Heads up:the schedule isn't final yet. These are placeholder events to show the shape of the week. Names, times and details will still change.
Workshops, founder socials and partner sessions across Istanbul. Sign in to RSVP, track your invitations, and meet the founders in the room.
Have an event idea? Pitch it →
Bring your live paywall. A RevenueCat-led panel takes it apart on stage: pricing, copy, the trial toggle, the button nobody taps. Founders volunteer their real screens; the room argues over what's quietly killing conversions, then rebuilds it together, live. First session of the week, Monday morning at Galataport, coffee still warm. You walk out with a marked-up screenshot and a short list of things to test this week.
App Store and Google Play reviewers sit down with founders to answer what a support ticket never will: why a build got rejected, how subscription policy actually reads, what the review team really weighs. Bring the rejection email, or the edge case that's been stalling your release. Monday afternoon at Galataport, straight answers, no PR gloss. For most founders, this is the closest they'll ever get to the people holding the keys.
The week opens on the water. A small fleet pushes off into the Bosphorus at dusk, founders spread across the decks as the strait turns gold, then dark. No badges, no agenda, just slow conversation, cold drinks, and two continents lit up on either side. By the time the Asian shore goes quiet, you'll have met half the people you came to find. Monday, 8pm, the proper way to start a week like this.
A 5k along the Golden Horn while the sun comes up over the Galata Bridge, fishermen already casting their lines. Easy pace, no race, just founders who'd rather trade notes at a jog than over a slide deck. Somewhere around the second kilometer you'll fall into step with someone new and finish with a real conversation going. Tuesday, 7:30am. Coffee's waiting at the end for everyone who shows up.
A working session on the money side of a subscription app: price points, packaging, trial length, the difference a hard paywall makes versus a soft one. You'll run the numbers on real scenarios rather than hypotheticals and pressure-test your own pricing against the room. Bring your current plan and your conversion rate. Tuesday morning in Karaköy, whiteboards out, calculators open.
Sit down one-on-one and take your App Store and Play listing apart line by line: title, screenshots, and the first three words that decide whether anyone taps install. No generic advice here; someone looks at your actual metadata and tells you exactly where you're leaking installs. Bring the listing, ideally your keyword rankings too. Tuesday afternoon in Karaköy. You walk out with a prioritized fix list, not a slide deck of best practices.
A podcast recorded right in front of you, with founder guests who drop the polished version and say what actually happened: the near-death months, the pricing mistake, the hire they got wrong. Sit in the room, catch the asides that never make the final cut, ask a question if you've got one. Tuesday afternoon in Şişhane. Off-script, on the record, and better for it.
One long table, candlelight, a set menu and no phones on the cloth. This one's for founders past the early scramble: the talk runs to hiring at fifty people, second products, the parts of the job nobody warns you about. Everything said stays at the table. Tuesday evening in Cihangir, and it tends to run late; the last few usually close the place down.
Roll, slice and plate your own sushi under a chef who makes it look effortless. You'll learn to properly handle rice, fish and a knife, then build a set you're genuinely proud of. It's hands-on, low-pressure and surprisingly social; the shared table does the introductions for you. Tuesday evening in Şişli. You leave a little better at something new, and a few names richer.
Hands-on product and growth workshops hosted at the MadDuck office in Maslak. Practical, small-group sessions with real, usable takeaways instead of slideware; you'll work through actual problems alongside operators facing the same ones, with time to compare notes. Bring a current challenge, leave with a sharper answer. Tuesday afternoon. The kind of room where the hallway conversations are worth as much as the sessions.
The whole session is about the users who leave and how to keep them. Churn curves, win-back flows, the notification that rescues a lapsing subscriber versus the one that gets your app deleted. You'll work through the lifecycle mechanics that hold people past that brutal week-one drop. Wednesday morning in Levent. Bring your retention numbers if you want the sharpest feedback in the room.
The infrastructure session, run by the people who build it. Subscription plumbing, server-side receipt handling, and how to design experiments that tell you something instead of noise. Expect real implementation detail, not a product pitch: how top apps structure their paywall tests and read the results. Wednesday late morning in Levent. Come with the questions your own integration keeps raising.
An invitational under the stadium lights: doubles, a proper bracket, and a trophy that ends up on someone's shelf for years. Padel is easy to pick up and impossible to play quietly, so expect shouting, disputed line calls and instant alliances. Rackets and courts are sorted; just bring a partner or get drawn one. Wednesday afternoon in Beşiktaş. Competitive, sweaty, and the fastest friendships of the week.
