This trio has hacked the hackathon: 2nd win at Junction
Ville Toiviainen, Andreas Urbanski and Teemu Taskula created an AirBnb for electric vehicle chargers in just 48 hours. Their solution, Oneiro, utilized electric vehicle chargers from electrical solution provider Ensto and was validated by activity data from telecom company Telia.
The boys can’t be blamed for bribing the judges, though, because this year’s 10 finalists and the winner were chosen by the participants themselves with a democratic reviewing system. Oneiro convinced the other participants by being a complete product and answering a real need.
Ville, Andreas and Teemu, you’ve won Junction for the second time in a row. How does that make you feel?
Ville: [Silence.] It was a total surprise that we could do it again.
Andreas: I think in the end there’s a lot of luck involved, too.
(You can probably sense the famous Finnish humbleness at action, here.)
Teemu: We we’re thinking about the recipe for victory beforehand based on our last year’s experience. We had an idea what we need in order to be successful and we managed to accomplish those things quite well.
And what would that be? What’s your secret for a winning hack?
Andreas: I think the most important thing is to come up with a concise package that has a clear use case.
Teemu: And a working demo! A demo is not just the shell of the application but basically a real prototype that you could present to an investor.
Ville: It all requires that you have good partners, like we had with Ensto. They had these awesome electric vehicle charging machines that were fully open for us to use.
So what was the solution you created this year?
Andreas: We created AirBnb for electric vehicle chargers. It’s called Oneiro and it’s an application that allows you to rent your own charger whenever you’re not using it, for example when you’re at work and it’s sitting idle in your parking spot. It’s an app that connects people who are looking for a charger and people who can provide one.
(The team’s application, Oneiro, is described in more detail on GitHub)
Teemu: The idea is also to promote the usage of electric vehicles. To get that ecological mindset in people’s heads.
Ville: We don’t have the infrastructure yet for a sufficient charging network so that you could easily drive your electric car. We need ways to build up that infrastructure without significant costs. With our app you can actually lower your costs related to owning a car. So it’s a win-win.
How did you come up with this idea?
Teemu: We actually came up with the idea before Junction…
Andreas: …yeah, but it was not until we found out about the data that validated the idea, which was Telia’s activity data, when it all came together.
Teemu: Like last year we spent quite a lot of time validating the problem before starting to implement a solution.
Ville: Quite often we don’t even code on Friday. We just try to figure out good ideas. And once we have the vision, we just code.
Teemu: I barely talk with these guys during Junction. They were doing their thing and I was doing my thing. We trust each other so much that we can do our own work full speed ahead.
Why did you apply again?
Andreas: This is one of the best events of the year. It’s organized so well, the atmosphere is great and it’s always fun.
Teemu: I got hooked last year. Last year was my first Junction hackathon and this was my second hackathon…
Ville: Going strong.
Teemu: …so I might stop here because there’s just too much risk now.
This year participants chose the winner. What did you think about the peer reviewing?
Andreas: Initially we were skeptical how it would work, because it’s a lot more straightforward to deliver something to judges. But in the end it turned out well.
Teemu: The nice thing was that you see the other projects. Otherwise you’re in your own bubble and you don’t see the other people that much. Peer reviewing was probably a better way [to choose the finalists and winner] than last year’s model.
(Last year the finalists were chosen by community judges and the winner by a professional board of judges consisting of tech, startup and VC experts.)
What do you think is the impact of hackathons?
Andreas: It shows you can come up with something really useful and cool in a matter of 48 hours or less. A lot of people have this idea that if you wanna create this kind of software it takes a lot of resources. But if you scope the problem, have a clear vision where you’re heading and a good team to execute it, you can come up with some pretty amazing things.
Ville: I think companies might be underestimating young people. When I came here I met highschool students in the queue. And last year all of them got a job, basically, because they participated here.
What would you want to say to someone who would like to attend a hackathon but might doubt their skills?
Andreas: Definitely attend because hackathons are a great place to learn things that you wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to do! It’s super fun, too. I don’t think we ever had the mentality that we were trying to win. We were just thinking of something useful and fun to do and that’s really the whole thing.
Teemu: It’s kind of like with sports for me. I’m going to do my best but I don’t want to compete too seriously.
Andreas: And if you’re someone who enjoys coding, that’s what you’re gonna do anyways during the weekend, right?
Teemu: Last year was a revelation for me: I might be better than I thought. Many people have this kind of impostor syndrome. They have a lot of different skills but they necessarily don’t believe in themselves. Hackathons can be a turning point.
Any last comments?
Andreas: I can’t really find anything that annoys me and that’s always a good sign. It means that everything is so well organized that you don’t even see what’s happening behind the curtain.
Ville: We want to say thank you for the whole Junction crew. It’s hard to describe how great this event is and it gets better all the time.
Junction 2018 took place in Helsinki area, Finland November 23–25. Nearly 1300 developers, designers and business-minded thinkers from all over the world came to the Nordic hackathon taking place in Dipoli, the main building of Aalto University. Junction is a not for profit organization run by students with the aim of enabling people to create with technology.
