Yesterday, we had the first meeting of the Istanbul New Economy Group (NEG?) at Bizim Tepe (no links, because the BT website is a disgrace.) About 40 people showed up. The format was primarily a cocktail party, with a round of introductions by the participants. Thanks to all who showed up.
My goal for NEG is to create a forum where ideas around entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and venture capital can be shared more freely than they presently are in Istanbul. I would like to modify the format for the next meeting to include a set of presentations by entrepreneurs, project managers at large companies, and potentially VCs, on what they are working on. I think these presentations can ignite the idea exchange and the feedback loop that ultimately enables these ideas to grow.
In the next few weeks, I will organize a mailing list for the participants in NEG. I look froward to any thoughts and/or suggestions.
Cem Sertoglu 
Hello Cem,
I was a little bit surprised to see from this post that there was, infact, the “Istanbul New Economy Group” held yesterday at Bizim Tepe. I don’t want to sound presumptuous or anything but it would have been nice if you announced it a bit earlier on your blog so that it would attract a lot more people creating/building/working/fiddling stuff in the sector your blog aspires to reach.
Of course, unless, you did not really mean what you said when you responded (to my previous comment on the meetup) with the phrase “One thing I am keenly wary of is how we Turks like recognizing our friends for the sake of camaraderie…”
On the other hand, from what I can discern from your post, the meeting looks anything but private, as people don’t obviously need to introduce themselves to their old-time friends.
Just my 2 cents
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The meeting was, of course, not private. There was an evite (with your email on it) that went out a week or so ago. There have been others who’ve complained about not receiving the invitation – I wonderif it’s spam filtering. In any case, I’ll try to do a better job of announcing the next meeting. Thanks for your interest.
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Cem,
Thanks for organizing Tuesday’s event. It was very nice – a great start. I met some very interesting people, and learned a lot. Some sort of deja vu for me.
Thanks again, and good luck.
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