Umut Vural — Career Path
TR/ENHis career from 2000 to today moved through five stages: web, e-commerce, digital marketing, research technology and Web3. What he did in each period, in order:
- 2000–2006
Digital Entrepreneur, then Web Manager · Independent · Senkron İstanbul
He started as an entrepreneur at 19 by building and selling websites, portals and forums. From 2004 to 2006 he worked as Web Manager at Senkron İstanbul. These were the years in which he learned technology, online business and digital customer acquisition by doing.
- 2006–2013
E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Manager · doremusic
In the early days of Turkish e-commerce he built the e-commerce team of the musical-instruments company from scratch and set up its online sales and digital marketing operation. According to his own account, e-commerce investment, ad planning and social media management grew the company's revenue 10–15x, and the site became number one in its market in Türkiye. In 2010 he came second in the company's internal Teamwork Award.
- 2013–2014
Digital Marketing Manager · IBC Agency
He moved to the agency side: responsible for online media planning and buying, annual digital strategy, social media vision, reputation and crisis management, competitor analysis, reporting and conversion tracking.
- 2014–2022
Founder & CEO · Dijans Dijital Pazarlama
He founded his own agency: with a team that grew to 15 people it provided digital strategy, advertising, e-commerce and online marketing. In these years he passed Google's advertising exams. Working directly with brands and their campaigns is what made him notice the research problem that later led to Adgager. From 2016 the agency ran in parallel with Adgager and continued its marketing work globally.
- 2015–2016
Editor-in-Chief · Kupa.Net
He was editor-in-chief of the sports news portal founded in June 2015, which ran on content from writers and editors.
- 2016–today
Founder & CEO · Adgager
He founded it as an online, community-based alternative to market research that was expensive, slow and open to manipulation. He took the company from the İTÜ Çekirdek incubator to serving more than 200 brands; it grew 420% in 2021 and 200% in 2022, and raised investment at a USD 6.6M valuation in 2023. He launched the AdQ, AdQ PreTest and AdTeams products, a consumer community that has grown to 90,000 people, and GAG Token.
- 2018–2026
CMO & Shareholder · Octo Networks
He headed marketing and was a shareholder at the platform that lets brands build their own community app. The platform offers networking, groups, messaging, events, live video, an admin dashboard and payments.
- 2022–2026
CEO · Give A Coin
He led the analysis platform that tracks the crypto market, publishes a detailed analysis of one project every day and scores projects in real time with AI.
- 2022–today
Startup Mentor · İTÜ Çekirdek
He mentors early-stage founders on business model, product-market fit, marketing, growth, customer validation and commercial strategy. Adgager itself came out of the same incubation programme in 2016.
You can ask
How does his technical background show in his career?
He comes from a technical background and it shows at every stage: he started with web development and today builds his own tools with AI.
- Education: electrical studies at Avcılar Technical High School and Zonguldak Karaelmas University.
- First jobs: at 19 he built and sold websites, portals and forums; Web Manager at Senkron İstanbul in 2004–2006.
- In 2014 his former manager Alper Hankendi called him 'a talented front-end developer'.
- Today he turns business requirements directly into working tools with Claude Code.
Answers are based only on Umut Vural's CV, LinkedIn profile and his own statements. Nothing outside the sources is made up.