Kaya Eksioglu Gil de Sagredo

To the Admissions Team at The Horowitz Andreessen Academy,

I want to recommend Kaya Eksioglu Gil De Sagredo for the Founding Class Fellowship. I’ve known Kaya for five years, among so many other projects and ideas brought to life throughout the years Kaya started ICT (Inner Crypto Team) and I joined him. I was on his team and I saw how he led at a young age.

When Kaya started ICT we were 15. None of us knew what we were doing, in this niche Kaya included. He had never led a team before. He did it anyway, and at our peak he was leading 17 people. He ran our morning meetings, checked in with everyone daily so we were all up to date on our work, set our task lists for the week and gave everyone a role. Honestly, looking back, I’m still impressed. It’s hard for an adult teacher to keep a room full of teenage boys focused, and Kaya managed it with no title, no authority and no money to pay anyone.

The thing he understood early was that mindset was the only thing we really had. We had no experience and no connections, just how we thought and how we acted, and Kaya set the tone for both. His attitude was always: other people have made it, so why couldn’t we? In the beginning we weren’t making any money, and a lot of teams would have fallen apart at that point. Ours didn’t, and that was because of him. He kept us believing in what we were building, and we kept pushing all the way to the end.

What makes him a good leader is that he can zoom in and zoom out. He’d get into the small details of what each of us was doing, but he never lost track of where we were going. He would regularly stop and lay it out for us: here’s what we’ve done so far, here’s the goal, and here’s what we’re changing. When something wasn’t working, he didn’t get defensive. He took the feedback, learned from it and pivoted. He learns from his own mistakes and wins, and from other people’s too.

Kaya also took control of his own life early, and he’s been through many struggles to get where he is. He has this idea he lives by: energy can’t be created or destroyed, only transferred. Whatever happens to him, good or bad, he turns into fuel to keep moving forward, and somehow that lifts everyone around him as well. Being around him makes you want to be better without him ever having to say anything. When he decides he’s going to do something, I genuinely haven’t seen anything stop him.

On top of all that, he’s just a good person. He’s great with people, he’s genuine, and he’s the kind of guy you want in your corner. I think that’s a big part of why a group of teenagers was willing to follow him.

Kaya has always said two things about what he wants from life. He wants to make a big, positive impact on the world, and he wants to become the best version of himself he can be. He sees that second one as a lifelong project, something he’ll keep working on until the end. I’ve watched him live that way for so many years.

Sincerely,
Tenzin Tamarack Gori

To the Admissions Committee, Horowitz Academy, San Francisco, California

Re: Letter of Recommendation for Kaya Eksioglu

Dear Members of the Admissions Committee,

I am writing to recommend Kaya Eksioglu for admission to Horowitz Academy.

I am the founder of Tori Labs, the technology company behind Tori Finance, a decentralized finance protocol that brings institutional-grade, delta-neutral yield strategies on-chain. Kaya has worked with us as Relationships Manager since September 2026.

Before Tori, I built Infoset, a software company acquired by BtcTurk in 2023. Over the years I have worked with many engineers, founders and operators, and I have learned to notice the people who build things before anyone asks them to. Kaya is one of them.

His role is to find and develop relationships with potential partners and institutional investors. To do it well, he has to understand a fairly complex financial product and explain it clearly to experienced market participants. He picked this up quickly and handles those conversations with a maturity well beyond his age.

He also built, on his own initiative, an AI-powered outreach system that now supports our institutional engagement. He saw a slow process and improved it himself, which says a lot about how he works.

Kaya came to us already interested in entrepreneurship, technology and markets, and he had started building businesses and exploring the crypto ecosystem long before he joined. He is curious, takes responsibility for outcomes, and is comfortable trying approaches others would not.

I recommend Kaya without reservation and would be glad to answer any questions the committee may have.

Sincerely,
Samed Düzçay
Founder, Tori Labs

Istanbul, November 24th 2025

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Eray Yazgaç, Head of Trading at Blackwater Capital. I am writing to recommend Kaya Ekşioğlu, who completed a summer internship on my Single Stock Futures Desk.

Kaya adapted quickly to the pace and precision of a live trading environment. He processed instructions clearly, executed tasks without needing repeated guidance, and approached each assignment with discipline. What stood out was the quality of his thinking: his questions were precise and showed that he was considering problems from multiple angles rather than following steps mechanically.

During the internship, I asked him to explore the feasibility of a small rebate-based strategy within our trading framework. Kaya approached the task methodically, structuring the problem, identifying constraints, and proposing a practical outline. His work demonstrated analytical maturity beyond what I typically expect from interns, and elements of his proposal were useful for our internal review.

Kaya was reliable, receptive to feedback, and integrated well with the team. His combination of curiosity, discipline, and steady execution makes him a strong candidate for any competitive academic program.

