Dropping out of Harvard to start a business , Demet Suzan Mutlu scaled Trendyol to become Turkey ’ s leading ecommerce platform and its first decacorn
TRAILBLAZER
The entrepreneur who created Turkey ’ s first decacorn
Dropping out of Harvard to start a business , Demet Suzan Mutlu scaled Trendyol to become Turkey ’ s leading ecommerce platform and its first decacorn
Some of the biggest tech businesses are built on ‘ failure ’. Like Microsoft ' s Bill Gates and Meta ' s Mark Zuckerberg , Demet Suzan Mutlu dropped out of Harvard and started a business that has soared from dining table to decacorn . The Turkish entrepreneur founded Trendyol in 2009 and over the last 12 years has taken the ecommerce startup to dizzying heights – from a single shopping site to an ecommerce marketplace model valued at US $ 16.5bn .
Not only is Trendyol now the leading ecommerce platform in Turkey but it lays claims to being the country ’ s first tech unicorn – and following a US $ 1.5bn raise last year , became its first decacorn .
Pretty impressive considering it was launched just 10 years prior at a dining table by then 28-year-old Mutlu . Being the CEO of a tech company , being a woman and being young is rare – but Mutlu makes it look effortless .
Growing the business – from dining table to decacorn After studying at New York University , where she graduated with the highest GPA in the economics department , Mutlu spent time working in brand management for companies like Altria , Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckier , in Switzerland , Japan , the US and Turkey , before beginning her MBA at Harvard Business School in 2008 .
Spotting a gap in the fashion ecommerce market in Turkey , she took a punt , dropping out of Harvard and bootstrapping US $ 300,000 of her own funds to set up shop – launching a platform aimed at making fashion accessible for everyone .
16 November 2022