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Three MIIPS students pose for a photo in front of a digital screen that reads "Hack-a-Startup 2024"

MIIPS Students Host Annual Hack-a-Startup Competition

MIIPS students both hosted and competed in this year’s Hack-a-Startup Competition, an event held at Carnegie Mellon University’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.

By Hannah Belsford

Three Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services (MIIPS) students played a major role in organizing and running the annual Hack-a-Startup competition in November 2024. 

Amanda Manget (MIIPS ‘24), Daniela Decoud (MIIPS ‘24), and Nisarg Doshi (MIIPS ‘24) connected over their shared experiences in startups and investments while in the MIIPS program. During their time at Carnegie Mellon University, the three students joined the Graduate Entrepreneurship Club—the host of the Hack-a-Startup competition. 

“Daniela and I were involved in last year’s Hack-a-Startup, and it’s been exciting to build on that foundation together this year,” said Manget. 

The Hack-a-Startup competition is the largest student-run competition at Carnegie Mellon University.  Over the course of two weeks, the top 15 finalist teams attended 10+ workshops led by industry experts, worked closely with mentors, and conducted more than 50 customer discovery interviews to transform their concepts into minimum viable products. The event culminated in final pitches to a panel of judges representing startup founders, academia, venture capital, and the tech industry.

This year, the competition was supported by sponsors Accel, Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative’s Patient Safety Technology Challenge, and InnovatePGH and awarded $10,000 in cash prizes to top teams. 

“Hack-a-Startup 2024 was our most competitive year yet with over 300 registrations!” said Decoud, “One of the best parts was the energy participants brought to the event. At an information session before the event, we spontaneously asked people to share their pitches. At first, only one person volunteered, but soon, more and more stepped forward, and we eventually had to politely stop them from coming forward! It was the perfect example of what the competition is about—taking the first bold step. As we say here at CMU, honoring Randy Pausch, “being the first penguin.” 

It was the perfect example of what the competition is about—taking the first bold step.

In addition to the three MIIPS students hosting the competition, many MIIPS (and even a few undergraduate EDIE students!) participated in Hack-a-Startup. 

We spoke to MIIPS students on the winning teams PlanWise and Relayd about their experiences: 

PlanWise

A group of students poses for a photo in front of a digital screen that reads "PlanWise"

Prize: $4,000
Team Members: Max Hsiao (Tepper, MBA), Aimee Langevin (SCS, MSAII), Amine Bouayad (MCS, MS-DAS), Anshika Agarwal (MIIPS), Jacinto Suner (SCS, AI), and Ethan Hilton (B.S. AI & Business).

Team PlanWise placed first in the competition with their AI solution to help improve dental treatment plans. The challenges the platform addresses are the inaccuracy of treatment plans from limited research and the lack of transparency within patients care with their insurance. This included reducing occurrences of malpractice and enhancing transparency within the industry. 

The team focused on something competitors often miss, which is evidence-based treatment plans that integrate both medical history and previous research within the industry. This plan produced by PlanWise utilizes AI that can be modified by the doctor if needed. This process allows for a better decision making plan for dentists and accessible information for patients.

The biggest challenges they faced throughout the competition were the complexities of the dentistry workflow while also keeping patients a top priority. Despite this balancing act between dentists, clinics, and insurance companies the team was able to come out with a successful solution. 

During the two weeks in which PlanWise was born the team was able to do customer discovery and gain deeper insights into industry problems, talk to dental clinics nationwide, and gained $100,000 of letters of intent. These letters of intent were from clinics who wanted to adopt the prototype. 

Anshika Agarwal (MIIPS ‘25) emphasized that the MIIPS curriculum helped within the teams process, The MIIPS curriculum, which emphasizes product development at the intersection of design, engineering, and business, enabled me to not only understand the technical and strategic language of my teammates but also communicate effectively across disciplines.” 


Relayd

A group of students poses for a photo in front of a digital screen that reads "Relayd"

Prize: $2,500 + $1,000 Patient Safety Technology Prize
Team Members: Abiraami Muthukumar (MIIPS),  Shubhaa Chawla (MIIPS), Austin Lignell (Tepper, MBA), Saicharan Emmadi (MISM BIDA), and Neharika Srivastav (MISM).

Team Relayd placed second in the competition for their creation of a tool to help nurses focus on patient care by using their AI solution to reduce administrative burdens that they face. It is a B2B SaaS venture that seeks to change the nursing handoff experience. Within nursing jobs they experience handoffs about shift changes and ward transfers. This process can be extremely unorganized and not standardized leading to challenges within their professions. By relying on nurses' memories the process right now currently has many inconsistencies which can affect patients and their health. 

Part of their process was talking to nurses about their jobs and the daily problems they face. 

Hearing personal stories from both patients and nurses was incredibly fulfilling, affirming that we’re addressing a big, real, and relevant problem in healthcare.”

Relayd works to assist within the handoff process between nurses to increase patient services and work experiences for nurses. The solution lets nurses take notes on the go. These notes are compiled through the system into a standardized template at the end of their shift. This summary is given to the next nurse for clarity, ensuring a smooth transition for both the nurses and patients between shifts. 

Challenges that the team faced were narrowing their issue and target audience to set realistic goals that could be met by the team within the time frame. Despite these challenges the team was able to compete in the Hack-a-Thon and they also won the Patient Safety Award

“It wasn’t just about the competition; it was about coming together as a team, pushing our limits, and creating something meaningful.” 

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