We Did This Thing! Columbia’s Hacking for Humanity United Us.

Columbia University’s inaugural cross-campus startup hackathon, Hacking for Humanity (and the Planet), was a resounding success!  Startup founders gathered for two and a half days to address problems, build solutions, and pitch those solutions to investors.

This wasn’t the first far-reaching idea I have suggested to Columbia, but this one got a green light.  We were going to unite Columbia’s 17 schools and programs, its alumni, its faculty and researchers, and its greater community for the purpose of creating innovative solutions addressing problems affecting people and the planet.

Next, with the support of the Tamer Center of Social Enterprise, I had to get everybody else on-board to commit to an unknown event with unknown outcomes for two and a half days on one of the last summer weekends with the pandemic still raging.  We put together an Executive Committee and our small and mighty Tamer Center team worked their hearts out.  People united!

Founders, talented individuals interested in joining a team to make a difference, expert mentors who are leaders in their own fields, and early stage investors (you know those folks that are notoriously difficult to get a hold of) joined us.  They joined us because they knew we were on to something really great.  Everyone joined us because we cannot just sit back and say that we will do this type of work later.  We needed to do this now.  We needed to gather as a community now.  And we did it, together.

I told everyone that I expected 20-30 teams, perhaps 120 people coming together in entrepreneurship.  We had 88 aspiring founders and 224 talented individuals scrambling to form teams.  My colleagues and I answered Slack texts and emails 24/7 and hosted several virtual team building sessions.  46 cross-sector teams formed, 44 pitched.  Guess what?  They were really good ventures!  The investors must have predicted that.  They gave up 2 to 4 hours of a beautiful Sunday afternoon to judge 1-2 rounds of pitches.  

Our ventures spanned various sectors including:  climate change/environmental sustainability, health and wellness, social/economic inclusivity, edtech/civtech, food and agriculture, smart cities, fintech, insurtech, journalism/new media, retailtech, real estate/urban planning, and sustainable tourism.

This was a hybrid event due to pandemic related restrictions.  Yes, we had hackathon teams that were part in-person/part virtual.  We streamed in our speakers live from across the country and globe.  Our judges showed up on magic squares on the screen of a 400-person auditorium to evaluate teams that were both in person and on screen next to them.  300 people participated in this blended manner.  And it worked!  A big thank you to the Tamer staff and the Forum AV team for making this happen.  It was a big challenge and they did it.

Many felt both exhilaration and fear related to the quantity of information and tasks hurled at the promising founders for two and a half days of hacking.  The teams embraced it and rose to the occasion.  

We had an amazing keynote speaker from the United Nations, Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, Chief of the Secretary General’s NYC office of UNCTAD.  Chantal Line talked about the importance of collaboration, the UN SDGs as a business opportunity, and how the UN views entrepreneurship as a multifunctional agent of positive change.  I moderated a founder’s journey speakers’ panel with an amazing and thoughtful group of business leaders:  Brian McKernan of Nusano, Carey Anne Nadeau of Loop, Dev Paul of BluWave-ai, and Edith Njage of Arielle of Africa.  Their businesses represent a range sectors and development stages.  We talked about inspiration, failures, diversity as a superpower, and the path to their solutions affecting people and the planet.

Our workshop leaders provided frameworks and points to consider on the topics of design thinking, business modeling, customer development, problem/solution hypothesis validation, MVPs, social and digital strategy, data analytics, and pitching to investors.  Thank you to these workshop leaders who stayed late, got up early, and spent the weekend teaching such critical skills:  Harry West, Steve Weinstein, Sree Sreenivasan, Sandeep Tyagi.  Ienjoyed the teaching experience as well, especially with the music of the Rolling Stones as an introduction!   

So, who won the pitch competition?  People and the planet did.  The startups participating are at the beginning of their collective journeys.  We have more programming ahead for them (i.e. my impact venture incubation course!), more collaboration, and more mentoring.

Okay, okay.  The top ten finalists of Columbia’s Hacking for Humanity are:

Drum roll please.  

THIMBLE

THIMBLE empowers people to take the pain and anxiety out of needles.

Frontida Records

Frontida Records provides under-resourced clinics with low-code medical documentation systems.

Soluminos

Soluminos reduces noise and emissions by converting gas generators to battery for NYC food carts.

Pattern

Pattern enables designers and clothing creators to connect and produce sustainable clothing.

Opal

Opal creates smart jewelry that keeps its customers safe.

80-20ai

80-20ai gives companies actionable insights into climate dynamics.

Buyant/Goodwill Bridge

Buyant/Goodwill Bridge 3D prints affordable, sustainable, and localized housing solutions.

