How I learned, changed direction, and built EduLens.

During COVID, when I was around 14 and studying in grade 9, I discovered something that changed how I approached almost everything afterward: the internet could compress years of learning into months if I was willing to teach myself seriously.

After secondary school, I wanted to move to Dhaka because I believed environment mattered. I did not get into Notre Dame College, which felt like a major setback at the time. But I still chose a Dhaka-based path because I wanted to be closer to ambition, opportunity, and people who were already thinking several steps ahead.

In grade 12, I started thinking seriously about studying abroad. MIT was one of those distant dreams. But when I looked honestly at my own profile, I realized I did not know where I stood, what I was missing, or what I should do next.

I created the first pitch deck for a project called Connectify. The idea was simple: students who wanted to study abroad could connect directly with international students who had already gone through the process. I imagined it almost like Uber for student guidance.

This became one of the most important parts of the journey. Every new version taught me what the previous one had missed.

The more conversations I had, the bigger the problem became. I started by trying to solve study abroad. Then I realized I was trying to solve readiness. Then I realized I was trying to solve navigation.

Over roughly two and a half years, I spoke with more than 500 students, guardians, international students, counselors, education stakeholders, and study-abroad experts. Those conversations repeatedly changed the product.

At one stage, I mapped the student journey into around 40 tools and concepts. It included profile, roadmap, document work, tracking, opportunities, university comparison, expert guidance, AI agents, monitoring, applications, versioning, and many other ideas.

At one point during the transition toward EduLens, progress became stuck. The team believed we needed a professional UI/UX designer before moving forward. The designers I contacted estimated that the next prototype could take months. We could not afford to wait that long. We needed feedback.

Eventually, the work stopped living only in decks and diagrams. EduLens became a working MVP. Students could create profiles, receive readiness assessments, build roadmaps, track targets, and manage documents inside a connected system.

The journey was not smooth. My first team eventually left. Later, I built another strong founding team with people who brought technical and industry experience. For a period, I was proud of what we had built together.

For much of my early life, I assumed I would follow a technical or science-focused path. But EduLens forced me to confront a different set of problems. Not only: can this be built? But: can people trust it? Can it change behavior? Can it reach users? Can it survive the market? Can people return to it?

I do not see professional experience as separate from entrepreneurship. Every environment can teach me something I cannot learn from the outside.

Along the way, the work began receiving external recognition. EduLens received early non-dilutive support through UIHP. It won a Silver Medal in the Entrepreneurship Category at the Innovation World Cup Bangladesh National Round 2026. I was selected as one of 80 OMLAS Fellows from 1,866 applicants across Asia.