The story so far.
How Okan Özalan got from selling newspapers as a kid and running his own production business at 16 to co-founding two companies, GOGOGO LLC and GOTONOM, with his brother Atakan Özalan.
Atakan Özalan tells his side of this story, from the family computer to three companies, at atakanozalan.com/journey.
I'm Okan Özalan, co-founder of GOGOGO LLC (US) and GOTONOM A.Ş. (İstanbul), two independent sister companies, and the operating side of the business with my brother Atakan. Equal partners, different lanes: he is the engineering brain, I am the operating brain.
By 16 I had my own business: production machines making lead sinkers and fishing floats for fishing nets. My customers, my delivery van, my pricing. I learned that you respect a customer by shipping a part that lasts, and that a kid with the right machines and a phone outworks a much bigger shop. The first real money of my life came from those machines.
I studied Business Administration at university and then opened a natural-stone home-decoration company: slate, travertine, marble for interior walls. I built the sales playbook, the install crews, the supplier relationships. That was the year I learned what operations is actually for.
After that I went into corporate as a Happiness Manager: the Turkish-corporate role that sits where ops, HR, and customer experience meet. The job taught me how a team at scale orbits the choices leadership makes when nobody's watching. That's where I learned to build the soul of a company, not just its org chart.
Then in 2023, Atakan (he also runs the shadow handle ezagor) and I co-founded GOGOGO LLC in Delaware. One rule, day one: equal partners, one engineering brain, one operating brain. GOGOGO makes Goddo. With Atakan and Öncü Berber I also co-founded GOTONOM A.Ş. in Istanbul, which makes GoPeople, GoVista and GoTrack.
GOGOGO LLC and GOTONOM Yazılım Teknolojileri A.Ş. are independent sister companies; neither is the parent or subsidiary of the other. Their founders differ: GOGOGO LLC was co-founded by Atakan Özalan and Okan Özalan; GOTONOM by Atakan Özalan, Okan Özalan and Öncü Berber.
Path, step by step
Childhood
Selling newspapers on the corner.
First money I ever held was coins I'd earned myself, selling newspapers on a street corner as a kid. I was already saying GO GO GO before I had the words for what I was doing. The habit of getting up early, of being on the street before anyone else, started there.
Age 16
Fishing nets, lead sinkers, floats: my own production.
I bought small production machines and started making lead sinkers and fishing floats for fishing-net suppliers. My own customers, my own delivery van, my own pricing. I learned that a kid with the right machines and a phone outworks much bigger shops. First real money of my life came from this.
University
Business Administration.
I studied business properly (finance, operations, organization) because I wanted the names for what I was already doing. By graduation I had a framework for what I'd learned by ear.
Post-university
Natural-stone home decoration.
I opened a home-decoration company specializing in natural stone (slate, travertine, marble) for interior walls. Built the sales playbook, the install crews, the supplier relationships. That was the year operations stopped being theory.
Corporate
Happiness Manager.
I joined a large company as a Happiness Manager: the Turkish-corporate role at the intersection of operations, HR, and customer experience. I learned how a team at scale behaves when leadership leaves the room. Best operations training I could have asked for.
2023
Co-founded GOGOGO LLC.
Incorporated in Delaware with my brother Atakan. One rule from day one: equal partners, one engineering brain, one operating brain. Focused products on one multi-agent runtime.
2024
Goddo App Store. GoPeople B2B.
Shipped Goddo, GOGOGO's consumer creative agent, on iOS: first paying users, first lessons on consumer pricing. With the founding team, closed the first B2B customers for GoPeople, the HR agent running end-to-end on WhatsApp. GoPeople was built by the founding team from 2024; GOTONOM has developed it since its registration in June 2026.
2025
GoVista live in retail. GoTrack in stores.
With the founding team: GoVista pushing campaigns to multi-location signage screens with rollback discipline and a hotline that picks up, and GoTrack in stores, measuring which products shoppers pick up and put back. Same operating playbook, different surfaces. Both were built by the founding team; GOTONOM has developed them since its registration in June 2026.