Yuki characters

Yuki web app

Yuki character evolution example

Yuki bracelet prototype

Early in 2014 I had a friend asking who would join him for Startup Weekend Barcelona… I told I wouldn't. A couple of weeks later I've realized that it would be my very last one in Barcelona, so I decided to join and win, which I did, even without an initial pitch. Taking the role of the UX/UI lead designer, I’ve helped a young entrepreneur building a wearables for kids web app – from concept to final implementation – in 2 days. Here's how to win a hackathon, with 7 rules:

1. Pick the very best idea in the room

There were 44 initial idea pitches and I had 9 favorites. Each single attendee had only 3 votes to ditch out on his favorite idea(s), so I had quite a hard time deciding which ones to vote for. After talking to 5 entrepreneurs of my favorite ideas list, from which 4 were selected to develop the 12 projects of that weekend, I picked the winning team to join as interaction and user experience designer: it was about designing a social web app connected to wearables for kids.

2. Iterate

On the first hours we were still refining the product, deciding what kind of problem we would be solving and for whom. The group was divided by 2 main ideas: something to track babies' health or a playful activity tracker for kids. On the next morning one of our colleagues had brought a baby pacifier and suggested to install some sensors in it. I don't have kids, but am aware that pacifiers are usually washed with hot boiling water, so the lifetime of our product would be compromised. We kept discussing if a smart toothbrush would be a desired home appliance among the young and decided to keep it simple and analyze kids' activity on a bracelet, directly from their movement.

3. Never give up

Since we didn't know if the kids' parents would be interested in such a product, we went straight down to the major plaza in Barcelona and did some user interviews. Our research questions tried to figure out if they wanted their kids to be more active or would like to track it, as well as how active their children actually were on a regular basis. We heard they were healthy and moved enough.

4. Trust your gut

Moving with the product forward, by the time we got cute colorful avatars kids started to stop by, starring at our screens. One of our team members took the chance to engage in a conversation with one of the jury's children, finding that he wanted to play with our characters. We were just starting and already had created desire amidst our little users.

5. Persistence

On the morning before the final pitch, we had the visit of startup advisors with different expertise. They would sit with the team for a few minutes, understand the project and question our decisions. We were destroyed… None of us had kids nor experience with children. Each couple of advisors approached topics we didn't consider during those 2 days. We took the feedback seriously and researched on subjects like materials and production costs. Above all, the team believed in the idea and we knew it would sell, so we kept working on polishing our deliverables and final presentation.

6. Complementary skills

The very best teams are set with wildly different people with complementary skills. Our initial idea pitcher was a businessman at heart. We had a great engineer who gathered data from a pedometer and transferred it into an activity progress bar. Other 2 profiles that contributed with great know–how were a design and architecture dropout – who took active part in the product definition and 3D modeled the bracelets – and a catalan business student – whose communication skills and perseverance kept pushing us forward. I took care of product's visual identity and UX design, building the web app interface with our frontender.

7. Be bold, but humble

Last but not least, the final pitch showcased a cohesive product and we were all confident about its success, but we were just starting and modesty is key. You can see it in the presentation bellow.

---

Yuki presentation pitch by Sebastian Bausch

Yuki WIP

Yuki team

Read Barcinno's review on Startup Weekend Barcelona and Yuki's winning team.