FanThreeSixty was proud to return to Hack Midwest, Kansas City’s largest app-building competition, for the second year in a row. This year, not only did we return with new ideas and strengthened collaboration, but we also brought home a $5,000 prize!
Read about our team's 24-hour experience below.
What was your initial reaction to the challenge at Hack Midwest?
"There were a lot of different challenges to take on. AI was mentioned a lot in several of the challenges. I was interested to see what our team and other participants could create with AI in 24 hours." —Brandon Lang, Product Designer
Can you tell us about the app you built and what problem it solved?
“Our app, Pinata Palooza, was a reinvention of the "Guess Who" board game. The problem it solved was efficiently accessing stored images, and communication between two players for the game all on the web, instead of a traditional video game structure.” —AJ Wilber, Software Engineer
What was the most rewarding part of attending Hack Midwest 2024?
“I worked with several people I rarely cross paths with during my day-to-day business at FanThreeSixty—so getting to see their skills firsthand was really eye-opening to the diversity of knowledge within our company. We work with some outrageously smart and passionate people!" —Dawson Garcia, Graphic DesignerWere there any moments during the hackathon when you felt stuck, and how did the team push through?
“There were definitely a couple points during the Hackathon where we felt stuck and were hitting a wall. I made sure to remain optimistic (...) regardless of how tough it started getting. I think it was very important for us to take a little break and take a walk when we started finding ourselves getting really stuck.” —Hunter Ehrenfeld, Senior Software EngineerWhat do you think set your project apart from the competition?
”We were able to demo the full game and website live during our presentation, and did not need to rely on screenshots or a PowerPoint to present our project.” —Seth Piepergerdes, Software Engineer
What was it like to hear your team’s name called as the winner of the $5,000 prize?
”I was not expecting it. I thought there was a chance we would win something, but I didn’t expect we would win the biggest cash prize! I was grinning for the rest of the day.” —Amelia Bigler, Software Engineer
