Baran Ataş is Co-Founder and CEO of Talp, a US-based AI startup that simulates human intent using AI personas to predict real customer behavior before products, ads, or pricing ever reach the market.

Baran holds dual Bachelor's degrees from Bogazici University and Erasmus School of Economics, and previously co-founded Glyde Games while gaining experience at Kirax Ventures and Marlene Blacx Consulting.

A recipient of a prestigious scholarship awarded to only 50 of Turkey's top 200 students, Baran has always approached entrepreneurship with a scientist's curiosity, driven by a desire to solve problems at the frontier of human behavior and AI.

At Talp, Baran has led the company to close a pre-seed round at a $20 million valuation, backed by Formus Capital, Sunshine Lake Ventures, Aito Capital, the a16z Scout Fund, and several angel investors.

Talp's platform is processing approximately 650 campaigns per month, targeting the rapidly growing AI agents market projected to reach $52.62 billion by 2030, with capital earmarked to expand its simulation engine into new industries.