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Edition 01RecapOpen theme · inaugural edition
Open — Mexico City.
Build whatever you'd actually use on Monday.
Presented by
- MMercado Libre
- MMicrosoft
The challenge
Build what you would actually use.
The brief was deliberately empty. Pick a problem you live with — at work, in life, in your tools — and ship a fix. Judges scored on craft, usefulness, and the quality of the demo.
Constraints
- You have to use it yourself
- Don't ship anything that already exists; improve, don't clone
Deliverables
- Demo
- A short note on who else might use it
The prize
$0 pool. One winner.
Cash plus the doors that open behind it — investor intros, lab time, press, and lifetime access to the alumni network.
For every accepted applicant
- 1-year Diiirect Pro for every team
- Trophy, hand-engraved
Run of show
The weekend, hour by hour.
Friday, Apr 25
- 18:00
Doors + welcome
- 19:30
Hacking starts
- 18:00
Saturday, Apr 26
- 20:00
Tacos + demos preview
- 20:00
Sunday, Apr 27
- 13:00
Demos begin
- 18:00
Awards
- 13:00
Judges
Who's in the room with the scorecards.
Operators and researchers from the sponsor companies, plus independent voices from the field. Final say on awards.
Sofía Reyna
Director of Engineering · Mercado Libre
Diego Acevedo
Founder · Kavak
Fátima Ortega
Editor · Wired Latam
Luis Felipe Rivera
Partner · Kaszek Ventures
Sponsors
Made possible by these teams.
In the room hiring
These teams will be there with offers.
Hiring panels at every edition. The people whose work catches their eye get a follow-up the week after.
- Mercado Libre
- Rappi
- Nu
Rules
The few we enforce.
- Teams of 1–3 (smaller — first edition).
- You must use the thing yourself.
- Demos must be live.
Questions
The short answers.
Was this really open theme?
Yes. Future editions are themed.
Who won
The teams that shipped.
Scored on engineering quality, demo, originality, and impact. Three placements plus category prizes per edition.
Pequeño Editor
Mariana Soler · Iván Cabrera
A markdown editor that doesn't get in your way
Local-first. No cloud. No AI. Native fast. Two people, one weekend, the editor they wished existed for their own writing.
We built the thing we wanted. The judges agreed.
Vida Cotidiana
Daniela Ríos · Pablo Núñez · Mateo Salinas
A weekly check-in for couples that runs over text
A weekly anonymous-prompt SMS exchange that surfaces the conversations couples mean to have but never get to. Six weeks in, the founders are still using it.
Tactus
Joaquín Vidal
Tactile tab-switcher for designers
Solo project. A Stream Deck-meets-Figma plugin that lets you flip between artboards via physical tactile keys. Felt right.
From the venue
Photos.
This edition is closed.
See the winners and photos above, or check the next upcoming edition.
See the next edition