startumn.tech

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🌠 Startumn.tech — A Marketplace for Hackathon Innovation

Track: Wildcard

🎯 Inspiration

Every hackathon brings a surge of creativity—but when the event ends, what happens to the 95% of projects that don’t win? In most cases, they vanish into GitHub archives, never to be touched again. That’s hundreds of brilliant ideas and countless hours of developer effort going unnoticed. We asked ourselves: What if hackathon projects didn’t have to end at the closing ceremony? What if they had a second life? That’s why we built Startumn.tech—a platform that gives hackathon projects the visibility, value, and commercial opportunity they deserve. Startumn connects creators with companies, developers, and innovators seeking project ideas, accelerating the lifecycle of innovation from pitch to product.

🧩 The Problem

Hackathons often produce high-quality, innovative solutions—but only a few receive recognition or traction. The rest face three key challenges: Lack of visibility – Most projects get buried after the event.

No clear path to monetization – Creators rarely get a chance to sell or license their work.

Lost potential – Companies looking for inspiration or MVPs don’t have access to these creative solutions.

We asked ourselves: How can we create a system where hackathon projects gain visibility, find buyers, and drive real-world impact—even after the event ends?

💡 What It Does

Startumn.tech is a marketplace where builders can list their hackathon ideas, and buyers can acquire them as assets for innovation. Key features include: Project Listings – Creators can post their hackathon projects with a description, tech stack, revenue to date (if any), project age, and customer count.

IP & Code Transfer – Sellers can optionally sell their source code and fully release intellectual property rights to the buyer.

Live Chat – Buyers can message sellers directly to ask questions, clarify scope, or negotiate terms.

Gemini-Powered Summaries – We use Google’s Gemini AI to auto-summarize listings, making complex ideas more digestible to buyers.

Scalability Score – Gemini also generates a 1–100 score estimating the project’s scalability and potential.

🛠️ How We Built It

Frontend: Framework: React

Language: TypeScript

UI Components: Custom-built (e.g., Badge, Checkbox)

CSS: Tailwind CSS

State Management: React Hooks (useState, useEffect)

Backend: Database: PostgreSQL

Backend-as-a-Service: Supabase

API: Supabase API for CRUD operations and authentication

AI Integration: Google Gemini API for:

Summarizing project listings

Generating a project "Scalability Score" (1–100)

Security & IP:

Email verification and anti-bot protections ensure trusted user interactions.

🚧 Challenges We Ran Into

Scoring Algorithm Tuning – Ensuring Gemini’s generated scores aligned with real-world potential required thoughtful calibration.

Listing Clarity – Guiding sellers to provide concise, buyer-focused descriptions was a UX and onboarding challenge.

Real-time Messaging – Implementing fast, secure communication between buyers and sellers through Supabase was technically demanding.

✅ Accomplishments We’re Proud Of

Created a fully functional MVP of a first-of-its-kind hackathon project marketplace.

Seamlessly integrated Gemini AI to enhance accessibility and trust.

Developed a system that respects both the creator’s effort and the buyer’s needs, balancing innovation and commercialization.

🚀 What's Next for Startumn.tech

Gamified Reputation System – Reward top sellers and trusted buyers to build credibility in the ecosystem.

NFT/IP Tokenization – Enable optional blockchain-powered proof-of-ownership for purchased projects.

Advanced Filters & Search – Let buyers filter by domain (health, fintech, edtech), score range, or price point.

Bulk Acquisition Tools for Startups/VCs – Allow innovation teams to scout and license multiple ideas at once.

We believe Startumn.tech can redefine the lifecycle of hackathon projects—and empower creators to monetize creativity, not just showcase it.

Built With

• pstgresql
• react
• shadcn
• tailwind
• typescript