Alp Saul is a Turkish entrepreneur and businessman who founded Pronet, Next Generation Media, and Grupanya. He currently serves as the chairman of the board of Pronet and Grupanya and is also a board member of Endeavor Turkey. In this article of Zatrun.com, you can find everything you need to know about Alp Saul.

Who is Alp Saul?

Saul was born in Istanbul in 1971 and completed his university education in the United States, graduating from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Virginia in 1994. After finishing university, he founded Pronet with two of his friends, designing and installing electronic security systems for residential and commercial applications.

In the early 2000s, Saul founded Next Generation Media, which operated in the emerging digital signage industry, providing content and advertising on digital screens in public places such as shopping centres, airports, and metro stations. Next Generation Media was sold to one of the largest local outdoor advertising companies in 2014, and Saul left the company in 2015.

In 2006, Pronet began to employ “security guards,” and in response, Saul established Pronet Security Consultancy and Services. In 2010, Saul invested in Grupanya and became its CEO. He still serves as the chairman of the board for these three companies. Additionally, he is the President of GESIDER (Security Industry and Businessmen Association), a board member of the TOBB Young Entrepreneurs Council, and a board member of Endeavor Turkey. In 2007, he was one of five finalists for the “Entrepreneur of the Year” competition organized by Ernst&Young.

Alp Saul and Pronet

Pronet, founded in 1995 by Alp Saul and two friends, started with a capital of $10,000, half of which was provided by Saul and the other half by his two friends. The company, which would design this security system, was established in the garage of a building in Levent.

Saul and his friends first sold their systems to family and friends, but in 1996, Pronet won the contract to install access control and electronic security systems for one of the most famous shopping centres of the time, Akmerkez. This was a turning point for the company, which had 1,000 subscribers by the end of 2002 and 10,000 by the end of 2007.

Pronet describes itself as follows: “Since its inception, Pronet has been the preferred choice of both individual and corporate customers with its user-friendly and wide range of alarm and viewing systems that provide security solutions all over Turkey. The company has an esteemed customer portfolio, from banks and bank-affiliated branches and ATMs to leading retail store chains across Turkey.”

Grupanya

In 2009, Saul became a 50% partner with Cem Sertoglu in Grupanya, which was established as a daily deals website. Saul also served as Grupanya’s CEO. Grupanya was described as “one of the leading sites for online shopping in the region,” offering a range of deals on unexplored areas, entertainment, culture, and art.

Grupanya is a website that offers its users great discounts on undiscovered venues, entertainment, culture, and art in their local area. In their own words, Grupanya obtains discounts that you won’t find anywhere else from businesses and offers users a different opportunity every day. However, for a deal to become active, a certain number of people must purchase the deal.

Endeavor

Alp Saul serves as a board member for Endeavor, which was founded in 1997 by Linda Rottenberg and Peter Kellner and is headquartered in New York. The organization began its activities in Turkey in 2006 and has taken on the role of a thought leader in the Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem, just as it has done internationally.

Since its inception, the organization has identified fast-growing scale-up companies and provided them with support to accelerate their growth. Endeavor currently has offices in nearly 40 countries and offers a range of support to entrepreneurs through a network of local and international mentors and investors. Some of the successful Turkish companies selected by the organization include Yemeksepeti, Insider, Gram Games, iyzico, Foriba, and Peak Games.

In addition to Alp Saul, the Endeavor board includes esteemed individuals such as Ali Yildirim Koc, Suzan Sabanci Dincer, Nevzat Aydin, Murat Ozyegin, Cansen Basaran Symes, Ebru Ozdemir, Emre Kurttepeli (Chairman of the Board), Engin Aksoy, Fırat Isbecer, Ilker Kocler, Mehmet Tugal, Engin Aksoy, Fady Jameel, Hande Cilingir, Koray Bahar, and Tankut Turnaoglu.