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Merhaba
this is Kaan.
An economist by training, a consultant by day, a tech enthusiast, and a fairly relentless builder of small communities.
Currently at Bain & Company in Istanbul.
Currently
What I'm working on now
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Bain & Company
Associate Consultant
Solving the biggest problems of the region's largest companies.
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Diaspora Club
Co-founder
Bringing English-speaking Istanbul together.
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We Have Amazing Friends
Co-founder
Mentorship initiative connecting students with professionals around the world. 100+ students across 20+ colleges.
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Turkish Grief Community
Co-founder
A support community for people living with loss, and an attempt to change how quietly Turkey handles it.
Previously
Where I've been
Consulting, venture, startups. Click any of them for the short version.
Bain & Company Associate Consultant Since 2025
Solving the biggest problems of the region's largest companies.
Novus CEO Office 2024–25
Bringing enterprise AI into some of Turkey's largest institutions. Part of the early team. VC-backed, post-seed.
Earlybird Digital East Analyst 2024
Supporting visionary founders and startups in scaling transformative technologies. The top-performing VC fund globally since 2010.
Sertifier Growth 2022–23
Digital credentialing for institutions around the world. VC-backed SaaS.
School years
Where I learned things
Koç University. B.A. Economics & Business Administration, minor in International Relations, on a full-ride scholarship. I graduated 3rd in the Department of Economics. I taught econometrics and microeconomics to my peers as a teaching assistant, and worked as a research assistant to Dr. Selva Demiralp on the first Turkish Household Inflation Expectations Survey.
A semester at the National University of Singapore, ranked 8th in the world by QS, in 2024. Before that, Galatasaray High School in Istanbul, in French.
University Entrance Exam
51st out of 2.7 million.
High School Entrance Exam
1st in Turkey.
CFA Research Challenge
First among 43 universities across four countries.
Akbank Fellowship
One of 20 from 20,000+ applicants. Social impact and reverse mentorship.
TEV Scholarship
One of 50 from 4,000+, on leadership potential. Still part of the community it came with.
KYK Merit Scholarship
Top 100 undergraduates in Turkey, on the national entrance exam.
About me
Beyond the resume
I'm from Istanbul, and I grew up in a close family. My parents were both high school graduates who put education at the centre of the house, and my older brother set most of the trails I ended up walking.
I lost my father young. I don't treat grief as something to get through. It's something you carry and talk about out loud, and that is most of why the grief community exists.
Other than that: basketball since I was a kid, films and games, specialty coffee, and long conversations with people I like. Turkish, English, and enough French to get by.
Get in touch
Open to connecting. Especially if something here resonated with you.