Would You Play with Me?

In October 1974, an album was released that stood apart from the Anatolian pop and arrangement-heavy music of the time. Its lyrics were unlike anything before—rebellious, unconventional, and boundary-pushing. A full-page ad in the popular music magazine Hey read:
"You've never heard a long-play like this in Turkish Pop Music before."

In an era when the music market relied on releasing 45 RPM records (typically containing just two tracks), and only if a collection of these succeeded would they be compiled into an LP (long-play), Ali Kocatepe took the risk of releasing a full album outright.

A few weeks later, the LP entered the 50-record chart at the very bottom—and dropped out entirely the following week.

Today, fifty years after its release, that same LP is celebrated as a timeless classic.

When I was invited to write my first piece for BV Portföy, a firm that forgoes conventional investment management in favor of disruptive innovation and cutting-edge, future-shaping technologies, I knew this was the story I had to tell.

I was especially inspired by the launch of Turkey's first mutual fund (BTE) composed of at least 80% gaming and technology stocks. It’s a fund—and an investment philosophy—that doesn’t just look at financials. It invests in companies that truly understand the rules of the game, and that will thrive through technological transformation.

Would You Play with Me? is a remarkable 14-track album that begins with a simple “Good morning,” and then gently tells stories—without preaching, posturing, or reproach—and ends just as humbly, with another “Good morning.”

So let me start the same way:

Good morning!