Performance marketing with the maps on the wall. Creative testing, bidding, attribution headaches and the channels that quietly stopped working this year. It runs war-room style: bring a campaign that's underperforming and the group takes it apart, budget and all. Wednesday afternoon in Maslak. Practical, occasionally brutal, and the fastest audit your UA spend will ever get.
Get your hands properly dirty at the wheel, with a working ceramicist guiding you through it. You'll centre the clay, throw a piece and glaze it; beginners genuinely welcome, and we fire your piece and get it to you afterward. There's a focus that comes with the wheel that makes conversation flow easier, not harder. Wednesday afternoon in Karaköy. A calm, tactile antidote to a screen-heavy week.
Learn kintsugi, the Japanese craft of mending broken pottery with gold so the repair becomes the most beautiful part. A guide walks you through both the technique and the philosophy behind it: imperfection, resilience, the value in something that's been through a lot. It's a meditative hour, hands busy and head clear. Wednesday afternoon in Karaköy, and quietly one of the most memorable things you'll do all week.
A properly bracketed bowling night: teams, strikes, trash talk and a trophy actually on the line. Lanes, shoes and the first round are sorted, so just show up ready to compete or heckle. It's the easiest kind of fun to drop into, and the brackets throw together people who'd never otherwise share a lane. Wednesday night in Şişli. Loud, light and a guaranteed icebreaker.
Temper, mould and taste your way through a hands-on session with a chocolatier who lets you get properly involved. You'll learn how good chocolate is actually made, then make and eat your own. It's sweet, tactile and hard to leave, the kind of relaxed room where conversation comes easily. Wednesday afternoon in Karaköy. You go home with a box of what you made and a few new contacts.
An Apple-themed pub quiz played in teams: trivia, prizes and a healthy amount of heckling. It rewards the right mix of product nerds, history buffs and lucky guessers, so build a balanced table. Low pressure, genuinely funny, and a fast way to bond over shared obsessions. Wednesday night in Kadıköy. Sharp minds and good sports equally welcome.
A hands-on Anatolian cooking class with a Michelin-trained chef, held in Kadıköy on the Asian side. You actually cook: knife work, a few regional dishes, the techniques behind them, then you plate up and eat what you made together. It's messy, warm and far more bonding than a networking drink. Thursday late morning. Come hungry; you'll leave full and with a table's worth of new people.
Measurement without the hand-waving. Attribution models, cohort analysis, LTV forecasting and incrementality: proving a channel actually caused the installs instead of just taking credit for them. You'll work through real datasets and the traps that make dashboards lie. Thursday afternoon in Kadıköy. For anyone tired of numbers that look great and mean nothing.
One founder who's built at real scale, one honest conversation, candlelight in a Galata room as the afternoon goes dark. No keynote, no slides; just the story with the varnish off, including the parts that went wrong. Questions from the floor are the whole point, so bring one that's been nagging you. Thursday, 5pm. Small room, small crowd, the kind of talk you remember longer than any panel.
A villa on the Bosphorus in Sarıyer, a grill going since dusk, lantern light and the smell of mangal drifting off the water. Plates keep coming, the raki keeps pouring, and the talk drifts from launches to everything else. No structure, no end time; by midnight the clusters have formed and nobody's checking the hour. Thursday, 7pm. Dress for a garden and plan to stay.
Split into teams and cook against the clock, with a chef calling the shots and keeping score. Expect big flavours, friendly sabotage and the particular bonding that only happens over a shared cutting board. No culinary experience required; the chef runs every station, you bring the competitive streak. Thursday evening in Beşiktaş. When the timer stops, you sit down and eat what you made, together.
A guided tasting through a flight of standout Turkish labels, with a sommelier who makes the learning painless. You'll leave actually knowing what you like and why: grapes, regions, and the stories behind a few bottles worth remembering. It's relaxed and paced for talking as much as tasting. Thursday evening in Cihangir. A civilised way to spend a night among people building interesting things.
A led whiskey tasting through regions, tasting notes and how to actually nose a dram. Small group, generous pours and a guide who knows the good stories, not just the tasting sheet. It's built for lingering, the kind of slow session where the best conversations of the week surface. Thursday night in Beşiktaş. Novices and enthusiasts both leave knowing a little more.
A night of live stand-up in an intimate Kadıköy room, with founders in the crowd rather than on stage. Sit back, switch the laptop-brain off and laugh with a group that's been in back-to-back sessions all week. It's low-effort, high-reward downtime, no networking pressure, just a shared good time that bonds people anyway. Thursday night, drinks flowing, phones down.
