🚀What a whirlwind of a weekend at the SDxAI Hackathon! I pitched an idea, rallied a team, and we made something useful. After two long, caffeine-fuelled days of brainstorming, coding, and collaborating, I thought I’d take a moment to share some nuggets of wisdom I picked up from this awesome experience:
🏁First and foremost, GET GOING! Defying the conventional wisdom of extensively pre-planning, a Hackathon is all about diving into the deep end and getting your hands dirty. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Build your prototype, break it, and then build it again – it’s a cycle of learning and improving.
⏰ Have something that works at the end of day 1. It might seem like you have plenty of time on Sunday to complete your project, but you can’t count on it.
🤝 Collaboration is the name of the game. At the risk of sounding cliché, I’ll go ahead and say it – teamwork really does make the dream work. With a diverse group of talents, each one of us brought something unique to the table. And it was this very synergy that drove our progress. Should out to the team Stas Gromin, Hayley Lin, Ali Alani, Marcus Manahan.
🎤Prepare your pitch like you’re on the YCombinator stage! Clarity is key. Make sure your audience understands the problem you’re addressing as clearly as you do.
😄And last, but certainly not least – don’t forget to have fun! Amidst the challenges and pressure, always take a moment to laugh, to celebrate the small victories, and to revel in the sheer joy of creation.
We didn’t end up winning but we made it to the final round with our solution GetSh*tDoneBuddy.

Can’t wait to put these learnings into action at Premise! 🌟