Running a startup like a game of Age of Empires

Exactly. Meanwhile, what if the opposite game were made, say in the format of Age of Empires, but you're setting up a startup? For example, there's an office on the map, and instead of sending something to Monk, you send it to your HR representative and have them hire someone from that company. Subject to. Exactly. Exactly. That concept is basically like, instead of taking a leap forward, you're becoming a holding company or something.

For example, you buy a Seriza or something like that. Of course, you don't have an office right now. You start without an office and all that. It goes step by step. Should I say much? I used to be a very good player. It makes perfect sense, but we'd get stressed out playing it, man . That simulation thing stresses me out, man. Is n't that really funny? For example, you're actually doing startup founder work all day long.

Then you come home and play his game. Hi. Yes. Greetings everyone. Hello everyone and welcome to the new episode of our podcast. How are you, Barış? I am very good. How are you? I'm doing great too. Just a moment ago I had nothing . Suddenly, some kind of civilian-like creatures appeared, but I guess it's because of something else . Did something you ate upset your stomach? It could be something I ate, but I've been drinking coffee since this morning.

Oh, I bought strawberries. Milkshake after the run you go for a run? Exactly. Okay, I have something to say. We're never going to talk about this, but vlogs and things like that, which I don't promote like you do, are subjective and not easy. what I'm trying to say is, running, which we had absolutely no interest in before, suddenly became like a part of the company culture. Yes.

What do you think? But I don't know why it happened. I don't know why something like that happened. So I think there's already a general trend towards healthy living. For example, they say that going to a bird club in the morning is considered cooler than going to a party or something like that . Exactly. But for us, it felt like it happened all of a sudden. Our company, for example, was one that had very unhealthy eating habits.

Except for us, everyone on the team kept sending each other donuts and things like that from Crispy Cream. Now, healthy recipes like these are being shared. Who ran the most this week, and so on and so forth . People are racking up solid mileage. in about a week . I don't understand how it happened, but I like it. I'm thinking maybe we should actually start a bird club or something.

We've already started, what else are we going to start? I mean, we have our Strava thing, the team is internal, but ours is external, you know what I mean? For example, every time... Every Friday we're running around everywhere at the same time, something like that . The organization felt a bit off to me. It seemed like a problem for everyone. It's unlikely to come, or it might not .

You're calling people at 6 in the morning. What did my brother do? Are you coming? Like, we meet here every Friday, but there definitely needs to be a WhatsApp group for that, right? As if it never existed Brother Ahmet. No, you know, those WhatsApp things... it's not a WhatsApp group, man. I'm not sure if there are any WhatsApp groups where only the admin can message, but there should be something like that.

It's like a canal, I guess. Exactly. We'll do it from there, brother. The only requirement is that you need to know a few things, for example, how to prepare Hardal . Only those who are capable get in, and so on. We can do something like that. No, we can address it in a simpler way. If you have shoes, let him run, man. No, brother. If he has shoes, let him run.

I'd like to get Accurate Data Club, I think . The V-shaped hats looked really good on them. We designed it, we did it. And let 's give Elif a shutout from here too. Elif also provided support. Should we mention the brand? Do you know the name of the brand? This is for advertising purposes . To the three people watching us. I don't know. Can I tell you something?

What could it be? Do you know? No. WhatsApp group? Are you checking it from the WhatsApp group? Let's check the WhatsApp group. Brother, I don't know what we're going to do about everything in our WhatsApp group . Fir aynen.com and Elif from Fu Design company are helping us with merchandising. Sending him my love and respect from here as well . In fact, since we're on the subject, let's show you one of the merchandise items .

And so, a hot dog, a sandwich, and that's it. There's bread too. will play with a plush toy. So this is what I liked the most. Yes. So, besides all this, you've also done a bit of a sneak peek at some of this. Because actually, right now we're still trying to finalize the design and stuff, you know, the blurs. Let's blur this part when I show it like this.

Is that all ? What does Berkay have in his hand? Let the people understand something else. Back when they used to censor cigarettes, they'd put this daisy-like substance on them, you know? They were placing flowers. Oh yes, isn't that right ? We can put something like that in. There was such a thing, wasn't there? Exactly. Does censorship still exist? He's not here. I don't think they include any at all .

So, the subject of that censorship is this. They were censoring it like that just to be able to air a series that had already been filmed. It's more noticeable when you blur it. At least that flower thing isn't getting much attention now that everyone's already filming on digital platforms, but at RTÜK (Turkey's broadcasting regulatory authority) and such, the director doesn't even bother filming the cigarette scene or the alcohol scene at all.

Because, you know, we 're getting into completely unrelated topics. There is a cost, a price, to censoring that place. There are installation costs, and they charge it up within minutes . So, it turns out it wasn't easy at all. Well, sure, it's a good job, isn't it ? Imagine, what kind of job do you do? We are censors. We're censoring cigarettes one by one. Though, I suppose artificial intelligence does that now .

