Growth Circuit
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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What people most often ask before applying.

What is Growth Circuit?

A six-week accelerator for early-stage technology ventures. It continues the Yeni Fikirler Yeni İşler (YFYİ) programme, run since 2005 by ODTÜ, ODTÜ TEKNOKENT and the Elginkan Foundation.

Who can apply?

Teams working on a technology venture. Alongside METU students, alumni and academics, founders from outside METU can apply too.

You don’t need an incorporated company; B2B, B2C and deep-tech ventures are all welcome.

How much time does it take?

Around 20 hours a week for the length of the programme. That covers three sessions a week plus the field work in between — customer interviews, experiments, sales actions.

Is it online or in person?

Both. Monday trainings are online; Friday workshops, Bootcamp Day and Demo Day are in person. Wednesday sessions are online or in person depending on the topic.

How are teams selected?

Applications are pre-checked as they arrive, then scored by the programme team and a jury. We don’t just select — we also note each venture’s first support needs. Results are shared in the first week of November.

How does mentoring work?

On Bootcamp Day you’re matched with a lead mentor based on your needs, and you check in briefly every week. Specialist support — IP, finance, legal, enterprise sales — is brought in when you need it.

What will I have at the end?

Every week closes with something concrete: a customer profile and real interviews, a value proposition and market evidence, a validation experiment, a price test and growth experiments, an investment data room and a Demo Day–ready pitch.

Will I raise investment?

The programme focuses on making you investment-ready: a data room, an evidence file, an investment ask and a mock investment committee. Demo Day brings one-to-one meetings with interested investors and organisations.

Ideas that reach a certain maturity are also encouraged toward public funding such as TÜBİTAK’s BiGG programme.

What happens after the programme?

At 30, 60 and 90 days after Demo Day we check your progress on revenue, customers, pilots, investment and team together, and point you to the right support if a new need comes up.

Ready when you are

Applications are open until 25 October and reviewed as they arrive.

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Growth Circuit: two decades of Yeni Fikirler Yeni İşler, growing with a new-generation entrepreneurship ecosystem

Run successfully since 2005 through the collaboration of ODTÜ (METU), ODTÜ TEKNOKENT and the Elginkan Foundation, the Yeni Fikirler Yeni İşler programme (YFYİ — New Ideas, New Businesses) is bringing more than twenty years of experience together with a new ecosystem and continuing under the name Growth Circuit.

A pioneer in Türkiye’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, Yeni Fikirler Yeni İşler has, since its founding, helped grow a culture of entrepreneurship among younger generations, turned innovative ideas into technology-based companies, and supported young technology ventures in growing sustainably. Under the main sponsorship of the Elginkan Foundation, and with the long-standing support of our partners and investors, the programme achieved an important first for technology entrepreneurship in Türkiye, enabling a great many founders to turn their ideas into business models and into sustainable companies.

Today we are bringing the experience of that history together with ODTÜ’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem and with the Growth Circuit ecosystem. This combination builds a more integrated and more capable structure — one that supports not only the development of ideas, but the founding, growth, scaling and commercialisation of technology ventures. Our new-generation accelerator, Growth Circuit, carries the entrepreneurship and innovation mission that Yeni Fikirler Yeni İşler has held since its founding into the future, with the aim of growing together with founders.

From experience to strength, from idea to growth

The Growth Circuit accelerator no longer centres solely on developing a good idea, but on turning high-potential technology ventures into sustainable companies and accelerating their growth journeys. Through Growth Circuit we aim to give founders access to the right connections, experienced mentors, an investment perspective, and the ecosystem resources that will support their growth.

One of the programme’s key goals is to turn Türkiye’s potential in technology entrepreneurship into enduring, sustainable companies.

As in previous years, Growth Circuit will encourage business ideas that have reached a certain maturity and carry commercial and scaling potential to be directed toward public funding such as TÜBİTAK’s Individual Young Enterprise (BiGG) Support. The aim is to strengthen founders’ access to the financing they need and to contribute to the effective and efficient use of public resources.

In the long term, our goal is to help increase the number of companies that are focused on technology and innovation, able to open into global markets, capable of sustainable growth, and earning foreign currency for Türkiye.

With ODTÜ’s scientific and entrepreneurial depth, ODTÜ TEKNOKENT’s technology and innovation ecosystem and the investment experience of ODTÜ Yatırım Fonu, we will continue to support founders on the journey from idea to product, from product to company, and from company to sustainable growth.

Growth Circuit continues with the goal of being an ecosystem where not only new ideas, but the technology companies of the future, grow.