Ilker Koksal
Serial founder (Finch, Botanalytics, Referbase) turning startup lessons into scalable products
San Francisco, California, United States
I'm a founder and builder at heart, currently Co-Founder & CEO of Finch Network. Previously, I co-founded Botanalytics, a conversational analytics company for bots and human agents backed by 500Startups and ACT Venture Partners, which I led from inception through 2020. Before that, I co-founded Referbase, a reference-based skill search platform that grew from 0 to 100k users and was acquired by Kariyer.net, Turkey's leading recruitment platform, in 2013. I've also spent time on the other side of the table as an Entrepreneur in Residence at ScaleX Ventures, where I built and led Founders Hub for B2B founders, and as a Growth Consultant at Bain & Company supporting Series A/B portfolio startups. I authored Founder's FAQ, a book distilling lessons from interviews with 50+ founders and investors behind companies like Airbnb, Stripe, and Slack, and I've written as a Forbes Contributor. My background spans software engineering, product, and growth, with a Computer Engineering degree from Bilkent University and an MBA from Koç University, plus executive coursework at Yale SOM and IE Business School.
Founder-Led Growth
I've taken companies like Referbase from 0 to 100k users and built Botanalytics from the ground up with backing from 500Startups & ACT Venture Partners — I know how to drive product and growth in early-stage startups.
Startup Playbook & Mentorship
Through Founders Hub at ScaleX Ventures and my book Founder's FAQ, I've distilled insights from 50+ founders and investors of companies like Airbnb, Stripe, and Slack into practical guidance for founders.
Product & Engineering Execution
With a Computer Engineering background and hands-on experience building front-end infrastructure and leading product at multiple startups, I can execute across the full product lifecycle.
Fundraising & Scaling Strategy
As a Growth Consultant at Bain & Company and EIR at ScaleX Ventures, I've advised Series A/B startups on fundraising, marketing, and growth strategy.
Finch Network
Co-founded and currently serve as CEO, building the company from January 2024.
2024 - Present
Botanalytics
Co-founded and led as CEO; a conversational analytics company for bots and human agents backed by 500Startups & ACT Venture Partners, improving human-to-bot communication via bottleneck identification and smart recommendations.
2015 - 2020
Referbase
Co-founded a reference-based skill search platform where users built portfolios via references, code challenges, and video uploads; grew the platform and developed its front-end infrastructure.
Grew 0 to 100k users; acquired by Kariyer.net in 2013
Founder's FAQ (Book)
Authored a guide answering the key questions founders face in the startup journey, based on interviews with 50+ founders, investors, and operators from companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Stripe, and Slack. Available on Amazon and expanded into a podcast (foundersfaq.com).
2020 - 2021
Co-Founder & CEO · Finch Network
January 2024 - PresentEntrepreneur in Residence · ScaleX Ventures
January 2022 - December 2023- Built and led Founders Hub, a cohort for B2B founders to scale their businesses by learning from top-tier operators and other founders.
- Supported the company's portfolio companies on product, marketing, fundraising, and growth efforts.
Growth Consultant · Bain & Company
June 2021 - May 2022- Supported Bain & Company's portfolio startups in their growth, primarily focusing on those in Series A and Series B stages.
Author · Founder's FAQ
September 2020 - August 2021- Founder's FAQ covers the answers to all the possible questions of a founder in a startup journey, revealing what works and what doesn't in the predictable journey of a startup.
- Interviewed more than 50 people for the book; founders who scaled their startups and exited, investors of Airbnb, Coinbase, Deliveroo, Gusto, HubSpot, Instacart, Kayak, Lyft, Opendoor, Robinhood, Slack, Snapchat, Snowflake, Square, Stripe, Twilio, Udemy, and sales, marketing, product leaders of high-growth startups.
Co-Founder & CEO · Botanalytics
September 2015 - February 2020- Botanalytics is a conversational analytics company for bots and human agents, backed by 500Startups & ACT Venture Partners.
- Built a service which improves human-to-bot communication by identifying bottlenecks, segmenting conversations, and giving smart recommendations.
Forbes Contributor · Forbes
January 2018 - January 2020Consultant · Google
April 2015 - September 2015- Worked with regional Google Analytics teams and UX consultants to design strategies to improve monetization on mobile for Google's e-commerce clients in Turkey.
- Created mobile audit analysis reports using industry research, Google 25 Principles studies, Google Mobile Friendly Tests, Google Page Speed Insights, benchmark studies, and search keyword optimization techniques.
- Presented mobile audit analysis reports for Google's clients across industries including Hepsiburada.com, Atlas Global, Morhipo, CepteTeb, Enuygun.com, Nissan, Tatil.com, Teknosa, İkinciYeni, Kia, and Tatilsepeti.com.
Co-founder · Referbase - Acquired by Kariyer.net
May 2012 - August 2015- Founded as a reference-based skill search platform where thousands of people managed and enhanced their skills by getting references, writing code to level up, and uploading videos to boost their portfolios.
- Managed the platform's product & growth, moving from 0 to 100k users.
- Developed the front-end infrastructure.
- In 2013, acquired by Kariyer.net, the leading recruitment platform in Turkey.