My last post was about making a dish; this one is about soup 🙂 Don’t worry, guys, I’m not planning to open a restaurant, at least for now.

I recently experienced the concept of “malatang,” which is technically a hot pot. Instead of receiving a hot soup base in front of you where you cook and dip your meat or veggies, you pick whichever soup base you want. Everything is the same price; they only charge you based on the weight of the ingredients. They cook it for you and bring it to your table. All you need to do is choose your soup base, whether it’s original (beef-based), mushroom, or tomato-based.

Rather than being just another soup/ramen place, they’ve done something different, and I love the taste. I’ve already shared it with my close circle. I’ve become their ambassador, at least for now. I’ll be trying it again this week and can’t wait to go back.

Recently, I’ve been observing and trying to understand how restaurants and other small businesses operate. Technically, not many have VC funding (although some do, but in most cases, it doesn’t go well-I’ll write about this more detailed later). You’re expected to turn a profit on your investment within six months. If you don’t, you’re likely doing something wrong. (My father-in-law has been a restaurateur for almost 35+ years, and that’s his benchmark.)

I believe that, given the current market situation, every startup should operate like a restaurant that wants to survive, thrive, and grow. It all boils down to cash flow. Startups need to monitor their expenses closely. If they aren’t seeing a positive return on investment, they should cut those costs and address the underlying issues if they hope to survive.

As a founder, your job is to define the goals and help the team understand what they need to do to achieve those objectives. At least until you have enough senior team members, you need to ensure they are delivering the right quality of work.

It’s similar to being a chef-owner at a restaurant. You’ve established the name, crafted your food, and the place is popular. So, what’s next? You can’t just sit back and let them follow your recipe without ensuring they’re doing it correctly. You must constantly sample their dishes to ensure consistency, not just in taste, but also in presentation, temperature, side dishes, and more.

I recently completed Emre Sokullu’s “Grou.ps Silicon Valley Story” and his mini-biography.

Emre was a role model for me when I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey in Ankara, Bilkent in 2008-9. At that time, everyone was building Web 2.0 projects. We launched Marro.ws, a social networking site for intellectuals. Essentially, based on your book and website highlights, we aimed to connect you with like-minded individuals. Back then, I was extremely curious, reading voraciously and eager to share my insights, instead of sharing this individually do it together.

Emre’s story often featured on Webrazzi, which was, and perhaps still is, Turkey’s TechCrunch. We aspired to be like Emre. We aimed to secure an angel round of funding from Turkey and had a burning desire to relocate to San Francisco. Despite being named Webrazzi’s Startup and Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2009, we faced challenges. We couldn’t raise the angel round. While I continued my college studying International Relations, my co-founder took up another job, leading us to shutter the project.

However, my Silicon Valley journey didn’t end there. Two days after college gradudation, I came to San Francisco without knowing anyone and no plan. Just wanted to pursue my Silicon Valley dream. The rest, as they say, is history.

I believe I met Emre once or twice in the Bay Area after launching MobileAction, likely after our seed round. My initial impression of him, around 2015-16, was that he was a reserved and kind individual.

After spending a mere 2-3 hours reading his book, I realized Emre’s Grou.ps story was genuinely unique. He lived alone in San Francisco, often with little money, constantly striving to make ends meet, navigating the challenges of finding the right investors, managing a complex board structure, and pivoting the product several times. Despite all this, profitability remained elusive, a challenge many faced in that era when very few were focused on monetization.

Emre’s 14-15 years with Grou.ps were filled with both family and business dramas. As someone who appreciates biographies and learning from others’ mistakes, this book deeply resonated with me. Especially since, after Emre, I’m among the first wave of Turkish entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. After reading about his struggles, I count myself fortunate. From the outset with MobileAction, I was generating revenue, initially establishing it as an agency, then raising an angel/seed round to transition it to a product company. Since then, we’ve attempted to raise funds, but I’m content we haven’t. My co-founder, Yekta, and I continue to run the company, always prioritizing the best interests of our angel investors and ourselves.

Do check out Emre’s book and consider purchasing it. I read the English version on Kindle, but it’s also available in Turkish.

Founder friends, don’t accept average results or people. Your company might not mean the same to others as it does to you.

But don’t be satisfied with just okay results. Keep moving forward, find a way to keep going. Remember, your company is really a reflection of you.

I can’t understand why people don’t learn something new every day. There are so many interesting things to discover and learn. For example:

Whenever I eat packaged food, I check where it comes from, visit the company’s website, and learn about the company and its sources. I also read their Wikipedia page and the stories of their founders.

If you adopt the same approach to everything, you’ll become a knowledge machine.

Still, I can’t understand why more people aren’t doing this.

Sixteen weeks ago, I launched the “Sunday Biographies Newsletter” on LinkedIn.

Today, over 3,480 subscribers are reading my top 10 highlights from each book I’ve enjoyed reading.

LinkedIn doesn’t share subscribers’ email addresses. Hence, I don’t know if everyone is truly checking out those highlights. However, I do it primarily for my top 2-3 friends. Instead of sending them highlights via WhatsApp, I consider this as community work.

I believe every founder should network with other founders. If you can’t find the right person to connect with, biographies serve as great virtual friends. They allow you to learn from others’ stories and experiences, making your own journey more interesting and enjoyable.

Start with my Phil Knight (Nike), Sam Zell, Jeff Bezos, Fifty Cent Biographies Highlights.

Founder friends, Ignore advice from people who haven’t run a company like yours.

Each business is unique.

Don’t listen to those without real experience.

Founder Friends, don’t try to constantly excite team members at your company.

They may need your motivation and encouragement, but not your continuous “excitement push”.

If you keep doing this, they are most likely not a good fit for your company.

Here we go! I’ve always looked forward to turning 36. Why? It’s a personal thing.

Now, I feel like my adult journey is just kicking off. I’m a family man, a father. The years ahead are not just for me and my family, but for my community too.

I want to do and create more.

Aykut, Don’t settle for just okay. Aim higher, do more, get it done.

I’m thankful to be at this age. Many young lives are cut short, so many lost potentials.

Here I am, I did survive. I’m 36.

I’m glad for another year under the sun.

Ready to do more. Push myself and the people around me.

Let’s roll!

Also, I’ve shared some learnings from the past year on LinkedIn. Take a look when you can.

Founder Friends, your work fills up every part of your life: days, nights, weekends, holidays, special times, and even your sleep.

It feels like the work never stops. So, it’s really important to look after your health.