Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Greetings everyone! I was born in Antalya in 89. After completing my pre-university education in beautiful Antalya, which has a special place in my heart, until 2006, I moved to Istanbul to study at Boğaziçi University Industrial Engineering. I have been here since that day. Although I had some back and forth between academic career and corporate life during the school period, at the end of the day, after graduation, a few of my friends and I pursued the idea of a mobile application and I became an entrepreneur. We couldn't successfully implement that idea and bring it to the point we dreamed of, but I learned a lot in that process. With what I learned there and what I continue to learn, I have been working at our startup Prisync for the last 5 years. With Prisync, we currently sell technology to 100s of companies from more than 50 countries and we are growing at a pace that we enjoy. Beyond the work, I have a very enjoyable marriage of about 2.5 years with my beloved wife Burçin. In the time I have left over from all this - it does not increase by the way, we need to make conscious efforts to increase it - I enjoy spending time in sports, food and beverage and art basket areas.
What is a pleasant day in Istanbul for you? What do you do?
For me, the most necessary element for a pleasant day anywhere in the world is the sun. The sun as we know it... This is perhaps the most important part of my Mediterranean identity. That's why I love wandering around the historical peninsula in Istanbul, especially on a sunny day when spring permits, preferably on a Sunday. What I mean by Sunday is that when the relative calmness of the streets, where many shops are closed and the gray of the shutters create a background, is combined with that sunny weather, one cannot help but think that one is Orhan Pamuk. I think I like that feeling of thinking. On the other hand, while walking around those streets, I sometimes eat not 1, not 2, but 3 meals in a lunch hour. First, a soup... On top of that, Konyalı liked eggplant and talaş pastry on his bed, and Şehzade had 2-3 cağ kebabs on top... I don't consider dessert a meal.
So if we go out a bit, what's an ideal holiday for you? What are your favorite places that you have seen so far? Is there any advice you can give us about them?
It may be a betrayal of all this Mediterraneanness and the sun, but I think the holiday I felt the most on holiday so far was the trip we took with my wife, Burçin, to the town of Vals, Switzerland, on her birthday 2 years ago. That holiday was a holiday where we thought we were Heidi for a few days, went on walks in the pristine mountains, and then, most importantly, bathed in various waters in Therme Vals, designed by the reclusive architect of those places, Peter Zumthor. Those who want to get inspired can take a look at the movie Youth by my favorite director, the Italian Sorrentino, and the ambience there. If anyone goes there, if you slowly climb the mountain, which starts with the thermal facility, without giving up, you will reach a summit restaurant. There is a small village there and that restaurant is, in a sense, the tavern of the village. We cannot forget the taste of the ginger carrot soup we drank in that restaurant after that cold weather. In fact, just so we don't forget, we reverse engineered the recipe at home and enjoy drinking it at home on winter days.
What is your must-have item when packing your suitcase for this holiday? What do you take with you?
I'm a pretty cold person. Therefore, Switzerland, snow etc. For me, it means a comprehensive suitcase in a way. On the other hand, since I wore thick clothes without putting them in the suitcase, Burçin and I were able to easily fit into a shared suitcase for a few days. For example, I always wore a nice beret. On the other hand, my veteran Kanken accompanied me on my walks in the mountains or when I went to other towns. In the non-clothing category, one book that I could choose depending on my mood, that month's Monocle and that week's Economist, were also in my Kanken. But I won't lie, in that environment one loses oneself in the black mountain and the water, not in the book, and one feels neither reading nor writing, but rather living and being grateful for living that moment.
Do you have any book/music/film recommendations that have influenced you recently?
I'm a little bit backwards when it comes to music. I think it's enough to keep up with new things my bandwidth unfortunately not. I won't lie, it's something I feel sad about.
Same thing, same bath, I keep going back and forth to the genres and artists I listened to 10 years ago. For the book, I have recently focused on more non-fiction things, as someone who had overdosed fiction for a while. And I think I usually read more business-oriented things, it might seem a bit boring here.
Therefore, let me give you the best movie recommendation. Recently, I watched the movie Little Joe at my favorite movie theater in Istanbul, SineBu (It's also a little excuse to go to Boğaziçi University), and I was very impressed by the questions and thoughts it triggered in people, beyond the quality of the movie itself. I can say that it was a movie about an area where the fiction part of science fiction in cinema has become increasingly blurred - genetics - and it fills the person with excitement, mixed with fear and anxiety about the present and the future.
Of course, you wouldn't be wrong if you ask why this feeling pushes a person to recommend a movie.
There are platforms in all of our lives these days; Netflix, Youtube, audiobooks, podcast applications... Which of these are in your life and to what extent? Maybe you would like to share your favorite channels, podcast series or favorite TV series-documentaries with us?
I started using a smartphone a few months ago, so I'm a little weak on this question.
On the YouTube side, as a company, we have a technology-focused video channel called Prisync Labs, which we manage as a team under the leadership of my partner Samet. Here, we tell people who are interested in technology what we know at different depth levels on various subjects, or what we do not know but have researched and learned. My favorite YouTube channel is Prisync Labs, which is biased.
Coming to the home side a little more, I can say that our favorite platform at home is Netflix, leaving ourselves to the blessings of smart TV. I think I can say Suits is my favorite Netflix series. Even though I know from both our own lawyers and my lawyer friends that being a lawyer is nothing like it is portrayed there, the nirvana of the New Yorker white-collar lawyer world that Suits reflects is impressive.