Adib’s Path from Steam Trader to Silicon Valley

For most people, challenges that seem impossible remain impossible. Mostofa Adib Shakib isn’t like most people. Throughout his young life, Adib has turned impossibilities into probabilities. His secret sauce? Mindset. He believes that how a person views each situation, whether it is good or bad, is up to them. Rather than feeling doomed by the bad, Adib is determined to discover the blessings in disguise.

For example, in high school, after bedridden for months due to health conditions and missing his 11th-grade exams, Adib started an e-commerce company, "KurT's Steam Store,” with just $5 buying and selling virtual items. Adib turned a 6000% profit on his initial investment despite living in Bangladesh, a country where the GDP per capita is $2650 and getting jobs as a high-schooler was nearly impossible. Adib achieved this impressive feat by utilizing his expertise in market analysis and the variations in pricing between different locations.

Adib’s academic and professional journey continued to be marked by significant achievements. During his time at Texas Tech University, where he earned bachelor degrees in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Electrical Engineering, Adib completed six software engineering internships and taught students programming for over 3 years while winning prizes at prestigious hackathons like Princeton and Rice University. In addition to his personal achievements, Adib has made significant contributions to his community. At Texas Tech University, he founded Team Red Raider and RaiderHacks, the first student organization focused on hackathons and competitive programming. This group not only participated in various competitions but also won several prizes for Texas Tech University including grants from Silicon Valley’s early stage venture fund 1517 Fund. Their efforts fostered a culture of innovation and teamwork on campus by sparking the university’s first hackathon in six years. 

After graduation, despite being an international student, Adib received job offers from major tech companies, including Snapchat and Twitter. At Snapchat, he led the deployment of the number one user requested feature on the messaging Android platform, benefiting 400 million daily users and on the side co-founded a blockchain startup, Promethium, which won the NSF I-Corps regional nomination, and received invitations to prestigious events like the SXSW conference alongside several grants from the US Government.

Driven by purpose in addition to profit, Adib's passion for technology and business evolved into a vision for broader impact. He realized this could be achieved through the power of media and coding. The catalyst for his inspiration was watching his sister struggle to switch her career from electrical engineering to computer science. The problem was that there weren't enough educational resources available in Bangla, their native language. 

Seeing this gap, Adib decided to start Coding Shikhbe Bangladesh, an AI-powered EdTech aimed at addressing the shortcomings in Bangladesh’s computer science education. Currently, 80% of computer science graduates in Bangladesh struggle with basic coding tests. Coding Shikhbe Bangladesh's mission is to help millions of people in Bangladesh learn to code, access better jobs, and ultimately have a brighter future. The response was overwhelming, and it quickly grew to have over 50,000 people with a 23% growth rate month-over-month. In just one year, many students wrote testimonials on how Adib helped them achieve their dream careers through one-on-one mentorship, live stream teaching, and his beginner-friendly tutorials. His efforts have not gone unnoticed, as he has been invited by many leading universities in Bangladesh to speak in front of hundreds of students.

As Coding Shikhbe Bangladesh expanded and the team grew to double digits, Adib faced new challenges. While creating educational videos, he struggled with managing the workflow efficiently. It was difficult to track changes made by video editors, schedule calls, and analyze which content was most effective. Frustrated by the lack of tools to help with these tasks, Adib saw another opportunity to innovate.

This led Adib to start his second company, ViralVisionAI, based in the United States. This new venture focused on developing tools to help content creators and media studios manage their projects more effectively. The result: ViralVisionAI is on course for streamlining productivity and creativity within the media industry.

Back in Bangladesh, Adib is organizing the country's first nationwide hackathon under HackCSB, judged by industry experts from top tech companies. The purpose is to inspire, educate, and give thousands of students the tools they need to succeed in the tech industry. In addition, Adib mentors young entrepreneurs and students with the goal of helping to shape a new generation of tech leaders in Bangladesh and beyond.

Adib's achievements have garnered significant recognition. He is an AI2030 Global Fellow, a Techstars mentor, a venture investor at Gaingels, member of the Forbes Business Council, and a mentor for Bangladesh Angels, Bangladesh’s largest angel investment network, where he helped female entrepreneurs. He has been featured in leading outlets including Manob Zamin, Hackernoon, Microsoft News and prominent podcasts with close to a million followers in Bangladesh. Adib has also won the Global Recognition Award for his contributions to Coding Shikhbe Bangladesh. He has been invited to judge hackathons at Stanford University and has spoken at numerous leading universities in Bangladesh, inspiring hundreds of students.

Looking to the future, Adib wants to continue merging business with technology to solve pressing problems and improve lives. His goal is to make Coding Shikhbe Bangladesh a central hub for technological development, similar to tech centers in other parts of the world. He also plans to keep expanding ViralVisionAI, making it easier for creators around the globe to produce and manage their content efficiently.

Ultimately, Adib Shakib’s journey from launching an online store to becoming a Silicon Valley game-changer proves that with the right mindset, it’s not how you start but how you finish.