Istanbul NEG member Burak Fakioglu has a good suggestion:

There are these magnificent video’s of entrepreneurs, VCs, industry leaders, academics, guru’s etc talking or giving out presentations at universities like Stanford, Harvard, or MIT.  I thought they would be a great resource for Istanbul NEG.  Most of these videos are realmedia streams and could be viewed from the following sites:

Stanford Center for Professional Development

STVP Educators Corner

Stanford View from the Top

HBS Video Showcase

Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship

MIT World

I will also post this to the Istanbul NEG Yahoo Group.

Alp Guneysel pointed me to this very funny video.

The second meeting of the Istanbul NEG was last night.  We had about 40 attendees again and three presenters.

• Cember.net – Founder Caglar Erol presented the company, which is a professional networking platform
• Daveti – Founders Onur Birsen, Evren Kacar and Alp Guneysel discussed their vision for and the features of Daveti, an invitation platform with a strong social networking component
• Nooluyo – Alp Guneysel shared his thoughts on this emerging collaborative news and tagging website

Except for the background noise which increased consistently at Bizim Tepe, the presentations were received with interest and inquiries.  The venue limitations probably mean that we should be seeking alternative locations. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Cagan Senturk of Teknolabs has set up a wiki for the Istanbul NEG.  Once it’s set up, I will distribute the URL.

I am excited about the upcoming Istanbul NEG meeting on Thursday.  There will be three companies presenting:

Cember.net – Online networking for Turkish professionals
Daveti – Interactive invitations and social networking
Nooluyo – Turkish news website with tags

David Teten and Scott Allen have made their book, "The Virtual Handshake" downloadable for free.  David discusses their reasons for this experiment on their blog.  My favorite line from the post is that buying the book is actually cheaper than printing it.

My good friend Jessica Hirsch has launched her new company Octopus.  While it’s not the typical web/tech/media company I tend to follow or write about, I love ventures evolving out of real-life experiences.  The Octopus definitely qualifies as an example of a great product borne from a genuine need.

We have set the date for the Istanbul New Economy Group meeting in February.  The details and the RSVP channel is at this link.  To be informed of the developments at the Istanbul NEG, I recommend joining the Yahoo Group.  Alternatively, you can subscribe to this blog, either via the Bloglet utility on this page, or the RSS feed, both on the right hand column.  I will keep blogging about the developments here, as well.

The February meeting will incorporate a few presentations by companies.  If you’d like to present, please let me know.

Via Dave Beisel of Masthead Venture Partners, I have discovered the wiki used by a group called Boston Web Innovators Group.  I think a wiki is an ideal way of organizing communications for a group like this.  If anyone can volunteer to set up and host a wiki, let me know.

UPDATE: For those who have not been following this topic, here are the previous posts on the Istanbul NEG:

The Idea

The Preparation

The Recap

It’s time for me to start organizing the February meeting for the Istanbul NEG.  The process will involve a few steps:

1. I have created a Yahoo! Group and invited everyone whose emails I had handy from the first meeting.  If you have not received an invitation let me know (cem at selectminds dot com).
2. If you know people who’d be interested in joining the group, let me know.
3. I will poll the group members to see what dates would work best.  My nominees will be February 16, 21 and 22.  Vote here.
4. I would like to have short presentations for this meeting from: entrepreneurs who’d like to showcase their companies, project managers from large companies who’d like to introduce their projects, and funds (or angels) who’d like to discuss their interest areas.  If you, or anyone you know, would like to present, please let me know.
5. I was not able to check with Bizim Tepe (where we had the first meeting) to see about their availability on the above dates.  We will need to have a reliable internet connection and a presentation set-up.  If you have suggestions for a different venue, or can host a meeting of about 50 people, please let me know.

I am looking forward to a vibrant event where we can begin to see ideas flowing. (For a good discussion on idea flow, see point #2 under "Angels & Demons".)

In his 1933 inaugural address, Franklin D. Roosevelt said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." 

I am reading Michael Crichton‘s "State of Fear," a well-written thriller.  The plot involves radical environmentalists wreaking havoc on the world.  Especially when the environment’s concerned, I feel that it’s exceedingly easy to create frenzies (and raise funds).  I have been curious on some of the thinking on the issue.

That’s when I came on to this speech given by Crichton.  He’s a bright guy and a good writer.  It’s interesting.

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.