Breaking the cloud monopoly: Kinesis Network becomes our second Brilliant Minds investment.

The Kinesis Network team: Baris Saydag, Bina Khimani and Hamza Ak.

Kinesis Network is solving a painfully obvious problem: GPUs are overpriced and inaccessible, choking AI innovation. With demand for GPUs skyrocketing, the big players in cloud computing have made scaling expensive and limiting for most businesses. Kinesis flips the script.

They’ve built a platform that taps into unused computing capacity, redistributing it in a way that’s secure, cost-effective, and scalable. Clients save up to 90% on costs while accessing the resources they need to innovate.

What sealed it for me was the team. Baris, Bina and Hamza are visionary, experienced, and execution-focused. They’ve built and scaled platforms at AWS, Microsoft, and IBM, combining technical expertise with a deep understanding of the market. Their ability to think big, adapt quickly, and form key partnerships sets them apart.

Brilliant Minds exists to back founders who are solving big problems and building the future. Kinesis Network fits that mission perfectly. This is just the start for them, and I couldn’t be more excited to support their journey!

Proud to be one of their first investors. I had a great chat with Bina, Hamza, and Baris about their vision and what’s next. Check it out below!

What was the turning point in your career that led you to become an entrepreneur?

Hamza: For me, there wasn't a single turning point —it was a series of gradual changes over time. Richard Dawkins uses a metaphor where if you line up portraits of your parents, their parents, and so on, each one closely resembles the last. However, if you go back far enough, you'd eventually see a fish staring back at you. It shows how big changes happen gradually and almost imperceptibly. Similarly, in my career, each experience steered me toward this path, and one day I found myself eager to leave the comfort of the corporate world and venture into the wilderness of entrepreneurship.

Bina: The turning point in my career was rediscovering my entrepreneurial dream. Early in my career, I was an entrepreneur, and always envisioned myself as an entrepreneur. While I was in corporate jobs, my family and friends never stopped challenging me, reminding me that I could achieve so much more if I just bet on myself. Their belief in me always kept me thinking about when to get back on that path, and when I saw the incredible potential of generative AI to revolutionize how we create and innovate, it all clicked. I realized this was my moment to take the leap and build something transformative.

Baris: Seeing my 4-year-old building freely with Legos. He was so happy and so free and so creative. In contrast, I was in a very large corporate organization with a very mature product. Any change or improvement proposal met a lot of speed bumps such as legacy compatibility, 3 different layers of managements’ differing priorities, compatibility with sister teams, etc. While I understand them, it just didn’t suit me as an engineer full of energy for building things. Changing teams could be an option, but instead I changed the life. Cold turkey quit the well-paying corporate life, and started developing products from ground up. Lots of wrong turns in the beginning, but wouldn’t change the experience for anything else.

What is your biggest strength as an experienced founder?

Bina: Understanding customer needs and ensuring a product-market fit. I excel at identifying market gaps, leveraging strategic insights, solving complex problems to deliver impactful, customer-focused solutions, and taking it to themarket.

Hamza: I'm a connector at heart. I’m great at bringing together exceptional individuals who might not have connected otherwise.

Baris: For me personally, it is the sense of product and design. I can quickly see how components coming together, how they integrate with existing industry standards, and most importantly, how they will delight the customers.

What’s a bold prediction you have for the future of AI (or AI/blockchain infrastructure)

Bina: AI will design and improve itself—this process has already begun.

Baris: AI will mover even faster than we think it will. It will be everywhere, all the time. And it will be a good thing: AI will bring equality to the world in terms of access to information.

Hamza: Human interactions with capital have profoundly shaped our philosophical and political systems throughout history. I believe AI will soon begin to engage directly with capital through blockchain technologies.

What’s one business “truth” that’s actually a total myth?

Bina: “Follow the money first” is a myth. If you solve real problems for the customers in a delightful way, everything will fall into right place.

Hamza: The idea that only certain types of people can be successful entrepreneurs is a myth. What matters is your passion for creating value, your willingness to serve others, and your commitment to integrity.

Baris: Overnight successes. Sure, people can get lucky, but in all the cases I’ve seen personally, they’ve spent years to be ready for when the opportunity struck. Building a business takes a long time.

What’s a piece of unconventional wisdom you’ve embraced that others might find surprising?

Hamza: I've discovered that stepping away from work actually boosts my creativity.

Bina: That everything happens for a good reason, even if it doesn’t seem that way at the time. There were many moments in my journey where setbacks felt like obstacles, but I eventually realized they were shaping me in ways I couldn’t fully understand yet.

Baris: Take good care of yourself. Conventional start up founder wisdom is working as much as you possibly can, days nights weekends. I find that, for me, productive work and creativity comes only if I take a good care of my body and my mind. Even when I am tired after a long day, I don’t omit my exercise.

With such a demanding career, what passions keep you grounded outside the chaos of work?

Bina: My family, friends, and my love of traveling.

Baris: Family. One can try multiple projects, and business success might come at any point in life. But family is much less error tolerant, and there aren’t many attempts at a healthy, happy, connected family.

Hamza: Motorcycling is my anchor and true passion. Every year, I set out on long moto-camping trips to some of the most remote places on Earth. Last year, I rode all the way to Tuktoyaktuk, navigating the infamous Dempster Highway and immersing myself in the raw beauty and solitude of untouched landscapes.

What’s your secret to staying ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing industry?

Bina: Relentless curiosity and never being afraid to disrupt our own successes.

Baris: By surrounding myself with the best and brightest, including our partners and advisors.

Hamza: Curiosity keeps me going. I love reading and exploring new topics, which helps me stay ahead of the curve and think creatively.