Endora x CodeLaunch Houston Wrapped

This is our well overdue wrap up of our CodeLaunch Houston experience as finalists who finally got to take the stage…

Coco, Raheel Malik (CodeLaunch cohost), Kitty, Val Shemo

First, what is CodeLaunch?

It's a one-of-a-kind travelling Hackathon + Pitch Competition + Startup Expo and the self-proclaimed “best in venture-tainment” (and we’d have to agree!).

CodeLaunch was founded by Jason Taylor in Dallas, TX over 10 years ago. Since then, there have been ~30 CodeLaunch events! Fun fact about Jason: he was the man behind the algorithm for the College Football Rankings for a very long time (before the current playoff system was implemented). Jason was also the founder of a custom software development shop that was acquired by the Improving empire a few years ago. The Improving team are big supporters of Conscious Capitalism and of non-technical founders - both big reasons why we love them so much - and CodeLaunch is one of the ways they give back to this ecosystem.

Kitty, Coco, Dr. Clay Routledge (Nostalgic Reflection expert & Endora advisor), Joseph Tracy, & Jason Taylor (CodeLaunch founder & cohost)

Let’s Hop to the Hackathon

Each of the 6 CodeLaunch Houston finalists are paired up with a custom software development shop to collaborate with on a 2-day, 24 hour hackathon (12 hours per day!). Our dev shop was the Improving team based in Houston.

Leading up to the hackathon, we had a few meetings with their team to:

1. Share relevant collateral to educate their team on our technology.

We had a lot of materials to share including: figma boards with our current UI/UX, miro boards with our product roadmap (and more), existing mockups, our brand guidelines, etc.

2. Get aligned on our goals for the hackathon.

We decided to focus on building a dashboard for Endora. Leading up to the hackathon, we worked on identifying key components for the dashboard and mocked up a few ideas for what the dashboard might look like.

Day 1: Hackathon @ Improving office 9am - 9pm

As the team started to work on building out the dashboard page, we gave feedback on aesthetics and bonus features.

Day 2: Hackathon @ Improving office 9am - 9pm

The second day was spent wrapping up items from Day 1 and squeezing in as many of the "nice-to-haves" on our list as we could get. Our stretch goal was to "internationalize" the app and have a demo in Spanish - which we achieved!

In the past, when we have just been exhibitors at CodeLaunch, we have spent the days leading up to the event brainstorming new collateral to play around with at the event. This event was no different. Here is a video of when we came up with a fun concept that we turned around and had on display at the Expo.

We even gave the CodeLaunch MC and pitch coach, Raheel Malik, a good scare by sending him this video, claiming we had rewritten our whole pitch for the show…. we hadn’t…. we just have to have a little fun every now and then. ;)

Day 3: Demo & Pitch Prep + Finalists Dinner

After the hackathon was over, we were given a day to work on finalizing our pitch and put together a demo of the work that was completed during the hackathon.

This was a whirlwind, but we got it done!

After our demo was submitted by the 5pm deadline, we got to enjoy a night out in Houston at the Finalists Dinner where we mixed and mingled with the other finalists, the CodeLaunch cohosts, Jason and Raheel, and special guests (shout out to Raj Nation & Ankeel).

Day 4: Pitch Competition & Startup Expo

Show time! Rehearsal for the pitch competition started around 11, where we tested the mics, got a feel for the stage, and practiced our pitch & demo. We also spent some time getting our expo booth set up before going back to our hotel to get ready for the evening.

It wouldn't be a CodeLaunch if Kitty & I weren't in some sort of costume (IYKYK), so we went with an Endora theme: the most glamorous, game show/hostess vibes that we could find. We think Endora would approve!

*Coco & Kitty pitching on-stage at CodeLaunch Houston 2024.*

The way CodeLaunch works is 2 startups "face-off", pitching back-to-back with two questions from the judges per pitch. At the end of the 2 startup "face-off", the audience votes by text message for the startup they want to advance to the final round.

We were in the second group of pitches, facing off against a hometown favorite, .

The pitch constraints included a 4 minute limit + 8 slide maximum + 30 second demo. Here's a link to the youtube for those curious of how our pitch went down!

Although we didn't advance to the finals after the audience vote, the hackathon, the chance to present Endora on stage, and the reception we received afterwards felt like we walked away winners anyway!

We had many people approach us complementing our branding and asking who our artist is (answer: Dave from Wylde Wolfe Creative - a fellow Longview based team). We also had a lot of interest in the Spanish version we presented in our demo. And we got a lot of downloads!

Calling All Angels

We are now focused on our go-to-market plan so we can get the traction we need to bring all of this (and more!) to light. If you are an angel investor or early stage fund who wants to help us ignite the power of nostalgia with memories + gaming - reach out to us!

One last highlight of the night for us was that we got to finally announce our first "official" Endora advisor - who happens to be the world's leading expert in Nostalgic Reflection - Clay Routledge. Even more exciting was that he was able to come into town for the event and we were able to meet in person for the first time. We had a few copies of his new book on display at our expo that digs into the power of nostalgia (Past Forward: How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life). There were several Nostalgia fiends in the audience who came by and snatched up their own copy! Thank you for the support, Clay!

In conclusion, CodeLaunch Houston was a night we will never forget! …Especially if we keep playing with our memories… ;)

Coco