Ziya Boyacigiller
ANGEL INVESTOR AND MENTOR
(1951 - 2014)
Ziya Boyacigiller was a respected mentor and angel
investor to many entrepreneurs in Turkey, between
the years of 2003 and 2014.
He impacted the lives of many young entrepreneurs and
start-ups through his classes at Sabanci University, his
numerous presentations, his blog, and his continued
generous mentoring. He also was a frequently-invited
speaker and an industry thought leader.
This website has been created to continue his legacy and to allow future start-ups to continue to benefit from his wisdom, by making his talks, blog posts, presentations and class material public.
To this effect, a fund has been set up in Ziya Boyacigiller’s name to continue to support worthwhile projects in entrepreneurship, education and the empowerment of women. It is hosted by the Turkish Philanthropy Fund. If you would like to make a contribution, please click here or on the link below.
Our goal is to have everything on this page available in both English and Turkish. Many of the class presentations are already in Turkish and the rest will be done over the summer. Please check back here in a few months for the translations.
FAVORITE QUOTES FROM ZIYA
DİDEM ALTOP
"Ziya Abi broadened the horizons of many members of the Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem and mentored many entrepreneurs who in turn became active mentors and investors. We can easily see and feel his legacy continuing with the wisdom he generously shared with everyone whom he encountered."
Endeavor
Turkey
İHSAN ELGİN
"Every entrepreneur who met Ziya Abi learned to look at their challenges differently and find their own solutions by learning to ask the right questions.
Ziya Abi was always a guiding light for developing a powerful vision and defining the right strategy."
Girişim Fabrikası
Özyeğin Üniversitesi
AYTÜL ERÇİL
"Ziya Abi was a super mentor. When asked a question, instead of answering it directly, he would, in his usual calm manner, ask the right questions to lead the entrepreneur not only to find his/her own answers, but at the same time building his/her confidence."
Vispera Information
Technologies
ALPER YEĞİN
"Ziya Abi was an exemplary person. Even in our everyday life, we will continue to handle difficult situations by asking ourselves, 'how would Ziya Abi approach this?' "
IoT Strategy and
R&D Consultant
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Path to Success: The Difference between success and failure is hidden in the details. Recognizing the right demand, directs the entrepreneur to a search of the right solution and the right business model. The Right solution paves the way to customer satisfaction. It takes the entrepreneur to success.
FOCUS ON THE PRODUCT: ASSESSING CUSTOMER NEEDS CORRECTLY
Most entrepreneurs just want to create a product, a product to make money. While talking about the product, their eyes don't sparkle, their words are not enthusiastic. They have trouble explaining what the product stands for, and what problem it solves. A real entrepreneur, however, is…
VISION: SEARCH FOR THE BIG PICTURE
If there is no benefit in a new business for the Customer, then the Sales Projections will not come true. If you don’t want to lose your time and money, you need to think about this before starting your journey. And you can find the answers to some unknown questions through the help of the customer before you go forward.
START WITH SALES FIRST AND THEN LET THE CUSTOMERS GUIDE YOU
ZIYA'S BLOGS
INNOVATION
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
FINANCING
LEADERSHIP
STRATEGY
HIGH SCHOOL LECTURES
PRESENTATIONS &
CLASS MATERIAL
OVER THE YEARS, ZIYA BOYACIGİLLER GAVE NUMEROUS CLASS LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS TO VARIOUS AUDIENCES AND STUDENTS. NOW MOST OF THIS MATERIAL IS ACCESSIBLE FROM HERE.
THE ART OF POSSIBILITY
by Rosamund Zander & Ben Zander
The Art of Possibility offers breakthrough practices for creativity in all human enterprises.
BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY
by W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne
How To Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevant
THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA
by Clayton M Christensen
When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change).
CROSSING THE CHASM
by Geoffrey Moore
Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers
READING LIST
ZIYA BOYACIGILLER READ WIDELY AND HAD A LIST OF BOOKS HE THOUGHT ALL ENTREPRENEURS SHOULD READ AND THINK ABOUT. HERE ARE HIS TOP 10 FAVORITES.
Ziya G.Boyacigiller, Investor - Entrepreneur - Mentor, worked to create and develop a world-class, technology-based entrepreneurship environment in Turkey. He made early-stage investments in innovative technology-driven start-up companies (in Silicon Valley and Istanbul) and worked with the founding teams to help grow their companies. He also taught MBA students entrepreneurship at Sabanci University in Istanbul and gave numerous lectures on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Startup Financing and Strategy at various industry and university gatherings.
Ziya G. Boyacigiller was a founding memberof Galata Business Angels, Turkey’s first and foremost angel network, and also a mentor at Endeavor Turkey. He was instrumental in the international and strategic growth of several Turkish companies, such as Artesis and Vistek, and most notably Airties, where he was an investor and board member.
Prior to relocating to Istanbul in October 2000, he was a Business Unit Vice President /General Manager at Maxim Integrated Products - a NASDAQ 100 semiconductor company (MXIM) based in Silicon Valley. Ziya Boyacigiller joined Maxim in 1983 as a founding partner and served in various technical and executive management capacities for 17 years, helping build the company to over one billion dollars in revenues. Prior to Maxim, he worked at Intersil, and in the late 1970s, he started E/Z CAD Inc., a pioneer in the PC-based electronics design tools industry.
Ziya G. Boyacigiller held an MSc inEngineering from UCLA, and a BSEE from Bosphorus University, Istanbul.