VentureDive
Junior Product Manager · 2025–26 · Full-timePM on Athan, the prayer app with 10M+ downloads. Youngest in the room, again. Talked to users, prioritized features, shipped. Left to focus on A Levels. Hard call, right call.
Youngest on teamAnnus Awan · product & startups · est. age 11
It
started
with
typing games.
At 11, I was convinced I'd become the fastest typer in the world. I hit 100wpm and felt unstoppable. Then came coding, then design, then product, then startups. Nothing planned. One thing led to another. I'm 17 now. This is where it's led so far.
VentureDive✦SadaPay✦Ministry of IT & Telecom✦PSEB✦PAFLA✦Microsoft for Startups✦Upwork✦Yale YGS✦TKS✦LUMS✦Buildspace✦
VentureDive✦SadaPay✦Ministry of IT & Telecom✦PSEB✦PAFLA✦Microsoft for Startups✦Upwork✦Yale YGS✦TKS✦LUMS✦Buildspace✦
At 14 I stopped asking "how does this work?" and started asking "why does this matter?" I've been answering that question ever since.
Blame Figma for that one.
0Full-time product jobs before 18
0+Years building
0k+User conversations
0M+Downloads on the app I PM'd
The journey, year by year
Age11
Typing games
Obsessed with becoming the fastest typer in the world. Hit 100wpm a couple of times and felt unstoppable. This is the origin story, and it's a silly one, which is exactly why I keep it.
Age12
Rabbit holes
Countless hours on YouTube and Google, letting curiosity lead. No curriculum, no plan, just following whatever looked interesting.
Age13
Coding
Built full-stack projects. Broke almost all of them. But when something finally worked, that feeling was unmatched.
Age14
Product & design
Found Figma and everything shifted. I cared less about writing code and more about building things people actually enjoy using.
Age15
Freelancing got serious
Two years of small gigs turned into the real thing: real users, real teams, real product goals. Fintech, healthcare and SaaS clients including London Consulting Group, Cortico Health and Tuesday.so. Ended up Top Rated Plus on Upwork, the top 3%. My clients found out my age at very different points. Reactions varied.
Age16
SadaPay
First full-time product role, youngest on the team. 20,000+ customer conversations, tight deadlines, things breaking and getting fixed. Balancing school, a full-time job and cricket wasn't easy, but I had to show up.
Age17
Doubling down
PM on an app with 10M+ downloads. A Levels. Yale Young Global Scholars. I finally know what I want to do. All in.
The headline
Two full-time product jobs before 18. School survived both, somehow.
SadaPay
Product Experience Associate · 2024 · Full-timeJoined at 16, youngest on the team. 20,000+ user conversations. Worked with the Financial Crime team, flagged pain points that became real product fixes. Learned more in standups than in most classrooms.
Youngest on teamVentures & freelance
Glimpse
Founder · 2024–26Why do we notice big trends only when it's too late to act on them? An MVP-stage answer, backed by Microsoft for Startups. Early, messy, very much in progress.
Still figuring it outThe Wind
Founding Member · 2021–24Joined a small design agency early, ran client projects as it grew. It got acquired. Small things turn into real wins.
AcquiredUpwork
Freelance Product Manager · 2021–23CRMs, workflows and growth for clients like London Consulting Group, Cortico Health and Tuesday.so. Ended up Top Rated Plus, top 3% of the platform. That led to two national nods: Top 100 Freelancers of Pakistan (Ministry of IT) and Extraordinary Freelancer (PSEB).
Top 3%Programs
Microsoft for Startups
Startup Partner · 2024–26Founders Hub backing for Glimpse. Mentorship, OpenAI and Azure credits. Mostly, the confidence to think bigger.
PartnerThe Knowledge Society
Innovate · 2024–25Year-long innovation program, around 10% get in. Challenges with Microsoft and IKEA teams, mentors from SpaceX and MIT. This one pushed me to start Glimpse.
SelectedBuildspace
Season 5 · 2024Got in out of 60,000 applicants. Built nights and weekends alongside founders from everywhere.
Season 5Academics
A Levels · LGS Islamabad2026 – 2028 · in progress
Yale Young Global ScholarsInnovations in Science & Tech · 2026
National STEM School (STEMx)LUMS · Summer 2026
LUMS Summer SchoolSecondary School Programme · 2025
O Levels · Homeschooled2022 – 2025 · self-directed
What I believe
Good products aren't built by guessing.
They're built by listening.
Every product decision starts with a user, not a meeting room.
Off the clock
Cricket fanaticwill provide unsolicited commentary · try typing “cricket”
Midnight readercosmology, geopolitics, history, law, Urdu adab
Occasional writermostly startup ideas nobody asked for
"Most of my best product ideas somehow appear right before I fall asleep."
Annus, at 1am, reaching for his phone
Now
- A Levels at LGS IslamabadIn progress
- Yale Young Global ScholarsSummer 2026
- ISEF 2027, via NSEF PakistanResearch in progress
- OlympiadsPreparing
- Exploring AI productsAlways on
- Turning 18Any day now
- Full timeline on LinkedIn ↗Updated often
Say salam.
meetannusawan@gmail.combirthday soon. acceptable gifts:
a salam, a job offer, or biryani.
a salam, a job offer, or biryani.
← psst, sweep through my name →