---
title: "Mert Erbil"
url: "https://merterbil.com/"
---

# Mert Erbil

Mert Erbil is a digital product person and consultant based in the Netherlands, a startup advisor, an occasional speaker and mentor, and the creator of merbil.fm, a Turkish-language YouTube channel of monologues on tech, modern life and adulthood.

Weekday product person and consultant, weekend startup advisor, and every now and then a speaker and mentor.

I make [merbil.fm](https://www.youtube.com/@merbilfm), a YouTube channel of monologues (in Turkish) about tech, modern life and adulthood, and this is where the written versions live.

## Latest posts

- [why big companies get hacked so easily](https://merterbil.com/posts/why-big-companies-get-hacked-so-easily/) (2026-10-27): Hacked Danfoss fridges, empty Albert Heijn shelves, an AI-found PHP flaw and PS5 piracy, and why Gabe Newell's line on piracy explains all of it.
- [1000 days on duolingo, and why greater than zero is enough](https://merterbil.com/posts/1000-days-on-duolingo/) (2026-10-05): A 1,000-day Duolingo streak in Dutch, and why it feels like fatigue: habits work, gamification is a tax, and the owl treats adults like kids.
- [what gta 6 will and won't be](https://merterbil.com/posts/what-gta-6-will-and-wont-be/) (2026-09-30): GTA 6's $1–2B budget, the Netflix trailer bet, what it means for AAA studios, and why I expect an old formula done really well, not a tech leap.
- [why we should talk about music more](https://merterbil.com/posts/why-we-should-talk-about-music-more/) (2026-08-23): Music used to build friendships. Spotify turned it into furniture and a 30-second economy, but young rock fans are still out there. Why I'll talk albums.
- [made by google '26, and why i can't leave apple](https://merterbil.com/posts/made-by-google-26-and-my-apple-lock-in/) (2026-08-15): Made by Google '26, the Pixel Watch's predicted blood pressure and insulin resistance trends, and why leaving Apple for a Pixel feels like a migration.

## Talks, projects & startups

- [merterbil.com](https://merterbil.com/projects/merterbil-com/) (weekend project, 2026-10): The site you're reading. A static Astro site built with Claude Code, written for search engines and AI models as much as for people. Live since October 2026.
- [tv prompter](https://merterbil.com/projects/tv-prompter/) (weekend project, 2026-10): A free, open-source teleprompter for Android TV. The TV shows a little address, you paste your notes there from your phone or laptop, and it scrolls them very slowly.
- [glow](https://merterbil.com/projects/glow/) (weekend project, 2026-10): A free, open-source Mac menu bar app for Philips Hue lamps. Click to switch, drag to dim and right-click for colors, without Siri, Alexa or your phone.
- [product discovery with ai at surepay](https://merterbil.com/talks/product-discovery-with-ai-surepay/) (workshop, 2026-05, SurePay): A Product Discovery with AI workshop for the product team at SurePay, going back to Netnography, Pre-mortem and JTBD and how AI changes each one.
- [işte promiyer lig](https://merterbil.com/projects/iste-promiyer-lig/) (community project, 2025-09): A small website for our Fantasy Premier League mini-league, with live standings, prize periods and every lineup, built on the FPL API and GitHub Pages.
- [berbat teknolojiler (terrible tech)](https://merterbil.com/projects/berbat-teknolojiler/) (podcast, 2025–2026, dux on YouTube): A 20-episode Turkish podcast I co-hosted with designer Çağdaş on the dux YouTube channel, about modern failures and tech that was supposed to be better.
- [advising after5](https://merterbil.com/startups/after5/) (advising, 2025–now, After5): Advising the cofounders of After5, an IRL friendship platform for ambitious women, on product strategy, UX direction and the way they build.

## Elsewhere

- youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@merbilfm
- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merterbil
- google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lbu6iu0AAAAJ
- researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mert-Erbil
- github: https://github.com/merbil
- unsplash: https://unsplash.com/@merbil
- email: hi@merterbil.com