Catching Up with 2018's Hackathon Winners

First place winner Legit Tix (known at the Hackathon as Scalp V) has pivoted since the 2018 SXSW Hackathon and is now called Constant Venture. “We utilized our win with SXSW along with other Hackathons we won this summer to build out our business and our list of clientele as IT Consultants and custom mobile, web, and data collection solutions providers,” explains CEO Ryan Constant. “This has created a ton of business for us and we are currently able to continue as a startup without the need for an accelerator or funding at this time”

Constant Venture currently has clients in three different countries (U.S., Netherlands and Spain) with hopes to expand even more in the future. “If it were not for quitting my job back in March and entering the SXSW Hackathon,” Constant says. “We would not have gone on this entrepreneurial adventure.”

The second place team was Practice Hero. This app, built by Soravis (Sun) Prakkamakul, Edoardo Luna, Matthew Li and Amer Din, is an Alexa Skill that helps with music practice by providing voice-controlled backing tracks. After SXSW, the team realized that getting copyrights for the tracks might be a bigger issue than they thought, so now they are thinking of pivoting to generated drum loops. Since March, they have been developing their MVP and hope to release something soon.

Third place winner Signal/Noise Solutions was originally called Focus and was built by Andrew Clasen and Remington Griffin. Since March, the team has been busy developing a patented technology that increases signal quality and extends signal range. “This new tech can radically improve the lives of billions by boosting critical communication signals such as WiFi and cellular,” says Griffin. “Enhancing performance of devices people rely on daily, such as hearing aids, and solving the most challenging connectivity issues in various markets.” Check it out at signalover.com.

Read more about the 2019 SXSW Hackathon, including how to apply or be an event sponsor.