Ilker: Co-Founder, Tenedos Networks
“I am driven by turning concepts into concrete things and eventually products. I am not religious about technology, this solution or that solution.”
Message to entrepreneurs: “It’s more about people than it is about ideas. When I hear someone say–“It’s hush hush, it’s my idea” –I smile. I was like that five or ten years ago. But ideas are a dime a dozen. What’s important is the execution, the people.”
Reason for Being an Entrepreneur: “I Am Driven By Turning Concepts Into Concrete Products”
A startup is about creating things–my passion. I am driven by turning concepts into concrete things and eventually products. I am not religious about technology, this solution or that solution. I fill gaps. I look at the whole problem space and I see something needs to be done and I know I can do it. That’s what I am doing right now.
Solving a Problem: “I Saw a Gap in Device Security”
I saw a gap in the security of devices connected to the Internet. There are millions of devices and there are going to be billions of them. The estimation is 50 billion by 2020. There are only 7 billion people on the planet. So we’re talking about 7-10 times more connected devices than people–a potential security catastrophe.
We plan to solve that problem.
Early Life: “As a Kid I Designed Things”
I was born in Turkey, on the Anatolian side, which is the Asian side. I grew up in a small city, surrounded by loving people. It was a beautiful, gorgeous city. But my prospects were limited there.
Honestly, when I was growing up, I was not sure what an entrepreneur was. I just knew that I wanted to be an innovator. In my mind, they’re almost synonyms, even though they’re different from a business perspective. The thing that I like about entrepreneurship is that it’s about creating things. There are a lot of other aspects, but for me that’s the most important.
So as a child, yes, I wanted to be a creator, an innovator, and that translated into being an entrepreneur. I was this kid who was designing sprinklers, remote control cars, heating systems that used solar power. The moment I got my hands on a computer, it changed my life. As a child, you have a wild imagination. Then I learnt about the Internet, a little later in the game.
I wasn’t encouraged to pursue these things. It was within me. I come from a middle class, civil servant-type family. My parents did an amazing job to ensure that me and my sister got a good education. But going out and doing your own thing without financial protection is not in our genes. I am probably the first outlier to go out and do a venture–my own thing.
I had no exact idea of what I was going to do when I grew up. I just knew that it would be about computers.
Pursuing a Career: “I Picked a Risky Path”
I went to one of the best colleges in Turkey, the top school for engineering.
Cisco found me via a headhunter, and they invited me to Belgium. I was interviewed by a technically strong team, and they offered me a job in half an hour. I had seen almost nothing of Belgium! They said, we want to work with you. So I went there–I didn’t know what my salary would be, I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know anything. But it turned out to be great. I learnt a lot from the management, the leadership team.
I’ve been very lucky, but I don’t think it’s all about luck. You have to do things right. Moving to Belgium was right. There were people in my league who made safe decisions–they looked for more financial gain, which honestly, I did not. It turned out to be great, but I didn’t know that. It would have been a safer bet if I had gone to Istanbul, the biggest city in Turkey. I got wonderful salary offers because I was already one of the top technical guys in my field. But the positions wouldn’t take me anywhere. So I would drive a nice BMW, got it. But what is it at the end of the day?
I picked a risky path, full of unknowns. In hindsight, it was the right decision because it brought me into a circle of people who were brilliant, and I like learning. I am a sponge for knowledge. Very quickly, I became much better than I already was.
I lived in Belgium for ten years, and I became a citizen there, leading teams at Cisco. But I became bored after a few years, so eventually, that’s what brought me here. I get bored every 1.5 years, that’s my routine. My mum jokes about it. I was exactly the same as a child. I have a reputation in the family. When I say, I am bored, everyone goes, “Oh my, again!” I make a change in my life when I get bored–change jobs, start a company. The last message my boss wrote me was a very nice farewell. He said, “One thing we’ve learnt about Ilker is that he doesn’t stay steady, this is his next chapter in life.” Which is true.
I came to Silicon Valley in June 2012. My leadership team at Cisco was very supportive. When I said that I wanted to move to the U.S., they asked where. Of course, I said Silicon Valley. They said, ok, we’ll move you.
Silicon Valley is the mecca of technology. Why would I go anywhere else?
Inspiring Others: “I Am Proud to Touch People’s Lives”
When I left Cisco after 15 years, I was touched by all the people who sent farewell messages, and there were some very nice messages–people who said that I was their inspiration for doing xyz. I could see that I had touched their lives. I am proud of that.