A curated night at Zorlu PSM, one of Istanbul's best venues: live theatre or performance, done properly. It's culture as downtime, shared and memorable, a welcome change of register from a week of sessions and socials. Seats are arranged; you just arrive and take it in. Thursday evening in Levent. A refined night among good company, with plenty to talk about after.
The first sixty seconds decide whether a user ever comes back, and this session is entirely about them. Activation moments, the aha that has to land fast, and the exact screens where people quietly leave. You'll map your own onboarding flow and find the cliff you didn't know you had. Friday morning in Karaköy. Bring a build on your phone; you'll be poking at it live.
A room, a clock, and a lot of decks. You get a tight run of one-on-ones with VCs actively writing cheques into mobile: fast intros, sharp questions, and honest signal on whether there's a fit before either of you sinks a month into it. Have your ask and your numbers ready; the timer is not sentimental. Friday afternoon in Levent. Come tuned up, leave with a shortlist of real follow-ups.
A mini-hackathon with a single rule: ship an AI feature into your real app by midnight. Bring your codebase, grab a desk, and go; there are people around who've done it before if you get stuck on the API or the prompt. It's caffeinated, focused and genuinely productive. Friday evening in Şişhane. Demos at the end for anyone brave enough to push to prod live.
A film under the open sky in Cihangir: blankets, bean bags and proper snacks, the city glowing behind the screen. It's the soft landing after a week of early starts and full rooms: low effort, high comfort, no small talk required. Come as you are, claim a spot, let the week wind down. Friday night, and the best conversations happen in the queue and long after the credits roll.
Paint a canvas with a glass in hand and zero pressure to be any good at it. A host walks the room through a piece step by step, but the painting was never the point; it's the loose, creative couple of hours and the people beside you. Materials and the first pour provided. Friday evening in Galata. A reliably fun, disarming way to meet a room, especially after a heavy week.
A modern take on the classic Istanbul meyhane: a long table of shared meze, raki poured properly, and the kind of evening that just keeps stretching. It's the most local way to end a night, food that keeps arriving, conversation that keeps going, nowhere to rush off to. Friday evening in Kadıköy. Come hungry and ready to sit a while; this is where the week's acquaintances turn into actual friends.
Get behind the bar and learn to shake, stir and build the classics, with a pro talking you through each one. You'll leave with three drinks in your repertoire and, more usefully, a few new names in your phone. It's hands-on and social by design; mixing and tasting together does the introductions for you. Friday evening in Cihangir. Equal parts skill and good time.
A bracketed beer-pong tournament, equal parts skill, luck and theatrics. It's loud, a little silly and the single quickest icebreaker of the week; nobody stays a stranger across a table of cups. Teams are drawn to mix the room and the first round's on the house. Friday night in Kadıköy. Come for the competition, stay for the group that forms around it.
Learn to beatmatch and mix on real decks with a resident DJ guiding you hands-on, no experience needed. You'll go from never having touched a mixer to playing a short set of your own by the end. It's creative, a bit addictive and a genuinely fun room to be in. Friday, late, in Karaköy. Leave with a new skill and a much better sense of what's happening in the booth.
The week's builders take the stage: short product demos, tight pitches, real apps shown live rather than in slides. Some are launching, some are months in, all are getting honest reactions from a room that knows exactly how hard it is. Saturday late morning at Galataport. Watch what everyone's been quietly building all week, and heckle kindly.
Squad versus squad in the woods outside the city: cover, flanking, a lot of shouting and the occasional dive into the mud. Gear's provided and the marshals keep it safe, so it's as tactical or as chaotic as your team makes it. Nothing reveals who you'd actually go into business with faster than watching them under fire. Saturday afternoon in Maslak. Wear what you don't mind ruining.
Timed laps, a real grid and a podium at the end, with sponsored champagne for whoever crosses the line first. It's growth people doing what they do best: optimizing a lap time to the millisecond and arguing about it afterward. Karts and gear are sorted; the bragging rights you earn on track. Saturday night in Maslak. Fast, loud, and the leaderboard follows people around for the rest of the week.
Swap the meeting room for open water. You'll crew a sailboat out of Bebek onto the Bosphorus with a small group of founders, taking turns at the helm while the skipper handles the technical side. No experience needed. Gliding between two continents with the skyline on both banks, the conversation tends to go somewhere real. Saturday morning, calm and genuinely memorable, with people you'll still be talking to long after the week ends.
A guided ride through the wooded trails north of the city, matched to your comfort level whether or not you've been on a horse before. Instructors cover the basics, then it's open air, birdsong and a rare hour completely off your phone. Something about moving at a horse's pace resets the head. Saturday late morning in Sarıyer: small group, calm setting, and real talk between founders who needed the break.
