This past weekend, Team OASIS participated in the Junction Asia 2023 Hackathon, it was a great event, and we had a talented team, and it went something like this:
Day 1: What have we got?
Day 2: We got this!
Day 3: We got nothing.
So where did things go wrong? As an 'A' Team with a 'B' effort, we had our lunch eaten by less talented teams with better effort. We did not get our priorities straight, and that's just not good enough. Plenty of blame to go around and finger pointing, but as the CEO of the team, the bucket stops with me.
This competition was significant for me personally, as it marks my debut as an AI/ML Engineer, and I managed to complete and publish my first recommender system, and this will have an impact as Tenatch makes the transition to become an AI/ML startup.
But for Team OASIS, I wore the wrong hat, and we lost. We needed Steve Jobs, not Steve Wozniak. We talked about "working smart", and laughed at the Korean teams who stayed up all night throughout the hackathon, but our own questionable decision making, and inability to keep our own egos in check ultimately sunk the ship. The Koreans got the last laugh, and we reinforced the perception that Foreigners talk alot and but cannot deliver. And this stung me particularly hard, as it was a completely winnable competition, but we dropped the ball.
Sometimes, we can only learn by failing. And having gotten too used to winning, I slacked up, and had to learn the lessons the hard way.
To be honest, I did not expect much from the event, but this competition turned out to be a microcosm of the Korean startup ecosystem, and I am grateful I could learn so much in a weekend. And the lessons learned will be invaluable for Tenatch, as we embark on our journey in the Land of the Morning Calm🇰🇷
As for Team OASIS...We'll be Back! We thank the organizers and teams we completed against, and the wonderful new friends we made along the way!
Looking forward Junction Asia 2024!!👾🚀
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