ThePitcher is the ultimate pitching event, which gives the opportunity to many entrepreneurs to showcase their startups and present their businesses in front of impressive list of prominent investors.
Cem Soysal will be one of the investors attending ThePitcher event. He is General Manager at Inventram and a member of Galata Business Angels.
Graduated from Kadıköy Anadolu High School, Soysal received his BS degree in Civil Engineering at Istanbul Technical University, MS degree in Computer Science at Pace University and completed a Marketing Management Program at Columbia University, USA.
He started his professional life as an Engineer in 1987 and from 1992 on he worked as IT Director in hi-quality fabric industry in the USA. He joined Istanbul Stock Exchange as IT Systems Group Manager in 1994. Between 1997 and 2002, he worked as General Manager of Vestelnet Inc., subsidiary of Zorlu Holding, which he turned into country’s second largest ISP, generating an annual revenue of $74 Million. From 2003 to 2005 he was appointed as Group President of Design and Production Companies at Teknoloji Holding. Following that, he became the Group President of Doğan Online Companies at Doğan Holding. Between 2007 and 2009, he worked as the Country Manager of Fujitsu Siemens Computers Turkey, achieving an annual revenue of $112 Million. Soysal has been the General Manager of Inventram Inc. since 2010, an early stage hi-tech investment company of Koç Holding.
He is also a member of METUTECH Business Angels, GYİAD (Young Managers and Businessmen’s Association), GM Club, Futurists Association and Rotary Fındıklı Club. He received “Top Young Platinum Managers of Turkey” Award in 2000.
Soysal was born in 1964, in İskenderun. He is married with one child. He speaks English and French.
What do you look for in a startup pitch?
First of all, entrepreneurs need to know that we’re interested in the “human” behind the idea. Ideas can only turn into successful products with the right actions. The owner of the idea has to convince us about his education, work experience, capability and the passion for the business.
The idea or the Project needs to answer some basic questions: Does the owner of the idea have professional education and/or background? Does he have the knowledge and/or the experience to actualise the Project? Does he really know the technology of the business? Is he capable of being effective in an operating company? Can he productise his Project? Do the projects address a critical problem? Does it offer a solution and innovation? Does it have a high barrier for the opponents? Does it make a difference or provide convenience for the community life? How is the competition in that market? What is the size and the future of the market? Does the product or the service bring cost advantage? Does the Project result in reliable financial outputs for the next 3 years? Can it reach the masses?
Entrepreneurs also need to know the dynamics of the product’s market such as pricing and/or segmentation. The priority here is to listen the customer, notice and satisfy his expectations. If they only say “i designed this, this will sell”, at the end they would be very disappointed.
The common characteristics and attraction points of our investments that we made so far, are the high engineering technology and innovation. Not only the high qualification of the entrepreneurs but also inimitableness of their Project that contain high barriers, raised our attention. We immediately interest in the entrepreneurs who have combined deep technological knowledge and creativity of entrepreneurial spirit with business performance. – Cem Soysal