Moby

Moby offers a closed-loop filter system to keep microfibers out of the environment.

Suisano

Suisano provides daily guidance and support to individuals diagnosed with eating disorders.

Authentic Housing

Authentic Housing creates affordable housing solutions in under-resourced communities.

 And the highest placing startups in the inaugural hacking for humanity pitch competition are:

 A round of applause for our highest-rated teams and category leaders!  

FIRST PLACE & TOP ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT VENTURE:  SOLUMINOS
Cynthia Leung, Alex Shin

SECOND PLACE & TOP HEALTH AND WELLNESS VENTURE:  THIMBLE 

Manju Dawkins, Armand Dawkins, Apoorva Mehta, Caroline McLoughlin, Peter Novak, Leigh Nusbaum, Ethan Ruoff

THIRD PLACE:  MOBY
Yoni Ronn, Ivy Mbayah, Paulina Tamayo, Arya Jemal, Siddhant Srivastava

TOP SOCIAL/ECONOMIC INCLUSIVITY VENTURE:  OPAL

Jen Chiang, Burcu Derkunt, Zhaoyuan Zhang, Bo Crauwels, Ava Kim

 BEST UNDERGRADUATE VENTURE:  PATTERN
Trang Nguyen, Angel Njoku, Ashly Medina, Katherin Sibel 

  CROWD FAVORITE:  AUTHENTIC HOUSING
Safia Gelle, Tyrone Grandstrand, Aaron Wentz, Jason Nguyen, Joseph Fewer 

This is the beginning of a promising journey for all involved.

Thank you all for believing in this collaborative effort!

Thank you TAMER CENTER ROCKSTARS and all of our supporters of Hacking for Humanity!

TAMER CENTER ROCKSTARS
Reilly O’Hara, Sandra Navalli, Kristen Saldarini, Hannah Slow, Joy Fairbanks, Caren Holmes, and Diana Rambeau (Not pictured)

Credit for above  Tamer Center team photo:  David Dini
All other post photos credits:  Joy Fairbanks

Pictured above, two women with a dream that brought you Columbia’s Hacking for Humanity and the Planet. 

Thank you as well to Richard Witten, Special Advisor to Columbia President Lee Bollinger on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Costis Maglaras, Dean of Columbia’s Graduate Business School, and Merit Janow, Dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) for their words of welcome to the participants and their unwavering support of inclusive entrepreneurship at Columbia University.

Speakers and Workshop Leaders

Chantal Line Carpentier, Brian McKernan, Carey Anne Nadeau, Edith Njage, and Devashish Paul.  Joy Fairbanks, Sree Sreenivasan, Sandeep Tyagi, Steve Weinstein, Harry West

Mentors

Elham Ali, Stephanie Badii, Josh Browne, Tim Colter, Julio Corredor, Chris Danzig, David del Ser, Joy Fairbanks, Benjamin Friedman, Jeffrey Golde, Mattan Griffel, Madison Hackinson, Ivy Hatsengate, Patricia Hong, John Horcher, Pradeep Jotwani, Anne-Marie Kaluz, Keith Katz, Stefan Lehmann-Karp, Linda Lipsius, Marina Machin Alvarez, Brian McKernan, Sandra Navalli, Patricia Poon, Ben Powell, Jeet Raut, Neal Rickner, Luke Sandler, Arie Shen, Patrick Slattery, Nina Smidt, Jocelyn Songco, Dylan Steeg, Amanda Steinberg, Swayam Thacker, Julie Thiery, Sandeep Tyagi, Christine Valencia, David Wei, Sylvia Wong, Bunny Yan

Judges

Thomas Asher, Shanthakumar Bannirchelvam, Mike Brown, Rachel Butler, Trace Cohen, Santhosh Devati, Hannah Friedman, Keith Katz, Elizabeth Leahy, Stefan Lehmann-Karp, Ivan Leniski, Elizabeth Lewis, François Odouard, Patricia Poon, Vikas Raj, Neal Rickner, Danny Schultz, Ivy Schultz, Hardika Shah, S. Mona Sinha, Jocelyn Songco, Bruce Usher, Richard Witten

Sponsors

BNP Paribas, A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Silicon Valley Bank, Miro, and Notion.

Joy Fairbanks is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia Business School.  She was the lead organizer with the Tamer Center of Social Enterprise of Columbia’s inaugural Hacking for Humanity cross-campus startup hackathon.  

Joy evaluates early stage startups, advises founders, and creates programming for entrepreneurs globally.  She writes about startup success at FairbanksVentureAdvisors.com.