More than 400 women attended WECode, the largest student-run conference for women in computer science, which included its first annual Innovation Challenge. Over 35 teams applied to the challenge, with each team having a female founder. Nine finalist teams pitched their ideas to judges from various companies. The winner, Doorbell, is transforming buildings into communities by making sharing goods and services with neighbors easy. They won $500 and GoPros. The runner up, Froth, is a drink subscription service for young professionals exploring bars, and won $300 and $250 Microsoft certificates. The second runner up, Prudence, is a one stop shop for legal aid, and won $200 and duffle bags.

1. More than 400 women attended WECode, the largest student-run conference for
women in computer science. This year, WECode added its first annual Innovation
Challenge. In the month leading up to the conference, more than 35 teams, each with
a female founder, applied to the challenge. Remote judges worked tirelessly to narrow
the field down to nine finalists.
On February 28, the judges—Scott Crouch, CEO of Mark43; Julie Elberfeld, Divisional
CIO for Commercial Banking Technology at Capital One; Katie Rae, Managing Director
at Project 11; Rachel Spekman, Director of Programming at MassChallenge—heard
pitches from our nine finalists, before determining the winners.
The winner of the Innovation Challenge, Doorbell, is transforming buildings into
communities. They make “sharing goods, services, experiences with your neighbors
ridiculously easy.” The team, consisting of Aleeza Hashmi, Ben Pleat, and Steven
Petteruti, were awarded $500 cash and GoPros courtesy of CapitalOne.
The runner-up, Froth (i.e. First Round on the House), is an application-based drink
subscription service that provides young professionals with a smarter way to explore,
experience, and save while navigating bars in their cities. FROTH co-founder Catie
Cole, was awarded $300 cash and $250 certificates from Microsoft.
The second runner-up, Prudence, is a free digital one stop shop for the 1 in 2
Americans who cannot access lawyers from legal aid. The Prudence team, represented
by Leni Hirsch and Rohan Pavuluri, was awarded $200 cash and duffle bags from Two
Sigma.
We want to thank all of our applicants, the wonderful judges, and the finalists for
making our first annual Innovation Challenge a success.
Director of Innovation Challenge
Alexandra Smith
INNOVATION CHALLENGE