From game development at 10 to pitching Al Habtoor: A young founder's journey

Fifteen-year-old Dubai resident Mustafa Mevlan presented an AI-powered startup idea to Emirati billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor during the 13th edition of Open Talk, pitching in front of a panel that advanced 95 startups to the second phase of the competition. Mustafa, who began developing video games at age 10 and launched his first startup at 13, described a platform that uses autonomous AI agents to handle the technical build of hardware and software so founders can focus on product direction and market fit.

"I was checking my email yesterday (Wednesday) and (it) said you got accepted. I had no preparation or anything," Mustafa said, recounting how he scrambled to assemble a presentation while still at school for the session hosted by Khalaf Al Habtoor, founder of Al Habtoor Group.

Mustafa’s pitch outlined an AI-driven service that takes a founder's project description and automates research, planning and technical specification. "They just enter the description, our agent researches and plans the project specifications, and then the user has to pull the product, the electronics, and the posture, and everything will be ready for the project," he explained during the presentation. The concept aims to compress the technical workload for early-stage teams by delivering ready-to-integrate electronics and software blueprints produced by the platform's agents.

His entrepreneurial trajectory began with a childhood interest in gaming: he taught himself game development from age 10 and began freelancing to earn income alongside his studies. "Most of my time at home didn't go to studies," Mustafa said. "I wasn't too focused on studies." Despite that, his parents supported his pursuits, enabling him to lead teams in game development and launch a startup at 13.

Mustafa is currently working on an accelerator called ChallengeChain, geared primarily toward young founders aged 17-24. He said the first cohort is nearing completion while he simultaneously pursues ideation and research on additional startups in deep tech and energy sectors.

• Age: 15; Dubai resident
• Early start: began game development at age 10
• First startup founded at age 13
• Competition: pitched at the 13th Open Talk hosted by Khalaf Al Habtoor
• Open Talk progress: 95 pitches advanced to the second phase
• Current projects: ChallengeChain accelerator; early-stage startups in deep tech and energy

The Open Talk platform, held by Khalaf Al Habtoor, brought Mustafa and other founders before judges evaluating ideas for advancement and potential support. With the second phase under way and final winners to be announced later in the week, Mustafa’s proposal aims to demonstrate how AI agents can materially reduce the time-to-prototype for hardware-plus-software startups.

Looking ahead, Mustafa intends to complete ChallengeChain’s inaugural cohort and continue developing his agent-driven product. If his platform can reliably translate high-level descriptions into production-ready electronics and software, it could offer a notable shortcut for young founders lacking deep technical resources — a selling point that likely framed his decision to pitch directly before investors and industry leaders in the Open Talk session.