A high-ropes park strung between the trees: zip-lines, wobbling bridges and canopy courses, with an easier line on every route for first-timers. Harnesses, helmets and coaching all provided. It's playful, a bit challenging, and a great leveller; titles vanish once everyone's clipped in twenty feet up. Saturday afternoon in Sarıyer. Cheering a stranger across a gap turns out to be excellent networking.
Friendly doubles on court in Etiler, all levels welcome, rackets provided. Quick rotating games keep it social rather than serious, so you'll play alongside people you've only just met and leave having actually connected. A proper sweat, a bit of competition and none of the pressure. Saturday morning. Come warm up the body and the network at the same time.
A gentle, all-levels flow by the water in Bebek as the light goes soft over the city. Instructor-led, mats provided, zero experience required. Twenty-odd minutes in, the travel loosens out of your shoulders and the noise in your head quiets down. It's a grounding way to bookend a full week, with a calm crowd and a wide-open view. Saturday; stay for the easy conversation after.
Nine holes of low-stakes, high-laughs mini golf, casual and quick and impossible to take too seriously. Groups rotate, so you play alongside people you've just met, which turns out to be a perfect low-pressure way to connect. Clubs and balls provided; competitive streaks optional but likely. Saturday afternoon in Levent. Come for an easy hour and leave with the room warmed up.
Brave a live, actor-driven haunted house with the group, jump scares fully guaranteed. It's not for the faint-hearted and it's absolutely hilarious for everyone watching each other flinch. Going in together is the whole point; you come out with a shared story and a lot of adrenaline. Saturday night, late, up in Sarıyer. A genuinely different, unforgettable way to spend a night.
A friendly rapid-chess tournament, all ratings welcome from casual to club-level. Quick games keep it moving, with a clear bracket and a clear winner at the end. It's quiet, focused fun, the kind of head-to-head that builds a surprising amount of respect between opponents. Boards and clocks provided. Saturday afternoon in Karaköy; bring your opening of choice.
Three minutes in the ice, fifteen in the sauna, repeat, with a guide running the breathwork so nobody just white-knuckles it. It's a hard reset before the flight home: the cold shuts the noise off and the sauna talk gets surprisingly honest. Sunday morning in Cihangir, all levels, no heroics required. Come a little nervous, leave clear-headed and oddly close to the people who shivered next to you.
The last shared meal: a full Turkish breakfast laid out on marble, no agenda but a slow morning. Little plates everywhere, endless tea, and the easy conversation of people who spent a week together and are about to scatter. Sunday, 11:30 in Karaköy. Business cards change hands, promises to stay in touch get made, and there's usually a round of applause before anyone leaves.
The week's send-off, on the Bosphorus, the whole room together one last time. A stage, a set of awards for the builders and the standout moments, and the collective exhale of a hundred-odd founders who've been going non-stop for seven days. Sunday, 7pm. Part ceremony, part reunion for people who were strangers on Monday. Stay for the last toast; it's the one everyone remembers.
A slow morning paddle along a sheltered stretch of coast up in Sarıyer, at a pace anyone can manage. Kayaks, paddles and a short safety briefing are provided; all you bring is a willingness to be on the water before the day gets loud. It's half light exercise, half quiet conversation, the kind of unhurried start that makes the rest of Sunday sharper. Small group, easy introductions, nobody in a rush.
Throttle through forest tracks in a convoy of quad bikes: dust, mud and a lot of laughing. Full safety gear and a guided route mean it's as tame or as spirited as you want. Nothing breaks the ice between near-strangers faster than sliding through a corner together. Sunday morning up in Sarıyer's woods. Come for the adrenaline, leave in a group chat that's still going next week.
Wheel-to-wheel heats on a proper indoor track: timed laps, a real grid and a podium at the end. Karts, helmets and a safety brief are provided; the bragging rights you earn yourself. It's fast, loud and gloriously competitive, and nothing bonds a group like racing each other for a trophy. Sunday afternoon in Maslak. Come ready to find out who's secretly ruthless.
Stand-up paddleboarding on calm morning water off Bebek, genuinely easier than it looks and more fun than you'd expect. A short lesson gets everyone upright, then it's balance, breeze and the skyline mostly to yourselves. All gear provided. Sunday, 8am. Come for the reset, stay for the surprisingly good chats mid-water; a memorable, low-key way to start a day.
A long, bottomless Turkish breakfast served on a boat as the Bosphorus slides past. Endless plates, strong tea and absolutely nowhere to be, the most civilised possible start to a day. It's slow on purpose, built for real conversation instead of a rushed coffee. Sunday, 10am on the water. Come hungry, leave unhurried and better connected than when you boarded.