Hack-A-Startup 2025 at Carnegie Mellon University
Special PSN guest post by Shubhaa Chawla
Carnegie Mellon University’s annual Hack-A-Startup competition gives students far more than a weekend hackathon; it’s a three-week, hands-on runway to explore entrepreneurship, tackle real-world constraints, and turn raw ideas into tangible solutions.
This year’s edition was the biggest yet, awarding $12,000 in cash prizes to three standout teams, the highest prize pool in the competition’s history. Organized by Graduate Entrepreneurship Club (GEC) directors, Shubhaa Chawla and Nidhisha Voonna, the event was hosted at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and brought together undergraduate and graduate students from across campus, representing a wide range of disciplines and professional backgrounds.
Kickoff Weekend:
The energy started right from kickoff weekend (Oct 31 – Nov 2):
Nearly 300 participants registered
50+ ideas were initially pitched
31 teams formed and pitched over the weekend
2 week accelerator journey:
From there, the top 15 teams (about 80 participants) were selected to continue. Over the next two weeks, these finalists:
Attended workshops led by industry experts and professors from CMU (Adam Paulisick, Matt Spettel, Meredith Meyers Grelli, Wei Yu, Susanna Zlotnikov, David Lamont, and Melissa Murphy)
Worked closely with mentors to stress-test and refine their ideas
Conducted more than 300 customer discovery interviews through channels such as subreddits, surveys, mood boards
Built and iterated on minimum viable products (MVPs)
Finale Weekend:
By finals weekend, the teams arrived with clearly developed ideas supported by research, mentor guidance, and focused iteration. Their presentations featured working prototypes, evidence from customer interviews, and realistic plans for advancement, all reviewed by a panel of founders, investors, and industry professionals.
Judges: Ari Lightman (CMU), Phillip Robertson (Google), Liam Krut (Reinforced Ventures),Steve Welles (Innovation Works), Josh Caputo (Humotech), and Geneva Masak (LifeX).
Meet the Winners
After an intense round of final pitches, the following teams rose to top 3:
1. Nail’d: (Winner - $5,000)
The team uses computer vision to build resilient, custom press-on nails.
Team: Motolani Olatidan (iii, COE, MIIPS), Malikah Nathani (Heinz, AIM), Summer Lee (Heinz, MISM)
2. Oviact: (First runner’s up - $4,000)
The team focuses on collecting PCOS/PCOD related biological data and helping women get the right interpretation of the data to plan their future ahead.
Team: Kousalya Mohan (iii, COE, MIIPS), Bhavya Kothari (iii, COE, MIIPS), Sri Bhamidipati (Heinz, MSPPM–Data Analytics), Sara Han (COE, ETIM/BME)
3. Myoverse: (Second runner’s up - $3,000)
The team uses an AI-driven platform for musculoskeletal physiotherapy bringing clinical-therapy wellness home.
Team: Yelim Kim (COE, BME), Srija Chintalapalle (COE, BME), Shriya Jejurkar (Heinz, AIM), Jonathan Shulgach (COE, PhD-ME)
By the Numbers
This year’s Hack-A-Startup showcased the strength and depth of CMU’s startup community:
50+ ideas pitched
31 teams formed
15 mentor-startup matches with Pittsburgh’s startup ecosystem
15 MVPs built in under two weeks
300+ customer discoveries completed
Sponsors
The competition was made possible through generous support from sponsors, including Accel Partners, Jackson Square Ventures, the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Works who provided both resources and guidance to help teams turn ideas into actionable solutions. A panel was also put across for the young entrepreneurs supported by a VC from Jackson Square Ventures.
The team behind the scenes
Behind the scenes, volunteers and student leaders kept everything running smoothly, including:
Co-directors, Hack-A-Startup: Shubhaa Chawla and Nidhisha Voonna
Volunteers: Aisha Lhabaik, Kousalya Mohan, Aishwarya Chitale, Sum Yue Guan
GEC board members: Ashwini Karanth (President, GEC), Jennifer Evans (Vice President, GEC), Praveena Thathireddy and Farrukh Masood
Launching Tomorrow’s Innovators
The finals showcased the results of a structured process that emphasized analytical thinking, thoughtful product development, and collaboration across disciplines. Students also built relationships within Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurial community that will help them continue their work.
Equipped with practical experience and a stronger sense of direction, the teams leave Hack-A-Startup prepared to pursue new ventures and contribute to emerging areas of innovation. This year confirmed the competition’s role as a true launch point for future builders.
Testimonials from participants:
Kousalya Mohan - Through the competition, I was able to access the extended CMU community. We are working on a femtech startup and all it took was one email to UPMC to Penn Medicine to CMU alumnus for them to reply back and say that we are interested to know more and help out.
Sri Bhamidipati - Hack-A-Startup has allowed me to think about a problem at its core and that I see to be applicable in any part of life. I was also able to connect with other people who are as passionate as I am.
Surya Kukkapalli - Hack-A-Startup has been transformational for my company. It set us up with mentors and an incredible team and took that advice to scale it further. We talked to 50 customers in just two weeks and helped us iterate and find true pain points in the industry we are working on.
Casey Roe - Through all the workshops that were set up, I was able to learn a lot and was able to interact with brilliant students - grads and undergrads alike. Learning how to pitch, learning how to be confident and learning how to validate my ideas through the entire process helped me know how to be a founder and I’m very grateful for the experience.
Shiv Panjwani - Hack-A-Startups two week sprint has been tremendously useful for our company as it helped us achieve our goals of meeting the CMU wide community and speak to 30+ customers and helped me grow as a founder and as a team.
John Ryan Sparks - At Hack-A-Starup, I’ve learnt how to pitch, what investors are looking for and how to move fast and make quick decisions with confidence.