Journey to SIH Finals...

My Smart India Hackathon Journey 2023.

August 12, 2024
Sarah Khan.

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If you’re here to learn about my experience and lessons until the Smart India Hackathon finals, you’re at the right place. This Hackathon was an amazing experience for me, and I hope I can make this blog just as awesome.

Internal Hackathon

We only had one week to come up with ideas, design, and build the prototype for the internal hackathon. My Team would sit together from morning till night, discussing our options. We chose "Tech-Driven Solutions for Undertrial Prisoners in India" because it felt like a problem we truly wanted to solve. The statistics showing that 77% of prisoners are undertrial really shocked us, and we were determined to find a way to help them.

However, the problem was that this problem statement required building an app, and we were all web developers. But we found the topic so intriguing that the challenge seemed small compared to the issue. We split tasks—designing the app’s flow, information architecture, UI, and presentation. As we navigated the React Native learning curve, we juggled coding with planning, pushing through the final stretch to get everything ready for the day.

With just 2 days left, we had nothing to lose! We chose React Native because we were already familiar with React. We learned Expo since it's beginner-friendly. By the end of the two days, we had at least the complete frontend ready.

The day of the internal hackathon arrived, and we were confident but also nervous. We knew there were some questions and loopholes in our product that we couldn't overcome.

One good thing was that we were the only team with a unique problem statement. No one else in my college chose the same topic. The best part of ideating was using my experience from working on college projects. I learned how to tackle problem statements and find solutions by observing and working with my team. We believed in our Idea. The results came out, and to our surprise, out of 80+ teams in our college, we were among the chosen 30! I was so happy at that moment!

Post Selection, we reworked the Figma design, prepared the presentation, created flowcharts, and made a video presentation. We also held meetings with our mentors. Despite tight schedule and other commitments, we focused on making our solution impactful. We conducted UX research repeatedly and consulted my mama, who is a lawyer, to understand the legal procedures. We called NGOs and talked to police officers. We wanted to reach undertrial prisoners but couldn't due to legal restrictions. We even worked on it a day before the second periodic test. Since the date was extended twice, the number of participants for the same problem statement increased. My problem statement ended up with over 200+ submissions.

So, the results were announced on December 4th, and we were extremely joyful to see our name as finalists. Our hard work paid off!

We were like Kolkata, amara asachi (Here we come)! Now this was the third phase and the more challenging one since we had to develop the whole app. We used MERN (React Native). I helped with the backend, and we used MongoDB as the database. We were almost ready with a good prototype before the finals.

We traveled to Kolkata by the Duronto Superfast Express. Amid all this, arranging a train ticket urgently and managing formalities like confirmation and consent letters were my duties as a team leader. One shouldn't ignore these as it may lead to disqualification. On the train, we had a lot of fun, met some nice fellow passengers, did some coding, and completed social media challenges assigned by SIH! We arrived at Techno India University at 3:15 am, filled out travel reimbursement forms, and handled other formalities. That night, we barely slept for an hour or two.

The next day, we put on our jerseys, and at 8 am, the hackathon began. We started coding.

There were three judging rounds:

• The first round had 20% weightage.

• The second round had 30% weightage.

• The third round had 50% weightage.

In between, mentoring was provided. We attended just one mentoring session where we explained our idea to the Ministry of Justice. I would say these were the most realistic and best insights we received!

We skipped other mentoring sessions and focused on what he told us.

The first judging round was on December 19th at 7 pm. We were the first team to present!

For the first round, we didn't fully understand what the judges expected from us. To others, I would suggest:

First round - Present your idea with a PowerPoint, Figma prototype, and app flowchart.

Second round - Show the Figma prototype and a working prototype.

Third round - Present the working prototype and highlight differentiating factors.

In the first round, we explained our PowerPoint but struggled to include the Figma prototype. I can't stress this enough: prepare and even make a rough script of what and how you'll pitch!

Judges are evaluating you as if you are going to carry this startup forward. They aren't just assessing your intelligence or technical skills, although that matters to some extent. Mainly, they are looking at you as the founding members of your app. A significant part of my problem statement focused on the business model. So, watch Shark Tank and learn how to do it properly because you can build the best product, but if you don't know how to sell it, it's will be of no use.

For the second round, I wanted to be well-prepared. I suggested we should focus on either the Figma prototype or the working prototype.

Our second round went quite well. We showed our Figma prototype, which contained most of our solutions, and we wanted feedback on it and the chatbot. The judges were impressed by our solution and praised us. However, our business plan was still not convincing. We were told to implement a few features by the third and final round, which was at 6 pm. We started working, and I called our senior to explain our second round and ask for advice. He, being the kind person he is, guided us well and cleared all our doubts.

We started working. I focused on hashing, while others worked on the presentation, OCR feature, and business plan. Everyone gave their best effort. For the third round, we were, as usual, the first to pitch. Our morale was high, and we were able to implement some of the given suggestions.

We began by highlighting our unique features and why to choose us. We then moved on to the business plan and the working prototype, covering almost everything.

We were told, "We don't know if you'll win or not, but this is indeed a really good solution," which brought a smile to our faces.

We lost. But it isn't about losing; it's about learning.

Looking back, this experience greatly improved my problem-solving skills.

Thank you for this opportunity SIH , this is something I'll cherish my lifetime!

Special Mention:

Thanks to My Teammates - Riya Jaiswal , Arnav Khochare , Diptanshu Mishra , Rajeshwari Mahapatra , Yash Khandelwal .

Special Thanks to My mentors - Dr. Kumkum Saxena and Dr. Shanthi Therese.

Thank you to my seniors for giving good insights, especially Krishana Dave , Sachin Jangid , Zubiya Alvi , Saifuddin Saifee and Jaden Furtado . Your support was invaluable.

#Reference

• Our Video Solution - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PqOE5ri-Yw