# Hakan Unsal

> Hakan Unsal is the founder and CEO of Primerli, a Los Angeles area edtech company that compresses how an entire industry works into one-hour, entertainment-quality crash courses. A former BCG principal with a Cornell master's and a Columbia PhD, he started Primerli after years of cramming on unfamiliar sectors before client projects convinced him that slide decks are a terrible way to learn. His pitch: professional training should feel less like a lecture and more like a documentary you actually want to finish.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Primerli
- **Organizations:** Primerli, Boston Consulting Group (former)
- **Nationality:** Turkish-American
- **Education:** Undergraduate degree, Bogazici University, Master's degree, Cornell University, Ph.D., Columbia University
- **Known for:** Founded and leads Primerli, an edtech company delivering one-hour industry crash courses across 15+ sectors, Earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a Master's from Cornell University after nearly being expelled from high school, Spent roughly eight years as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group

## Career timeline

- **circa 2010s** — Management consultant / Principal at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for ~8 years
- **2019** — Founded Primerli (company marked five years in March 2024)
- **2022** — Primerli raised seed funding
- **2025** — Spoke at NACE25 Conference & Expo: 'From Confused to Career-Ready: Industry Learning Bridges the Gap'

## Achievements

- Founded and leads Primerli, an edtech company delivering one-hour industry crash courses across 15+ sectors
- Earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a Master's from Cornell University after nearly being expelled from high school
- Spent roughly eight years as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group
- Built partnerships between Primerli and universities and corporations to improve career readiness
- Featured speaker at the NACE25 Conference & Expo (2025)

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Spoke at the NACE25 Conference & Expo on bridging the gap from 'confused to career-ready' through industry learning.
- **2024-03** — Celebrated Primerli's five-year anniversary.

## Links

- Website: https://primerli.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/hakan-unsal
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvYnU5w2JF8

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/hakan-unsal
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-24