SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Pitching for success at UK hackathon
Kerem Tezcan (Year 12) on his team’s winning pitch at a recent London hackathon event for designing tech start-ups
E arlier this year, I was one of a team of five Dulwich boys competing to pitch a business idea in a hackathon sponsored by the University of Southern California (USC), an event which gave us the opportunity to meet a variety of pioneering innovators. We heard, first-hand, the success stories of three inspiring tech entrepreneurs, who were the judges of the hackathon. Firstly, we heard from Hao Li, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. A leading innovator in cinema and visual effects, he founded Pinscreen, the company behind Animoji for the iPhone X. We then heard from two USC students, both of whom had successfully pitched start-ups by the age of 17: Riley Testut, whose console emulator application gathered 26 million downloads, and Aimee Zhang, whose family game Ducklings attracted $30,000 from Kickstarter. It was then up to the 20 students from four schools spread throughout the UK to research, construct, and pitch their ideas. All the other teams selected their business ideas from Hackathon : noun (digital technology) A competitive event in which teams work on software or hardware projects, with the goal of creating a functioning product by the end of the event.
a predetermined list, but in true Alleynian spirit, we bravely decided to develop our own unique idea — an intelligent watch for the visually-impaired, along with a prototype which would visually articulate our presentation. Our watch design — which, to our amazement, was declared the winning pitch — incorporates a magnetic ball- bearing mechanism to tell the time, while haptic feedback reflects notifications, synchronised with a mobile phone via Bluetooth. The handmade prototype wowed the crowd with its intricate detailing and comfortable hardware positioning, enabling full functionality through feel alone. Judge Hao Li said: ‘The competition was incredibly tough. We were really impressed with all the schools’ pitches, and picking a winner was not easy. However, there was one school who stood out above the others. The team from Dulwich College beat the competition by going the extra mile: they built a prototype which enhanced the visuals of their presentation and prepared thoughtful answers in response to the judging panel’s questions.’ From our point of view, this event was a truly remarkable experience, providing us with not only an experience of real work demands, but also with a taste of success!
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