About
30 real businesses. 30 Stanford teams. One problem each.
Most hackathons hand you a made-up prompt. We’re handing you a real business.
We’ve partnered with 30 real companies (restaurants, retail shops, sales teams and customer-service-heavy businesses), and each one brings a real problem it wants solved. Every team is matched with one business and has 36 hours to build a working AI solution with Converge.AI. The best 8 teams demo live at Stanford, in front of the business owners, investors and industry judges.
🔨 Join as a builder
Who: Students and builders who want to ship AI that actually gets usedTeams: 3–4 people. Come with a team, or apply solo and we’ll help you find oneHow it works: Teams are matched to business challenges by random draw, one team per businessWhat you get: Access to Converge.AI’s products (Work, Enter, Framia and more), mentor support during the build, and a real business owner who wants to use what you makeApply by: Nov 13
📅 Timeline
[Date]: Applications closeNov 17 (Tue), morning: Team matching and challenge briefs releasedNov 17–18: 36-hour build, with mentor office hoursNov 18 (Wed), 11:59 PM PT: Submission deadlineNov 19 (Thu), morning: 8 finalists announcedNov 20 (Fri): Demo Day at Stanford
🎤 Demo Day agenda · Friday, Nov 20, 3:00–6:00 PM
Time2:45 PMDoors open · Showcase wall of all 30 projects3:20 PMOpening by the host3:30 PMKeynote from Converge.AI3:45 PMFinalist demos: Teams 1–44:25 PMBreak · Audience voting opens4:35 PMFinalist demos: Teams 5–85:15 PMPanel: What real businesses need from AI (business owners × investors)5:40 PMAwards5:55 PMGroup photo6:00 PMNetworking
Each finalist demo opens with the business owner describing the problem, followed by the team’s live demo and Q&A with the judges.
🏆 Awards
1st, 2nd and 3rd PlaceBrand’s Choice: picked by the participating businessesPeople’s Choice: voted by the audience
Top solutions will be considered for pilots with their partner businesses. [Prizes to be announced]
⚖️ Judges
Alex WittWolf RuzickaJonathan BuckheitPetros HongJainish RathodVince KohliGavin Mehl
More judges to be announced.
Presented by Converge.AIHosted by 2%Tech × wefluens
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