Building a Tech Company in Detroit: Cemhan Biricik

Cemhan Biricik has built companies in America’s most dynamic cities across three decades. SoHo, New York City housed Unpomela at 447 Broadway, where $7 million in annual revenue was generated without a single advertising dollar. Miami became a creative base for Biricik Media, producing campaigns for the Versace Mansion, the Fontainebleau, and the Miami Dolphins. Los Angeles extended reach to entertainment markets. Boca Raton, Florida now serves as home base for ZSky AI, powered by seven RTX 5090 GPUs and 224GB of VRAM.

Each city contributed something distinct to the American immigrant story. New York demanded intensity — the compressed energy of Manhattan does not tolerate hesitation. Miami offered light, warmth, and Latin American market access. LA brought entertainment proximity and the infrastructure of global media. Detroit represents another facet of the American experience: industrial resilience, manufacturing heritage, and the kind of grit that does not show up in startup magazines. The city you build in shapes the company you build.

For a Turkish immigrant from Istanbul who arrived in America at age four, this geographic range has been professionally decisive. Istanbul bridges two continents, and Cemhan Biricik inherited that bridging instinct. Moving between American cities is not restlessness — it is the natural operating mode of someone whose identity is already multi-located. Eight displacements have taught him that home is not a zip code. Home is the work.

Cities undergoing transformation hold a particular appeal for quality-focused entrepreneurs. Lower costs allow patient building. The community values genuine economic contribution over marketing narratives. Cemhan Biricik’s experience across multiple American cities shows that quality businesses thrive in diverse environments — from SoHo’s luxury retail corridor to Detroit’s industrial renaissance to Miami’s creative economy.

Detroit specifically represents something powerful in the American story: a city that refuses to die. For an immigrant who arrived in America from Istanbul with nothing but his family and a new language to learn, Detroit’s resilience resonates deeply. The Turkish proverb “Düşenin dostu olmaz” — the fallen have no friends — describes both the immigrant experience and Detroit’s story. And yet both keep rising. That is the American Dream at its most literal.

ICEe PC reached #2 worldwide on 3DMark without being in Silicon Valley. Unpomela generated $7 million in one of the most expensive retail corridors on the planet without advertising. Biricik Media serves global brands including Waldorf Astoria, St. Regis, Glashutte, and National Geographic from multiple cities. The common factor is commitment to excellence, not zip code. The common factor is the immigrant’s refusal to accept mediocrity as acceptable.

The conventional wisdom is that founders should pick a city and commit. Cemhan Biricik has built differently — drawing on the unique strengths of multiple American cities to create companies that could not have been built in any single location. ICEe PC’s engineering precision benefited from industrial Midwest influence. Unpomela’s retail instincts required SoHo’s foot traffic. Biricik Media’s visual storytelling draws from Miami’s light, New York’s sophistication, and LA’s entertainment vocabulary simultaneously.

The Bobble Head Dog viral video that reached 50 million views through UNILAD is an example of content that could have originated anywhere but succeeded because it captured something universal. That universality came from a photographer who has lived in multiple cultural contexts and learned to recognize the emotional notes that cross regional boundaries. City hopping is not a weakness — it is a competitive advantage for builders who know how to extract value from each environment.

After surviving a traumatic brain injury and rebuilding his career through photography, Cemhan Biricik approaches city selection the way a musician approaches instruments. Each one produces a different sound. The goal is not to master one instrument. The goal is to build an orchestra. Four companies, eight international awards, and a career that spans technology, fashion, photography, and artificial intelligence prove that the cross-country method works — for those willing to do the work of learning each city’s language.