VC Talks #4: Mert Yucesoy, Georgian Partners

Welcome to the fourth episode of the VC Talks, a short interview series which shares the wisdom and experience of Venture Capitalists and investors with just a few short questions.

I’m very excited to have Mert Yucesoy for the fourth episode of the VC Talks. Mert is a Strategy & Innovation Associate at Georgian Partners, where he is developing investment theses and running innovation projects to automate fund operations. He also supports the investment lifecycle end to end, sourcing, due diligence and closing.

Before joining Georgian, Mert worked at Glasswing Ventures where he invested in seed stage AI start-ups and he held positions in business development, strategy and consulting roles at Alterna (an early stage B2B startup) and Accenture. His background is in Industrial Engineering and Corporate Finance, not to mention an MBA from Rotman.

Let’s dive into the conversation with Mert.

Efe: You have to sing karaoke, what song do you pick?

Mert: Don’t Stop me Now by Queen. It perfectly summarizes the way I feel at a warm summer night party with friends. It’s like a massive dose of amazing memories, right to my core. Side effects include clearing my mind and boosting my self-esteem too.

Efe: What was the biggest challenge you faced or the biggest risk you took in your career? How did you overcome it? How did it pay off?

Mert: Deciding to move to Canada, do an MBA and switch careers simultaneously. I went through the permanent residency and MBA applications while working full-time at a startup in Istanbul. After moving here, trying to break into VC from an MBA degree turned out to be quite challenging. There were few available jobs heavily-tuned towards experienced professionals or straight out of undergrad.

I overcame this period with infinite support from my partner in crime, my wife, who went through the same processes. The pay-off was good, but certainly could have been better. I believe the learnings will actually be exponentially rewarding in the midterm.

Efe: What is your biggest problem/challenge nowadays?

Mert: Keeping my productivity and spirits high in these COVID-dominated times. It took me a while to optimize my life, but I am now in a much better state of mind. Rearranging our condo, starting home workouts, Zoom parties and meditation did the trick.

Efe: What do you do when you feel like you are not making any progress or you feel overwhelmed by the challenges?

Mert: Immediately thinking in depth about the worst comparable experiences (except loss of loved ones) I’ve had in my life. This could be a client meeting that I failed miserably, an investment going bad, mishandled a discussion with a friend or just stubbed my toe horribly. In most cases, luckily, I didn’t die or get fired or setback for life as a result. We tend to run away from our failures and bury them deep, but I use my past as my best mental weapon. Knowing that I survived all of that immediately gives me a deeply felt happiness.

Efe: What is one thing you expect from or you are most excited about the next decade? (Could be related to business, technology, entertainment, health etc.)

Mert: Remote work and efficient globalization. Can’t wait to discuss a new investment thesis with a friend in Toronto, watch the virtual demo day of a Japanese incubator and conduct due diligence and invest in a company out of Singapore from my home office from wherever. Surely, there are parts of the business/human experience that need to be physical but I think we can do better than hopping on a plane for 10 hours, spending 48 hours in transit just to spend a few physical hours with people. It’s just not ideal for anyone.

Efe: What advice would you give to a new graduate or an experienced professional who wants to become a VC or find a job at a VC firm? How can they start adding value to startups and VCs?

Mert: My friend Margo has this amazing analogy where she compares startup investing to dating. I think the analogy fits perfectly here — I’d treat breaking into VC as finding and convincing your loved one for a relationship. Accordingly, my advice is to put in the effort to prepare for any interactions.

Few ideas below:

1. Strategize deeply before deciding on who to reach out (seed fund, AI-focused growth equity fund, fintech focused fund …).
2. Doing your due diligence on the person and their firm.
3. Build/hone in your know-how and strengths in terms of an industry, technology or a business model.
4. Prepare a tailored agenda for each startup/VC interaction based on findings above. This will help keep things interesting and efficient.

These are underrated activities that dramatically increase the chances of landing a value-add opportunity. Afterwards, I think they can add the biggest value by:

• Providing introductions to relevant startups/incubators/investors/LPs.
• Informing folks about the recent trends/developments in their markets of interest and provide their takeaways and predictions.

I’d like to thank Mert for joining me and sharing some great insights for the VC Talks.

We’ll interview new VCs and investors every episode, so if you’d like to attend or know someone who would, please DM me via Twitter. Also happy to hear your feedback and if you enjoyed the VC Talks please follow, comment and share with your friends.