Hey. My name's Hakeem Javaid. Online I go by my alias, hakJav, but many just call me Hak. I'm a pretty ambitious techie and quite an active soul. To sum me up, I want to make a difference to the world whilst experiencing as much of it as I can! My hobbies are fairly diverse: bouldering, snowboarding, video games, reading, badminton, motorcycling, and quite recently the piano. Of course, the one thing that will always come first is family :)
I'm known to be quite a friendly and positive individual, and I love inspiring others to chase their dreams and live a life they'd otherwise think impossible. Most people worry about failure, but it's important to remember that if you don't try, you've already failed. As Nelson Mandela said, "It always seems impossible until it's done."
I promise you, you have no idea of what you're capable of.
I started coding aged 12. At 15, I used those skills to sell websites. Over the following 3 years I'd also mastered graphic design & video production. Around 18, I turned down an offer to study at the University of Cambridge to study a more practical Computer Science degree at Imperial College London. 2 years later, I dropped out of university to co-found my first tech company.
People often ask whether I regret dropping out of university. I truly don't. I went to university to learn programing languages so I could build digital products, and Imperial's course was so intense I'd managed to do that in just the first year. After that, I hated wasting my time building apps and programs just to be graded. I wanted to contribute to the real world and try to at least make a difference. So, that's what I did.
Building my first tech company, 'BLOCKS', taught me more than I ever could have imagined, more than any degree ever could have. I worked with giants including Intel, Barclays, Google, Verizon and more, presented to audiences nearly reaching 1000 in number over in America, and won numerous awards most notably from the British Royal Family and the Mayor of London.
After a year, it came to a point where I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life: either dedicate 5 to 10 years growing the company with a great chance of making millions, or leave the company to work on ideas that I knew I'd enjoy a million times more, ideas that would make more a positive impact in this world. I've never been driven by money, and I knew I had the skills to build another company, so in the end I decided to leave.
Since then, I've worked on numerous innovative products across a variety of industries - healthcare, travel, education, events, music - and used by the largest companies in the world - Google, Mercedes, Nvidia, McLaren, F1, and more - and once again, I learnt significantly more than I expected.
My goal in life is to make a genuine difference to this world, and out of all my projects, Second Aid and Extuity are the two that are achieving just that, with an impact I could never have imagined.
If you'd like to join me on this wild journey of inspiration & innovation, you're welcome to follow me :)
