Tolga Tanriseven

Tolga Tanriseven (Turkish: Tolga Tanrıseven) is a Turkish American entrepreneur from St. Louis who since 2008, has served as the president of GirlsAskGuys, a multilingual platform that allows men and women to pose questions to those of the opposite gender about social life, which is currently based out of University City, Missouri.[1][2] Tanriseven received his Bachelor's degree in computer engineering from his native Turkey in 2001, and received a full scholarship to emigrate to the United States and attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) where he started graduate school in 2003. However, he left after being offered a software engineering job at MonsterCommerce in 2004.[3][4] His inspiration to start GirlsAskGuys stems from wanting to minimize the gender gap,[5] after feeling "sorry for the guys stumbling around in downtown bars" trying to get dates:[6][1]

I kept seeing a lot of rejections from both sides...It wasn't about who approached who. Instead the issue I kept seeing was guys were approaching girls the ways they thought was right or cool instead of figuring out how girls liked to be approached. Vice-versa was true as well in the rare cases where a girl approached a guy.--Tolga Tanriseven[7]

Tolga Tanriseven
Alma materIşık University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
OccupationPresident of GirlsAskGuys
Years active2008–present

Tolga Tanrisevn was able to raise $1 million for GirlsAskGuys in order to "add other languages at the rate of one every two or three months", making this social media platform reach an international audience, in addition to its current English-speaking users, as well as its Turkish-speaking audience.[8][9][10] As such, in May 2014, Tanriseven added Spanish compatibility to his brainchild, GirlsAskGuys.[11][12]

In 2015 Tolga was included on the "40 under 40" list on the St. Louis Business Journal.[13] He has been featured in media like Forbes,[14] The Next Web,[15] Huffington Post[16] and the Search Engine Journal.[17]

