The Anti-End

Dear Bunzers,

I like poker. Not the gambling side of it, but the way it reveals a person’s character with crystal clarity—especially when they lose. You can tell a lot about someone from how they lose. They say the same thing about divorce. Those are the moments when you see someone’s real character.

It seems like my Bunz game is also approaching one of those decisive moments. The best part of moments like these is that you can learn a lot about yourself.

My only expectation from this moment is to prove to myself, once again, that I am who I believe I am. This is never about making anybody think positively or negatively about me.

When I look back objectively, I’m proud of my choices, and I have no regrets.
Yes, only now can I see that some things could have been done better. But some things can only be seen after living through the experience.
I know myself well enough to say that if I went back and had to make those decisions under the same conditions, I would make the same choices again.
I gave the Bunz idea the patience, time and effort it needed—first as an investor, and later as its sole owner.
The Bunz you see today represents my skill set, my vision, my luck, my financial power and my intelligence.
That was the whole idea anyway.
Thanks to Bunz, I got to express myself through it.
As most of you already know—or have probably guessed—one of my hobbies is mountaineering.
All those mountain levels you see in the app are peaks I actually climbed. I know each one personally, except Elbrus. Long story...
In mountaineering, success is defined as coming back home healthy, in one piece and with all your limbs.
By that definition, I can say I did okay with Bunz.
It hurt me financially more than I first predicted—think of it as curable frostbite in my hands—but that was part of the game itself.

By the way, this will probably be my last message until September 1, and it is a follow-up to this one: Important Message

I suggest reading it either before or after this one.
So, with that earlier message in mind, here is where we are today:
We couldn’t create the growth. Yet.

It looks like we won’t reach 1,000 daily active users by September 1.
As I mentioned in my previous message, 1,000 was always the minimum bar—the point where a real growth phase toward 10,000 DAU could begin, which is the level where Bunz becomes self-sufficient.
Would reaching 1,000 have been enough to trigger that growth?
I can’t know for certain. But I believed—and still believe—that reaching 1,000 would be enough to trigger that next phase.
That’s why I’m still willing to move forward if we reach that number, as promised.
I would have been very happy to see Bunz reach those goals.
Very happy to see Bunz dominate social media with its unique credentials—not materialistic and not artificial like so many popular platforms.
Very happy if we could represent people who genuinely act for a cleaner planet and believe in no more consumerism than necessary.
Very happy if people came to Bunz to discover weird things to trade and meet new people.
Very happy to be part of creating a platform where people can get the everyday things they need without spending money.
So far, it seems that won’t happen.
Meaning I won’t get to experience that sweet, pure and extremely rare kind of happiness.
But I won’t feel sad either 😊 (even I don’t buy it... :)) because I did my share.

And since I keep claiming that I won’t pretend, here is one more honest thing:
To those who kept rudely criticizing my choices, experiments and decisions: yeah, I don’t like you back.
I was never disrespectful to you the way you were to me. I tried not to get involved in arguments with you. I was always clear—not soft—but I tried to remain kind.
I may not like you back, but Bunz does—a lot.
Because while almost everyone else was silent, you cared.
I personally think you cared about it in the wrong way. And I believe you have a lot to think about too.
Maybe that’s just me, but yeah—I said it 😊
Having said all that, I’m a romantic too.
I still believe Bunz can gain that number of users overnight. I’ve seen it happen before.
So here is my one suggestion, if you believe it too:
First, stop reading this emotional, stupid message and go post ONE trade.
And if you need to, keep saying, “Fuck that idiot,” while you do it. I can take it.
Post the weirdest thing in your house that you own but don’t need.
No filters. No explanation of why you own it.
Just the thing—and what you would trade it for.
The stuff you can’t find anywhere else is the only reason Bunz has ever been discovered.
Not ads.
Not posts like this one.
And you know what? If genuinely weird new trades start appearing, I’ll put one of my most valuable wines up for trade—a Château Pétrus 😉
If 300 of us post one weird trade this week, the feed becomes strange, alive and worth looking at again.
Someone may screenshot it. Someone outside Bunz may become curious. And we may get one real final shot at reaching 1,000.
That’s it.
One weird trade.
See you — or not — on September 2.

Firat