IPN Summit 2026

The Ismaili Professionals Network Summit in Houston, Texas, where I spoke on the founders track about building Finlo AI.

I was fully funded to travel and speak on the founders track, engaging 400 in-person viewers aged 14 to 35 on the theme of building profitable companies at a young age.

I spoke as a featured interactive panellist on the founders track about growing Finlo AI, in front of 6,000 industry professionals from 15 countries. Standing backstage next to speakers with decades of experience I did not have was its own kind of pressure, but going on anyway, and having it go well, is one of the moments that has stuck with me most.

It was my very first speaking engagement, and I was the youngest speaker at the conference, on a panel for the Young Builders Workshop in front of a group of nearly 150 ambitious future builders. Being surrounded by that community reminded me how useful it is to be around people who are even more ambitious than I am.

I often find myself chasing the next milestone without stopping to reflect on what has already happened. My least favourite part of being an ambitious teenager is getting caught up in the next goal, the next big thing. The Summit was a reminder that pausing to appreciate how far you have come, and to thank the people who helped you get there, matters as much as the work itself.