App Development Club x Purs. Hackathon Intro

The future of community-centric commerce is here, and this Mobile Hackathon is your chance to revolutionize it! We invite you to design a cutting-edge mobile payment experience that caters to both customers and merchants. You are encouraged to be creative. It will be your task to find a good niche and execute well within that niche.

What is Purs?

Purs is building the future of payment solutions. As a company, they build tools for business owners, software platforms, and financial institutions to help them enable fast, cashless, permissible payment options.

To learn more about Purs, check out their company site and Linkedin page!

Key Focus Areas:

• Mobile Payment Technology: Explore the plethora of mobile technologies such as NFC, Bluetooth, QR codes, and more. Your solution should facilitate easy and secure payments between two parties, typically a merchant and a customer.

• Mobile Ordering: Consider developing a mobile ordering solution that elevates the shopping experience for small local shops and cafes. Ideas include a voice-activated ordering system using the OpenAI API, integrating with virtual assistants like Google or Siri, or any innovative UI/UX concept aimed at streamlining the mobile ordering/transaction experience. Aim to make a unique product.

• Social Factor: Consider leveraging the robust APIs of platforms like Telegram or Discord to manage payments. This opens up a myriad of possibilities for engaging users where they spend a significant amount of their digital time. A Telegram or Discord bot may be an interesting starting point.

• Deliverable: Your submission will include a live demo for the judges. You may use any hardware that you need. Bonus points are awarded if the system is designed in such a way that any device, including a judge's mobile device, can be used to complete a transaction.

• Mock Everything: Initiating real money movement or linking a user’s bank account is outside the scope of this Hackathon. Avoid the use of commercial APIs such as Stripe or Plaid. Simulate the backend processes or focus primarily on the frontend experience to convey the potential of your payment solution.

Need Ideas?

If your group is stumped, check out the "Resources" tab for potential ideas and examples for your project! The examples give great starter suggestions, they may be what your group needs to find an idea that you are satisfied with.

• General
  Remember that your key deliverable is the live demo of your payment experience. Judges want to see something that works well and feels smooth.
• UI/UX Design
  Judges will evaluate the quality of the user interface and overall user experience. Projects with intuitive designs and smooth interactions will score higher in this category.
• Ease of Use
  This criterion assesses how simple it is for users to complete a payment or place an order using the application. Projects that prioritize usability and streamline the payment process will receive higher scores.
• Data Security
  Judges will assess the effectiveness of data transfer between the merchant and customer devices, focusing on the security measures implemented to protect sensitive information.
• Engagement and Enjoyment
  Judges will consider the fun factor of the payment experience and whether users would be excited to use the app. Projects that incorporate engaging elements into the payment process will receive higher scores.
• BONUS - Onboarding Seamlessness
  Projects will receive bonus points if a judge can install the app, sign up, and complete a payment using their iPhone or Android device in under 30 seconds. This criterion rewards projects that prioritize efficiency and seamless user onboarding.