Two brothers sat at their Commodore 64, eyes fixated on the screen. Fifteen-year-old Aydin Aslaner had caught computer fever; as he showed his 2-year-old brother Milad Aslaner what the magical, boxy, beige machine with the black and green screen was all about, Milad got hooked, too.
“I literally could not go to school some days because I loved our computer so much,” said Aydin. “Windows 3.1 in 1995,” he said, “it was my life.”
Fast forward 20 years to their mother’s dinner table: Aydin was bantering with Milad about whose company was better, Apple or Microsoft. Their middle sibling, sister Aylin Aslaner-Chahin, a civil engineer, passing the potatoes to her mother, amused at her spirited, competitive brothers.
The three siblings had no idea then how their three careers would one day intersect.
After Aydin finished his computer science degree, he spent the following years in various technical positions in Germany before he decided that he wanted to go into business for himself. At the time, Milad had just graduated from high school, so Aydin asked Milad to open a consultancy/PC store with him.
“As crazy as it sounded, I agreed. So there I was, 18 years old, following my big brother to build our own business,” recalled Milad.
But two weeks before the store was scheduled to open, Aydin got a phone call that changed the trajectory of all three Aslaner careers forever.
It was Microsoft, where Aydin had dreamed about working. He didn’t feel like he could pass up the opportunity. Taking the job would mean leaving Milad to open the store on his own, which the younger brother was less than thrilled about.
“As selfish as it sounds, I was against it,” recalled Milad. “How was I supposed to run a business without my brother? I’m happy he went for it, but for me it sounded crazy.”
Aydin joined Microsoft, and Milad opened the doors and ran the business solo. He did well enough for several years, but he grew restless. He sold the business and eventually landed at Apple’s Ireland offices.
Meanwhile, their sister, Aylin, was well into her career as a civil engineer. Family dinners were interesting, she recalled. Aydin raved about Microsoft, Milad praised Apple, and there she was between them, absorbing it all.
It reminded her a lot of when the siblings were young, how the adventurous Milad was always ready to jump into something new but also looked up to the steady Aydin, who was forging the path ahead. And how she was always somewhere in the middle, happily holding it all together, observing them and quietly plotting her own path but rarely quick to leap into her brothers’ schemes.
Though she didn’t see a future for herself at a technology company back then, she did remember being impressed with the way her oldest brother spoke about Microsoft.
“I was learning so much at my job and at the company—it was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I wanted my siblings to have the same experiences,” Aydin said.
His persuasion plan had begun.