Sincerely,
Eray Yazgaç
Head of Trading, Blackwater Capital Group

Mallorca, October 2025

To Whom It May Concern,

I am pleased to offer my strong recommendation of Kaya Eksioglu Gil De Sagredo.

Kaya and I first met through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where his dedication to the sport was evident. Upon learning of my involvement in the cryptocurrency space, he approached me with genuine curiosity and a desire to learn. What has impressed me most since then is not just his enthusiasm, but his ability to take advice and translate it into action.

After we discussed a privacy-focused cryptocurrency project, Kaya didn’t simply listen. He took proactive steps to explore how he could contribute, demonstrating both initiative and follow-through. He asks thoughtful questions, reflects, and tries to apply it.

Kaya shows an unusually mature understanding of cryptocurrency, not just the price action but the underlying principles of decentralization, privacy, and economic sovereignty. He approaches situations with a mindset of observation and contribution. He treats access to experienced individuals as an opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted. This approach makes our conversations genuinely rewarding.

I am confident that Kaya will distinguish himself in any academic and business environment he enters, and I recommend him without reservation.

Sincerely,
Roger Ver

To the Admissions Committee, The Horowitz Andreessen Academy, San Francisco, California

Dear Members of the Admissions Committee,

Writing as a lifelong friend of Kaya Eksioglu, I can attest that he is an exceptional candidate for the Founding Class Fellowship, with a strong, self-driven work ethic established from a very young age. Even during our early years, he consistently focused on problem-solving and innovation, qualities that I believe make him an ideal fit and a valuable contributor to the Academy.

Kaya is an influential individual whose relentless determination continues to inspire those around him. I can personally confirm that he has had an immense influence on my life, encouraging me to develop a deeper mindset around pursuing my ambitions and defining success for myself.

He demonstrated entrepreneurial initiative from a young age, exploring and developing multiple startup ideas that I have followed closely and got to embark on some of them with him. At 15, he began his professional experience by entering the business world, particularly within the cryptocurrency sector that led him to Tori Finance where he currently works.

I can personally confirm that he has taught me how to use multiple tools and resources about the cryptocurrency sector, business and investing sector such as reading charts, managing different measures and managing multiple automation tools, both as a friend and as a business partner.

These experiences have helped shape him into a versatile and ambitious young entrepreneur.

What particularly distinguishes Kaya is his willingness to take risks even after failure, his ability to learn quickly, and his determination to apply new knowledge and skills to achieve meaningful results. I believe these qualities will allow him to make the most of the opportunities offered by the Academy while contributing positively to those around him.

I am confident that Kaya will make a lasting impression on the mentors and fellow students he encounters, just as he has on the people who have had the opportunity to know and work alongside him so far.

Sincerely,
Nacho Manero Villar

29 October 2026

To the Admissions Committee, Horowitz Academy, San Francisco, California

Re: Letter of Recommendation for Kaya Eksioglu

Dear Members of the Admissions Committee,

I highly recommend Kaya Eksioglu for admission to Horowitz Academy. I write as a founder who has built and sold a company and who backs people, and Kaya is one of the few I would back without hesitation.

I am the founder and CEO of Keel, an onchain financing infrastructure company. Before Keel, I co-founded Floors Finance, a DeFi protocol later acquired, and I have spent half a decade in business development and token engineering across Europe, Asia and South America. In that time I have worked alongside hundreds of founders, operators and investors. It has taught me to spot the rare people who move a room.

When I met Kaya, I understood he had an energy I had rarely seen. He attracts people and influences them like few can. When Kaya speaks, people lean in, and they leave the conversation wanting to do more than they planned.

What sets Kaya apart is that he makes things happen before the path is clear. Most people wait for a plan. Kaya starts moving, learns from what the market tells him, and builds the plan as he goes. That is the core instinct of a founder, and he already has it.

Kaya does not avoid hard problems; he seeks them out. He is drawn to the challenge that others step around, and he raises the energy of everyone working on it with him. He pulls the best out of people, which is the quality I value most in a leader.

He is also remarkably open to feedback. When I have challenged his thinking, he has listened without defensiveness, asked sharp questions and come back changed, often within days. His learning speed is unusual at any age.

Kaya adapts across cultures with ease. His studies at Forward College, which take students across several European cities, have given him the ability to read new environments quickly and to build trust with people from very different backgrounds. In global markets like the ones we work in, this is a real edge.

Above all, Kaya is authentic. His vision is ambitious, he communicates it clearly, and what he says matches what he does. He is someone I trust and someone I admire, and I do not say that lightly about people early in their careers.

I am confident Kaya will be one of the most energizing members of your community. He will challenge his peers, lift them, and build something that matters. I recommend him with my highest enthusiasm and am happy to speak with the committee at any time.

Sincerely,
Tiago Santana
Founder & CEO, Keel