I still do things for Turkey. I form discussion platforms, and I have a website visited by several hundred people a day. For example, I created a page that lists Turkish CCIEs (Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts). There weren’t many of us with the certification back in 2001. I was one of the first ten. The list shows your number–your place in the order of people who got certification. That has become hugely popular. When people pass the test for certification, they email me the next day and say things like: “For so long, I wanted to be on that list–thank you for doing this. It’s been such a motivation.” I think oh my god, what did I do? I’ve touched people’s lives whom I didn’t even know. Because they saw me as–not a role model, that’s too big of a word–I inspired them to bring their own dreams into reality.
I don’t think anyone has been my role model. I do value the people who mentored me. But I think I had the biggest influence on my own life.
Struggles of Being a Founder: “It’s an Emotional Roller Coaster”
It’s like sitting alone on top of a mountain. The view from the top is gorgeous, but mistakes can be fatal.
When you start a company, you’re alone in your decision making. The decisions you make impact a lot of people. They impact your employees, your shareholders. It’s a hard position.
One moment you feel that you rule the world. The next moment, you feel that you’re worthless. You get good news, so you think yes, yes, wow, this is it. The next day you hear something else and you think wow, the world is collapsing. It’s an emotional roller-coaster. You have to be prepared for it.
Achieving Success: “It’s About People”
I’ve evolved in my life. As a typical engineer, I began obsessed with ideas. You need to be, in order to be successful.
But I’ve learned that it’s more about people than it is about ideas. When I hear someone say–“It’s hush hush, it’s my idea” –I smile. I was like that five or ten years ago. But ideas are a dime a dozen. What’s important is the execution, the people.
You need advisors. I have a few select, highly experienced advisors. So build that network. If you want to have a startup in three years, start laying the groundwork today.
You also need a good cofounder that you can rely on. It’s almost like marriage. It’s scary but you need to get along and understand each other. I am lucky that my cofounder is a longtime colleague and friend.
And you need an “A” team. If you bring an ” A” team together, you can start with a crappy idea and, iteratively, you can get to a better point. If you start with a great idea but a “B” team, the idea may die. Don’t be obsessed with ideas, be obsessed about people. If you have the right people, ideas will form easier and eventually it will form into the thing that it’s supposed to be.
Have a trial period for employees. Stakes are high. Sometimes you have a personality match but not the proper work dynamic. I define an “A” team player as someone who is very motivated. Curiosity is key–you should always be trying to know and do more. An “A” team player has curiosity, a track record, and they have created something. Whatever it might be. They formed a club or a Facebook group or created a product–did this, did that. If you trace them, you see there’s always something that they created.
Because they can’t sit idle. They’re always motivated by something. It’s not necessarily a technological product. If you trace their history, you find that their motivation turns into something that shows you that they can execute and they’re driven.
I left Cisco about 8 weeks ago, and we almost have a prototype. Look for investment after you have a prototype, show the product working. Build something concrete that you can show. That will change the dynamics of the conversation. I used this a lot in Cisco. I know it works. I’m using the same approach in my startup.
Life Lessons: “Be Happy and Be Good”
The most important lesson I’ve learned is this: Live your life to its full potential, and help others to do the same. Life is a journey to “know thy self.” For me, entrepreneurship is part of the self-discovery.
To be happy, look for what makes you happy, and then give back part of what you got from this life. Be happy and be good. By “good,” I mean contributing to others’ wellbeing and not doing harm.
As long as you’re truly happy, that’s the right path–you don’t have to do what others define as “success.” My particular passion is technology. I have a nephew that I adore. He’s a very smart kid. Poor guy, he’s surrounded by all the engineers in the family. He’s being bombarded by all these logical thinkers. I tell him: Look for the things that you like to do in life.
Giving back to society is important. Don’t always take. There’s always a luck factor. If you’d been born in the middle of nowhere in the Sahara, as smart as you might be, you wouldn’t have much opportunity. Think of Steve Jobs, who was Syrian from his biological father’s side. If he were born in Syria in this current situation, would he still be Steve Jobs?
We’re lucky to have opportunities, so we need to give back something. It could be volunteering or contributing to humanitarian causes. I am really really touched by what Bill Gates does now with his Melinda and Bill Gates foundation. They’re doing awesome things. I really like what Elon Musk does. It’s not his Tesla Motors, but his bigger vision of helping humanity.
