Brainwaves by Burak Büyükdemir
Field notes from 26 years of investing in early-stage startups.
July 20, 2026
I made a video
· · ·
I spent the weekend building something that started as a short post. It became a PDF. Then it became my first hand-drawn animation, published on YouTube. Not because I have a channel plan. Because I kept adding one more layer instead of asking anyone what they thought of the first one.
That is the pattern I want to talk about.
I watch founders do this constantly, including close friends. The market goes quiet. No signups, no reply to outreach, no traction. Instead of sitting with that silence, they build another feature. A new dashboard. A better onboarding flow. Anything that keeps their hands busy and their inbox empty of bad news.
Silence feels like rejection. A new feature feels like progress. But progress you can measure alone in your own head is not progress. It is hiding with better production values.
I caught myself doing the exact thing I warn founders about. Post, then PDF, then animation, each step delaying the moment someone actually tells me it does not land.
Building more is not always moving forward. Sometimes it is just a longer way to avoid the question.
So here it is, unfinished feedback and all. Tell me straight: does the idea land, is the video clear, should I make more of these. Just hit reply.
· · ·
|
SPONSORED BY SECRET BROKERAGE
Acquire sepet.com
A short, brandable 5-letter .com — premium real estate for a commerce, fintech, or consumer brand. Clean history, instantly pronounceable, globally deployable. Brokered by Secret Brokerage with escrow, confidentiality, and fast transfer.
|
|
Until next time,
Burak
Founder & Solo GP, Startupist Ventures Fund
|
|
Burak Büyükdemir
Founder & Solo GP, Startupist Ventures Fund · Startup Istanbul
Founder of Etohum & Startup Istanbul. Solo GP at Startupist Ventures. 26+ years building startup ecosystems across 170 countries.
|
“An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.”
— Pliny the Younger
Join 42,000+ founders who read every issue
No fluff. Just the lessons I wish someone had told me 20 years ago.
Fundraising frameworks
Founder psychology
Growth playbooks
Subscribe — It’s Free
Read by founders from YC, Techstars, 500 Global & 90+ countries. Unsubscribe anytime.
ALREADY SUBSCRIBED?
GO DEEPER.
Paid members get the full archive, every PDF I publish, a WhatsApp group where founders share war stories, and monthly meetups where we break things down live.
| ✓ Full post archive |
✓ Founder WhatsApp group |
| ✓ All PDFs & frameworks |
✓ Live meetups & webinars |
Unlock the Full Experience
About this newsletter: You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Burak’s Brainwaves. Every week, I share ideas on fundraising frameworks, founder psychology, and growth playbooks from 20+ years of investing in early-stage startups.
Update your subscription preferences: unsubscribe from all emails, or manage your subscriber profile.
Startup Istanbul · Istanbul, Turkey