References
  1. Feldt, Brian (20 May 2014). "GirlsAskGuys launches Spanish version, web traffic rises". St. Louis Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 28 September 2014. Tanriseven created GirlsAskGuys in 2008, when he said he recognized a need for men and women to better communicate. The company’s office is in University City, where it employs approximately a dozen people.
  2. Feldt, Brian (17 September 2013). "GirlsAskGuys: A $1 million proposition". St. Louis Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 27 September 2014. Question and answer startup GirlsAskGuys has raised $1 million and has added one of St. Louis’ most notable entrepreneurs to its board of advisors, company officials announced Monday. The funding round was led by an $800,000 investment made by O’Brien Capital, a Clayton-based private equity firm, said GirlsAskGuys founder and President Tolga Tanriseven. Tanriseven created GirlsAskGuys in 2008, when he said he recognized a need for men and women to better communicate. The company has its office in University City, where it employs nearly a dozen people.
  3. Deutsch, Claudia (4 April 2014). "Tanriseven's GirlsAskGuys Takes Off As Opposite Sex Q&A Portal". Techli. Retrieved 28 September 2014. Thirteen years ago, Tolga Tanriseven was 21, had just earned his degree in computer engineering in Turkey, and wanted to see a bit of the world before settling down to full-time geek work. His uncle and brother were both at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, so it made sense to him to come too – particularly since the university gave him a full scholarship and a paid job in its tech office. Tanriseven earned a computer engineering masters, decided to stick around for a second masters in computer science. But Monster Commerce, a local ecommerce company, offered him a job, and he couldn’t resist. He left school and went to work full time.
  4. Koca, Ali Altuğ (28 July 2011). "KizlarSoruyor.com: Kadın ve Erkeklerden Aynı Soruya Farklı Cevaplar" (in Turkish). Webrazzi. Retrieved 27 September 2014. GirlsAskGuys.com’un kurucusu Tolga Tanrıseven, 12 yıl önce Bilgisayar Mühendisliği üzerine yüksek lisans yapmak için gittiği ABD’de kalmış. Halen de Amerika’da NetworkSolutions’ta Engineering Manager Of Ecommerce olarak çalışmaya devam ediyor.
  5. Diffin, Stephanie (8 July 2014). "Tech conference to show off STL startups". KSDK. Retrieved 28 September 2014. Tanriseven says that gender gap became glaring apparent to him while he was observing other people interact while he was out with his girlfriend back in 2008.
  6. Toler, Lindsay (14 April 2012). "Girls Ask Guys: St. Louis Startup Will Answer All Your Embarrassing Sex, Dating Questions". The Riverfront Times. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  7. Froman, Abraham (21 June 2014). "GirlsAskGuys Closing Cross-Gender Gap". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 September 2014. Founded in 2007 by Turkish-immigrant Tolga Tanriseven, he dreamt it up at a bar with a friend. Both had girlfriends, so they weren't making any, well, moves. Rather, they watched other girls and guys hit on each other. "I kept seeing a lot of rejections from both sides," Tanriseven recently said. "It wasn't about who approached who. Instead the issue I kept seeing was guys were approaching girls the ways they thought was right or cool instead of figuring out how girls liked to be approached. Vice-versa was true as well in the rare cases where a girl approached a guy."
  8. Reilly, Christopher (2 October 2013). "St. Louis Startup Scene: Gabe Lozano Hacks, Girls Ask Guys (Guys Say Yes), Sparo Labs Breathing Easier". Alive. Retrieved 27 September 2014. GirlsAskGuys—a platform that allows men and women to ask questions about relationships and dating to members of the opposite sex—has raised $1 million and lassoed Jim McKelvey for its board of advisors. A large portion, $800,000, came via an investment by O’Brien Capital, a Clayton-based private equity firm. Founder and President of GirlsAskGuys, Tolga Tanriseven, said about a half dozen other investors had money in the round. The money will be used to add other languages at the rate of one every two or three months. The company already has a Turkish version, which is one of that country’s most visited websites.
  9. Fırat Demirel (31 October 2013). "GirlsAskGuys.com'a 1 milyon dolar yatırım geldi" (in Turkish). Webrazzi. Retrieved 27 September 2014. ABD’de Tolga Tanrıseven ve Jen Heil tarafından kurulan GirlsAskGuys.com Amerikalı yatırımcılardan 1 milyon dolar yatırım aldı ve önemli bir isim şirketin danışma kuruluna dahil oldu.
  10. BÜLTENİDİR, Basin (11 May 2013). "Türk İnternet Girişimine ABD'de yatırım: GirlsAskGuys.com" (in Turkish). Doğan News Agency. Retrieved 27 September 2014. GirlsAskGuys.com, geçtiğimiz ay O’Brien Capital'dan 800 bin dolar ve diğer yatırımcılardan 200 bin dolar olmak üzere toplam 1 Milyon dolar yatırım aldı. O’Brien Capital’ın kurucusu Bob O’Brien aynı zamanda GirlsAskGuys.com’un danışma kuruluna katıldı. “Gelişimindeki bu önemli dönüm noktasında GirlsAskGuys ekibi ile ortaklığımız, bizi inanılmaz bir şekilde heyecanlandırıyor. İnşa ettikleri online topluluğun büyüme hızı, geçtiğimiz sene büyük bir patlamayla kendini gösterdi. Bundan sonraki geliştirmeler sayesinde, kullanıcı deneyiminin de gelişeceğine ve platformun istikrarlı bir şekilde yükselişini sürdürüceğine inanıyoruz.” Bob O’Brien. Silikon Vadisi’nin tanınmış ismi de artık danışma kurulunda. Bob O’Brien’in yanı sıra Twitter’ın kurucusu Jack Dorsey’nin mobil ödeme şirketi Square’deki ortağı Jim McKelvey de GirlsAskGuys danışma kuruluna katıldı.
  11. Feldt, Brian (20 May 2014). "GirlsAskGuys launches Spanish version, web traffic rises". St. Louis Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 28 September 2014. GirlsAskGuys, a St. Louis-based startup that allows men and women to ask questions of one another about dating and relationships, recently launched a Spanish version of its website in an effort to boost revenue and web traffic. Eventually, GirlsAskGuys founder and President Tolga Tanriseven said, the company will roll out a new language every two to three months now that it has rewritten its platform to be more user friendly and efficient.
  12. Kelimeler, Anahtar (11 May 2013). "Türkiyeli girişimcinin kurduğu sosyal paylaşım platformuna ABD'den yatırım!". MedyaTava. Retrieved 27 September 2014. Platformun İngilizce ve Türkçe dışındaki dillerde versiyonları da yolda. İlk olarak İspanyolca versiyonun Nisan 2014 tarihinde yayına başlaması hedefleniyor.
  13. "Tolga Tanriseven, 35". St. Lous Business Journal. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  14. "11 tips for a Growing and Active Engaged Online Community". Forbes. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  15. "9 (often overlooked) things to consider before going mobile-first". The Next Web. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  16. "8 Red Flags to Watch for on a Potential Hire's LinkedIn Profile". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  17. "14 Ways to Amp Up Your Content Marketing Strategy for 2015". Search Engine Journal. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
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