Week #10 ODNC — And That's a Rap
Hi, I’m Kavir! Here's recapping Week #10 of ODNC1.
We've reached the end of the 10 weeks of ODNC1, which was a blast. I will continue this Substack to share longer breakdowns of my no-code projects in public and share an in-depth recap of the experience as well. So stay tuned for those updates.
This week's edition is slightly delayed due to a medical emergency in my family. My mindspace has been largely occupied in that but now that things are on the mend, I am recapping the last week's developments. Take care of your and your family's health!
With that out of the way, let's start!
In week #10 of ODNC, close to 70 people pitched their capstone project to prominent judges that included Prakash from Xano, Brandon from On Deck, Arvid Kahl, author of Zero to Sold, Mariam from Softr, Mark from Bildr, Torben from Rows, and Blake Email from CopyAI.
Let's talk about the Zoom chat or like we call it the 'Hype chat'. The amount of support that came pouring in from all the fellows was awe-inspiring. I haven't seen such a supportive community personally.
A defining moment from the Capstone pitches was to see how accomodating everyone at ODNC was. One of our fellows from Africa was facing internet issues while presenting. Instead of skipping her presentation, we waited for her to reconnect, everyone cheered her on, Janel shared her screen for the slides, and we ended up going through the entire presentation. That was sweet. And I think the best example of Spirit of Service.
With the capstone pitches done, 12 progressed to the final ODNC Demo Day. Here were the finalists:
Some of my faves from this list included Harold by Kyleigh, Microbrave from Mark and Glenn, and Sandy Lin SBT-E-Learning Hub.
ODNC Demo Day was a truly global event. We had people tune in from all over the world that was streamed live on Zoom, YouTube, and Twitch.
One silver lining out of this pandemic — if there was any —was removing location out of the equation when it came to opportunities. No longer a Silicon Valley hegemony.
The judges being pitched to were Emmanuel Straschnov, Bubble, Lolita Taub, The Community Fund, Alexa Meyer, COA and Anne Dwane, Village Global. All the judges had great questions about the competition, target customers, and go-to-market. Lolita even ended up enjoying and participating in the Hype Chat. I was happy to play my small part in the Hype Chat.
The pitches were slick, well-timed, and came complete with masterful storytelling and rapping. Rapping seems to be a common theme at On Deck.
After a bunch of solid presentations, Shiku was the winner with Pesa note. Marcus from Sneak-peak and Sisa Lleses from Pinky were runners-up. Here is the full list:
Shiku was a model ODNC fellow with her consistent build-in-public tweets over the 10 weeks.
If you want to catch the recap of the whole event, here is the YouTube link.
The party didn’t end there. There was an ODNC Wrap Up party on Wednesday with a closing rap session organized by Max Nussenbaum.
The best part of On Deck fellowships is that the program itself is just an onboarding. It's a lifelong community that provides access across fellowships. I've already spoken to several fellows across Founder, Writer, and other fellowships.
You will also end up bumping into other fellows in other internet communities as well. It's a great feeling to connect with people all across the world by association with On Deck.
So that's a... rap!
That’s it for ODNC1! See you around.
Follow me on Twitter @KavirKaycee!
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