Won a $50,000 Ukrainian maritime defense hackathon. Co-applied to a DIU defense contract with a defense contractor. Albacore.inc, a VC-backed defense contractor, sponsored me to leave school for 3 weeks to build out as many units as possible for them to purchase at $10k a unit.
After winning the hackathon, I missed weeks of school. I lived out of a defense contractor's Philadelphia office—sleeping there while building working nodes ahead of a DIU co-application deadline. Most nights I was in the river testing until 3 a.m.
By the end, I'd bombed my finals—but I went from idea to selling a full product to a company in under a month. We detected a cavitationless underwater thruster at just 10% power on a stealth drone from over 300 meters away. I also picked up mentors who've stayed invaluable since.
