Hackathon

In June of 2023, me and my brother participated in a Generative AI Hackathon hosted by Hacker Dojo, an organization in California. In this hackathon, we were tasked with using generative AI such as ChatGPT in order to create a tool. Assessing the situation, I knew that we needed to not only create a tool with the very limited time of three days, but we also had to explain to the judges why it would even be useful in the first place. At the beginning of the hackathon, we were allowed to pitch out idea, allowing us to garner support in order to get teammates. Our pitch worked to great success, as we were able to gather three additional teammates to work with, and together we were able to create the tool called ReviewSquirrel. Once the days were up, we had to create a pitch to the judges to prove to them that the idea not only worked, but was also something people would want. Acting as though we were ourselves a local business trying to understand what we needed to improve, we were able to impress the judges, awarding us the first place spot and an opportunity to talk to the Head of Startup Engagement at YCombinator, Kat Manalac. This granted us with expert advice, as well as a valuable connection.