Ibrahim Colak - Raising Capital
Topic: Raising Capital
Here is the list of questions that we discussed with Ibrahim during our live coaching training:
- Tell us about yourself and MrUsta.
- Let’s talk about your growth stages from idea till now.
- Why did you seek external funding?
- At what point did you start thinking of external investment - before you even started your business or after?
- What was the major “business need” for the extra money? Did you have to be clear about this to the potential investors in your proposal or did they help you /
influence how the cash was spent to grow your firm once they decided to invest?
- Which area did you need the money for the most, marketing team, etc.
- Being based in Dubai, where did you start? Where did you go first? How did you look for potential investors? Was it through networking or recommendations or cold approach?
- If you could go back, would you still take the same path, what would you change?
- If you were ever rejected, do you know why? Any particular mistakes we can learn from, things to avoid, matters to be more elaborated with?
- How did you calculate your valuation, did you use an external company to help you with that?
- Did you write your own term sheets or did you hire lawyers?
- What is your role as the CEO of the company?
- What’s your advice to entrepreneurs listening?
Ibrahim Colak is the core founder and current Chief Executive Officer of mrUsta. Prior to launching mrUsta in 2014 with three other co-founders, Ibrahim spent the best of the past two decades in leading roles in engineering and marketing for global brands such as Vestel, Nokia, and Microsoft.
His core strength as a problem-solver for Nokia lead to the development of mrUsta, a company with the aim to solve the headache of customers trying to connect to the right service provider in the UAE and beyond.
His role at the helm of mrUsta has not gone without attracting attention, having been nominated for ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2014’, ‘Business Excellent Leadership Award’, and as testament to his vision, mrUsta was nominated for ‘Startup of the Year’ in 2016. In addition, mrUsta was awarded ‘Life-Admin App of the Year’, also in the same year.
Ibrahim and mrUsta have also become favorites with the media, having been featured in CNN, The National, Arabian Business, Entrepreneur Middle East, Inc. Arabia, and other leading international and regional news platforms.
Aside from his day-to- day corporate undertaking in mrUsta, Ibrahim also takes the time to mentor up-and- coming young entrepreneurs, helping them maneuver through the complexities of all aspects of running a start-up in the UAE.
Ibrahim holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Yildiz Technical University and an MBA from Beykent University, both top-tiered educational institutions in his native Istanbul, Turkey.
Links:
- Watch the training: Raising Capital
- Website: https://mrusta.com/
- Instagram: @mrustacom
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrustacom
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