A Propensity for Problem Solving: An Unexpected Path to Product – Integrated Innovation Institute

As a product manager for the Presence Platform at Meta’s Reality Labs, Muneeb Rasool (MSSM ‘22) is solving complex problems at the forefront of the next technological frontier – a departure from his initial American dream of working on Wall Street.

In 2010, one life ended, figuratively, so another could begin: Muneeb Rasool bid goodbye to the familiar and familial, leaving Pakistan at age 20 to study in the United States.

“In Pakistan, living in your parents’ house, often the family’s ancestral home, for your whole life is common. This offers substantial support, but life can be quite sheltered,” Rasool noted. 

“It contrasts with the United States, where independence is encouraged from age 18. I was eager to experience international cultures and different perspectives. I saw the United States as an opportunity for growth. I was drawn to the openness and diversity this country fostered. Moving here marked a new chapter for me, learning to be independent and self-reliant. I experienced a whole different mode of life.”

Life began anew at Minnesota State University, which offered Rasool a scholarship that made his educational ambitions feasible.

“When the visa officer at the American Consulate in Pakistan asked me why I wanted to study economics for my undergrad, I distinctly remember telling her, ‘Because I want to be an investment banker on Wall Street. That’s how you make the most money in the world.’ She cackled at that,” Rasool recalled.

When plotting his future career, Rasool did not account for a key factor though: his passion for solving problems.

That propensity led him away from Wall Street and onto the path of entrepreneurship and product management. 

This redirection began soon after arriving at Minnesota State.

Rasool dove into extracurriculars, becoming vice president of the International Students Association. He quickly identified a problem impacting all student organizations: a gap between students and their awareness of campus activities. 

To solve this issue, he and his friends built a platform to match students and on-campus events by interest, which resulted in the creation of CampusDodo and the launch of Rasool’s entrepreneurial journey.

Within six months, a large number of students had joined the platform to receive a personalized event digest delivered directly to their inboxes and calendars.

“My Wall Street dreams fizzled away when I realized that something that was just a thought in my mind had manifested into a reality that positively impacted students’ lives. I wanted to do more of that.”

Leadership at Minnesota State took notice of the effect on student engagement, and they too wanted more. Rasool and his co-founders met with CIOs from Minnesota State’s consortium of schools.

Based on the CIOs’ feedback, the team pivoted CampusDodo’s algorithm from one based on interest to one that mapped curriculum pathways based on a student’s course history. The final product was a learning management system (LMS) called Edify.

“We landed a deal to pilot Edify at Minnesota State University. That’s when I knew what I had built was real. I knew that I wanted to go into technology and that I wanted to build products,” Rasool said.

Soon after the pilot, Rasool graduated and also had to exit from Edify.

“I was looking for a company that would sponsor my work visa and received an offer to be a product manager at a growing startup (Etail Solutions), which did agree to sponsor me. However, my application wasn’t chosen in the H-1B lottery. The whole immigration pipeline in the US is broken, especially skill-based immigration. I had to enlist in the U.S. Army via MAVNI program and, later, fought a prolonged legal battle against the Trump administration to get my U.S. citizenship, but that’s a story for another day.”

Evolving CampusDodo to Edify had unearthed another problem, which coincided with Rasool’s visa dilemma. He didn’t know how to build technology startups. 

“My co-founders had transferred out by the time we started to pilot Edify so I had to look for new technical co-founders. At the same time, I was doing rigorous customer development and go-to market strategy, pivoting the business model of CampusDodo/Edify from B2C to B2B. It is not possible to execute on ideas, especially in the technology world, without understanding the intersection of technology with business. I had no formal training on how to build a startup, what principles and frameworks are relevant, and how to grow in the capacity of an entrepreneur and PM,” Rasool shared.

Rasool wanted to learn how to build with technology while simultaneously understanding the economics involved in the process. A Goldilocks’ search for a solution is ultimately what led him to the Integrated Innovation Institute’s Master of Science in Software Management (MSSM) degree program.