Yes. It's like they're making it disappear in such a strange way and leaving behind these weird fingers or something. There, his hand, the man's hand, is crooked like this. If he showed them a cigarette, the children would be less affected. Exactly like that . His hand is crooked or something. Your hands will look like this if you smoke. It's now handling the hands properly, but it's artificial intelligence.

Yes. Yes. Exactly. You know that thing, this Smet one, he's eating spaghetti. It has a prompter. They show how much he's changed and all that. So, what about recently? For example, we talked about this a bit in the previous podcast, but I've actually started something new: a gardening project. I was always asking EA little questions like, " How do I do this?" So now I've really started a project about planting and caring for plants in my home, and it just so happened that I realized I've asked things I would never have thought of, like...

Things I've never asked before. Oh yeah, the light in my house is something like this. I hadn't even asked her what plant she thought I should get, and she gave me some very sensible suggestions, and I realized I've been putting some plants in the wrong places around the house . So I was wondering, do you have any experience using AI in non-technological projects, rather than more technological ones?

I ca n't move that seat in the back, the one you see there. I mean, it's impossible, I've done all sorts of math and algorithm work. I had it done after consulting with Aiya and all that, but I didn't get very good results. So when you take a picture, it can't calculate the depth, it can't calculate your usage habits. He just has a template in his head and that's what he's saying.

As for plants and things like that, in my house, they die as soon as they come in. So I'm taking it straight to the garden so it can be put to good use . That makes sense. So I think you could do the same thing for renovations, for example. For example, maybe this particular cupboard isn't suitable. That's why the cabinet needs to be made of walnut wood.

I don't know what to expect or anything like that. For example, in very hot countries near the equator, the wood starts to swell up or something happens after a certain point. They use more plastic-like chemicals, like MDF or something similar . For example, perhaps this could be a good thing for suggestions of this kind. That might make sense there. Yes. We definitely hang out like handymen sometimes, you know, at home too, you know.

For example, I'm just waiting for something to break at home so I can fix it. I took the picture myself. Well, I also have this thing, I get involved in it, for example, there's something... It's not even puberty, it's just something like, "I think this would be better," and so on, of course . These kinds of things happen. I also know how we jump from one unrelated topic to another .

I want to paint the bathroom. I have a project like that right now, but I'm really hesitant about painting it. I don't know why. I don't think I've ever done any painting work other than painting walls . That worries me a lot too, and it's a major issue with artificial intelligence. Ask the AI. Or, my question to artificial intelligence. He explained it so easily, but it would take me at least two days to do that job.

Because there are joints and stuff like that, and so on and so forth. I need to cover some areas, it's work. I don't know. Of course, actually, grout is just grout; you do n't really need to do much between the tiles, but I think your bathroom has a wall above the tiles, as far as I remember. Exactly, exactly, exactly . Now, that part is a strange one.

Yes. I don't know if it's plastic or anything, but look, there's Permolit there. What a ridiculous conversation we're having on the podcast. Look, there's Thermolit. Ceiling paint. That might be easy. Because it doesn't require a lining or anything like that. Something like that could happen. Anyway, really. Oh, by the way, it's pretty funny that we're mentioning Permolit in a podcast where we're going to talk about the investment process .

Yes. Yes. So, the investment process. Let me just ask you this then. Now we have received investment. I think we should discuss the investment process in more detail in a longer podcast sometime. Because there are certain processes involved there. You know, there are processes like, we could have received up to 5 million in investment, but we decided to close at 1.5 million, and so on. We'll talk about it.

I'm curious about something. After the investment, we'll receive the investment, it will almost be within a month. How are you feeling? Has anything changed for you and for Hardal? It hasn't changed for me. I was thinking about this while talking to someone the other day. He asked something. How did you react after receiving the investment ? So, are you happy about that? So, you know, like, how did you get into such an emotional situation, and so on?

Honestly, nothing has changed in our lives. We're continuing at the same pace, in the same routine . Having a more planned capital, one that allows us to carry out our plans, ensures that we don't just think about the capital at the point we're going to . It allows us to move forward without worry. Other than that, honestly, nothing has changed in me . So, it was good that we bought it, of course.

By the way, I think we were talking about something like this in our podcast from about a year ago. So, I have a saying... That's why I do n't want to accept investment. I mean, I don't want people to say that Barış Berkay received investment. Maybe we can put that thing in this section. exactly, as in the podcast episode. We need to buy something. How did money change them?

I mean, we practically have a podcast debating whether we should actually buy it or not. I agree with that. So we'll talk in more detail about how we decided to buy it. But for me, it's just really funny. People who knew nothing about the processes, like my family or people who weren't really involved in the business, thought that the money ended up in our pockets or something.

Because doing things like that makes you think, " Oh, now you're rich," and so on. But nothing has changed, it's like someone is saying something like, "With that money, you should buy yourself a house," and you're thinking, "What's the connection?" Then I just got a little bit more... This is the line of wanting to be faster, to take quicker action. Because that's too long a time for us.

