# Goboti (2012 – 2013)

- URL: https://girisimcikafasi.com/en/startup-graveyard/goboti/
- Sector: E-commerce
- Country: Turkey
- Total funding: unknown
- Cause of closure: Business model failed

## What did it do?

Goboti was an e-commerce site launched in May 2012 that sold T-shirts by Turkish designers only. Each day it featured one designer and a T-shirt available that day. The site also partnered with the designer pool of Tasarti.com.

## Why did it shut down?

Although Goboti brought together some of the best-known names in the Turkish internet sector, it lasted only about a year and a half. Co-founder Nevzat Aydın told the daily Hürriyet that they had entered a phase requiring more investment and doubted they would get a return on it. According to Aydın, interest and sales were going well and there was growth potential. Writing on Pazarlamasyon, Ogün Coşkun suggested, as his own interpretation, that the site may have struggled to reach its sales targets and that T-shirt buying habits in Turkey played a part in this. Going by the founder's account, the decisive factor was less a lack of demand than concern about not getting a return on the investment that growth required.

## The story

In spring 2012 a partnership that caught the eye of the Turkish internet sector was formed. Markafoni's founders Sina Afra, Tolga Tatari and Ahmet Emre Sarı, Yemeksepeti's founder Nevzat Aydın and Mynet's founder Emre Kurttepeli came together in a company called Tasera Elektronik Hizmetler ve Ticaret A.Ş. The company's partners also included Kıvanç Arkaç and Bülent Haksal, who had earlier founded the designer T-shirt site Tasarti.com. Tasera's first project was Goboti.com, which went live on 24 May 2012.

Goboti's model was simple: the site sold only T-shirts by Turkish designers, featuring one designer and one T-shirt each day. Designers could apply through Tasarti.com, and designs entered into competitions there could also go on sale on Goboti. The site drew particular attention with T-shirts made for special occasions. In Pazarlamasyon's view, Goboti quickly became one of the important players in the T-shirt vertical.

In early November 2013 a short farewell message headed “Hoşçakalın” (“Goodbye”) appeared on the site. It thanked designers, customers and staff. Nevzat Aydın told Hürriyet that the company had reached a stage requiring more investment, but that they had doubts about the return on that investment. According to Aydın, sales and interest were actually going well; even so, they decided to part ways with the staff and close the site.

Goboti became an example showing that even experienced entrepreneurs can decide quickly and pull back from a new line of business. Rather than burning more money on growth, the team chose to close early. Hürriyet ran the story under the headline that this time the internet veterans had shut up shop early.

## Lessons

- A strong founding team does not prove that a business model will be profitable once it scales.
- Even when sales are going well, work out the unit economics of the next growth step.
- Selling a niche product in a daily-deal format creates constant pressure to find new customers.

## Sources

- [Goboti.com, co-owned by Sina Afra and Nevzat Aydın, launches (in Turkish)](https://sosyalmedya.co/goboti-acildi/)
- [Farewell from Goboti, a key start-up in the T-shirt vertical (in Turkish)](https://www.pazarlamasyon.com/tisort-dikeyinin-onemli-girisimi-gobotiden-veda)
- [This time the internet veterans shut up shop early (in Turkish)](https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/ekonomi/internet-duayenleri-bu-kez-dukkani-erken-kapatti-25066352)
- [The site founded by internet veterans has closed too (in Turkish)](https://www.patronlardunyasi.com/internet-duayenlerinin-kurdugu-site-de-kapandi)