Hackathon in Tokyo

Hi friends!

I missed last week’s newsletter issue but HELLO AGAIN!

Last week, I attended a hackathon in Tokyo called Builders Weekend.

It was my first hackathon. I was nervous. Would my team like me? Would we finish in time? But it was all good! DAIJOBU, as the Japanese say. My worries were totally overblown! Not a single person was an axe murderer. Everyone was friendly. I met great people, joined a great team, and we even finished the project in time (with technical band-aids 😂). We even won one of the prizes! More on this below.

Also, I’ve been going to a lot of tech networking events. Networking is sometimes useful but DAMN it’s tiring. Last week, I went to HN Tokyo, ProductTank, and Builders Weekend. This week, I went to Takeoff Tokyo. I will be recharging for the next few weeks and cutting down on networking. Instead, I’ll be focusing on marketing for Eight Values. I feel like Frodo back in the Shire.

If you're looking for networking events, I've compiled a list of the best Tokyo Tech Events I attend.

Last time I said I was going to start posting on LinkedIn. As promised, I have published a LinkedIn post. I am now an influencer. I lead thoughts. I change societies.

Hackathon in Tokyo

Builders Weekend is a hackathon in Tokyo where developers build a project from scratch over 3 days.

They had partners like Octopus Energy, Astar Network, Morph, and Xpress AI that offered the challenges and acted as judges.

My team tackled the Octopus Energy Challenge: how do you encourage and empower people and businesses to use energy at the cheapest and greenest times? We had access to an API with consumption data and pricing information for the week.

We made a smart calendar which suggested the cheapest times to do any activity. A user would input something like, “do laundry from 1pm - 2pm,” and the calendar app would inform you of the energy price as well as cheap times to do that activity. We even used ChatGPT to inform you of greener substitute activities: “wash your clothes by hand with soap”. 😅

The basic idea of the app is that energy pricing data exists but most people don’t check energy prices before making a decision. What UI or interface is a part of your daily life has the most power to change your energy-use behavior? I think it’s something like a calendar app. When you create your schedule, you’ll get immediate feedback on the best time to do something. As soon as you add other events to your calendar, the timing is set in stone and the behavior is hard to change, so it’s best to inform them when they put something in the calendar.

The app ended up winning the Octopus Energy Challenge!

Whatever you're doing, I'm wishing you all the best.

Until next time,

👊  Ryohei