The biggest obstacle has always been money. So we want to do something but we don't have the budget. We want to do something else, but we don't have the budget, etc. Now that it's really getting better, my desire to do things, or rather, my desire for things to be done quickly, has increased a lot. We are trying to calm him down now as well. I can also say this about that: it's very fast.

I think it turned out well, especially in terms of keeping the news from escaping and preventing people from saying things like "we need to invest ." We received the investment, and that's how we received it, we did our best, and we continued with our lives. The news of the investment really made us celebrate. So I think we wouldn't have celebrated at all; we would have just said "any other day" and moved on with our lives .

But I think celebrating these small successes and so on is also a good thing . So I can say I'm happy that it turned out that way. By the way, the process there went very well. So it's not just the part that appears in the news . A different name suddenly becoming involved in the process. And then there's the Duigin Star and so on . I think we should delve into these topics in more detail in the next podcast for those who are curious, especially regarding solo entrepreneurs, those starting companies alone, or small-scale businesses, and why they should or shouldn't seek investment.

We have the idea that the money is there, but our goal is clear: growth. I don't know if we could have grown even without money, but it's very difficult. The reason it's difficult is that, within the limited space in Türkiye, even something as simple as going abroad for an event takes up a very large percentage of your runway here . It's because of the euro, you can't get there quickly, etc., etc., there's a chain of obstacles with many layers.

Actually, we only had one bullet each month. It's like a strategy game, for example, in Age of Empires, you want to build a building, but you don't have gold, but you have a lot of wood to make gold, but you also need people. And for people, you need food . And nothing else to eat. They all go about it in a similar way. And it all comes down to money, in other words.

We either had to compromise on some things, or... well, give up on some things. That 's why I think TS is like this at the right time. We're in a pretty good period. Even though companies are currently focusing more on projects that can advance with AI and allocating a large portion of their budgets to these projects, we have now launched our new AI visibility feature. Currently, Hardal users are able to analyze web and application traffic from agents .

I think this investment process also led to the release of a critical feature, and thus we will be able to reach corporate companies that have allocated budgets for much better, in a just-in-time period . That's why I'm happy. If you ask me what has changed in my life, I'd say nothing has changed. That money isn't like, "With that money, can we buy a house or a car right now?"

What pleased me most was being featured in the newspaper. I didn't wander around Kadıköy until I found the newspaper . There are no more newspaper stands, but never mind. Eventually, we ended up in the newspaper, and he did a bucket list shoot for me . Yes. I won't say anything more about the startup topic because I think it deserves a whole separate session. I've been thinking about it ever since you mentioned it.

Is n't content like this really good? Can a startup be managed like playing Age of Empires ? and so on, trying to draw parallels between the two. Because that's much more real, of course, life, people's lives and so on, let me skip that disclaimer. They say they'll do that, right? Just press the button and I'll do it. Exactly, because on the other hand, you're also really managing resources.

Strategy, you know, like, for example, are you going to build a wall first or a military unit, it's the same thing. So, when you first have nothing, you have a cavalryman, a mounted warrior, and you just roam around the area, and that's exactly what happens in global expansion; he goes around and explores first . Then maybe he gets killed, or maybe he gets pouched by the rival, man.

Of course, of course. And take very good care of it. The monks are turning the other side on you, aren't they? He's also an iring. Exactly. You're transferring someone from your opponent to your team. Let's write this down. I really liked this idea. It can be turned into something this long. Of course, of course. Adaptable. That makes perfect sense. Let's even do a throwback. Quite the opposite.

Exactly. Meanwhile, what if the opposite game were made, say in the format of Age of Empires, but you're starting a startup? For example, there's an office on the map, and instead of sending something to Monk, you send it to your HR representative and have them hire someone from that company . Of course. Exactly. Exactly. That concept is basically like, instead of taking a leap forward, you're becoming a holding company or something.

For example, you buy a Seriza or something like that. Of course, you don't have an office right now. You start without an office and all that. It goes step by step like this. Should I say much? Wow, what a great game. I used to play. It makes perfect sense, but we'd get stressed out playing it, man . That simulation thing stresses me out, man. Is n't that really funny?

For example, you're actually doing startup founder work all day long. Then you come home and play his game. Well, that's why I quit managing, brother. So, in a new managerial role, you're talking to the players about their psychology. His leg is broken, when will he be able to recover, man? This isn't what I expect from a managerial game, man. Quick play, meaning it jumps into the game immediately so I can develop my tactics.

They made it so realistic, so lifelike, that it's tiring; I don't really like those kinds of games anymore anyway . I think it tires you out because you do something similar during the day, so when you go home in the evening you don't feel like doing the same thing again, just the game version . Of course, that strategic thinking or that mental fatigue doesn't translate into gameplay, unfortunately.

Exactly, and actually, I think it's a good idea to start this podcast with a small investment and end it with a random game, with a game idea. Next, I think we could definitely start a series where we share our investment processes in parts 1 and 2, which would also be beneficial for having Turkish-language resources . I think that would be great. Amine. Well said! Take care of yourself.

Goodbye then. See you later. Bye bye . M.