent in vibecoding. Lovable Ambassador. Her philosophy: distribution beats product, and honest human communication beats both. She runs programs for first-time founders with real domain expertise, has mentored builders through Shipin, SAGE HQ, OneUpOneDown, and Startmate. An aspiring angel investor focused on femtech and climate tech. The ones she remembers are the honest ones.
Ozan Sonmez
Co-Lead
Ozan is an experienced entrepreneur, angel investor, a startup mentor, and the founder/designer of many early-stage tech startup accelerators with +14 years of global experience in Larger Middle East, North Africa, Turkey & Silicon Valley. He is affiliated with UC Berkeley, Stanford CPD, MIT EF and connected to various global & regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Alperen Zeki Gokmen
Co-Lead
A Mechanical Engineering graduate turned entrepreneur, Alperen helps early-stage founders build and scale their startups. He has founded two startups, directed multiple entrepreneurship programs supporting founders from idea to execution, and develops digital products and AI tools for investors, accelerators, and corporates to make smarter, data-driven decisions. He also trains teams on practical AI use — turning manual work into scalable, automated systems.
Beliz Bediz Sinan
Co-Lead
Founder of BeHumbo, where she helps founders and leadership teams reduce cognitive load, improve decision quality, and operate sustainably in high-growth, high-uncertainty environments. With 12+ years across startups, accelerators, corporate innovation programs, and early-stage investing, Beliz is Chapter Director of Founder Institute Türkiye, an angel investor, and a mentor who treats founder wellbeing as a performance and systems-design problem.
Başak Özcan
Co-Lead
General Manager of Garaj X TEKMER and an ecosystem builder who designs and runs startup programs while mentoring early-stage founders on strategy, positioning, and growth readiness. With 11+ years at ODTÜ TEKNOKENT shaping TÜBİTAK-backed programs like BiGG and YFYİ, plus prior policy work at TÜSİAD, Başak orchestrates alignment between founders, investors, corporates, and mentors — focused on execution discipline, market fit, and turning promising ideas into investment-ready ventures.
Berkem Peker
Facilitation team
Growth Manager at Storyly and an AI-powered marketer who optimizes conversions, runs Google Ads campaigns, and crafts SEO strategies — building his own tools with Python and JavaScript when off-the-shelf options fall short. Fluent in HubSpot, VWO, Zapier, Semrush, GA4, and Looker Studio, with prior growth roles at Deplike, Picus Security, Nanografi, and Enhencer. Off-hours, he helps ecommerce merchants grow.