The HandCash Hackathon and Beyond
Last month, the Bitcoin API & wallet system known as HandCash hosted an online developer Hackathon. The basic requirement of this particular Hackathon was to integrate HandCash into a project of the developer’s choice. They didn’t care if it was a newly created application or something that already existed; it just needed to take advantage of its smooth and seamless payments architecture. (I’m a big fan if you can’t tell.)
Luckily for me, I had been building with and using their API for the past handful of months. I already integrated a great deal of HandCash into my demo “Social Media Earning Platform,” so once they announced the event, it was a given that I would participate. First prize was $2,500 and I couldn’t just leave dough like that sitting on the table.
Unfortunately, I did not take home 1st, but I did get 3rd, which netted me a cool $600 in Bitcoin-SV. In addition, I was also the first finalist covered in their award presentation video (found here), and that was almost as satisfying as the award itself. Getting recognition and hearing nice things being said about your baby feels pretty dang good. Only natural when you spend hundreds or thousands of hours birthing it to life, I suppose…
What I submitted wasn’t entirely complete, but even so, I DID expect to place in the Top 5 with what I had. That’s because the project is pretty elaborate and feature-rich at this point, and I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. I have 4–5 major coding tasks left before my demo MVP phase is complete and I can advance to the next phase of my entrepreneurial journey. And let me tell ya, it’s been a LONG time comin’…
There are other tweaks and improvements that will need to be made as well before I hit the benchmark, but as far as the major coding tasks goes, I need to complete the following:
[1] Refactor the Commenting System
[2] Build the Notification System
[3] Add Image Uploads + Database storage and retrieval
[4–5] Add “TAGS” to posts and add ‘Search’ functionality too
With the tweaks and major tasks complete, I will have the groundwork codebase laid for the various “Social Media Earning Platforms” I have envisioned. I’ve been building this codebase with all the other platforms in mind, so once one BETA platform is ready for launch, a few others will be too. BitcoinOptimists, Listoka, and StoryDrafters to start; DietMatador and TipGamers to follow (and potentially a few others too).
Once the groundwork is complete and I have a fully-functioning website to show to the world with BitcoinOptimists.com, the plan is to pump the brakes on coding and shift the throttle into entrepreneurial overdrive. That’s when I plan to look for financing, with the intention of using the capital to hire someone that can take over the coding and web-based duties — since I’ll need to direct my focus onto the promotional and user-acquisition side of the business once the platforms are launched. Like I said, I have to turn into the entrepreneur once the code is ready to go.
The plan is something like this:
- 4–5 major coding tasks and tweaks complete
- BitcoinOptimists.com workable demo launched
- Obtain financing via venture capital or possibly via something like Kickstarter
- Hire a seasoned developer who knows his/her stuff
- Work with developer to improve the existing code and bring the other platform repos to life
- Launch the platforms
- Begin the promotion, user-acquisition, marketing, etc.
- Developer manages the web-based stuff, improvements to the code, and launching of new platforms
And now writing time is over. Back to the codes we go.
Thanks to HandCash, Rafa, Brandon, Alex, and the rest of the crew, as well as the winner of the Hackathon, Marc Jackson, who helped me figure out how to correctly add extra query parameters to a URL, so users can be redirected to exactly where they were when they decided to log into HandCash. Much appreciated good sir, and congrats on your win!
Platform Demo Site: https://bitcoinoptimists.com
YouTube Demo of BitcoinOptimists.com for the Hackathon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2tyeCOdO6Y
Writing for the Hackathon: https://kels0la.medium.com/handcash-hackathon-writing-39cfabde7624
Award Presentation Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVnZqHFADbE&t=1s
Winner of the Hackathon: https://www.clappybutton.com/
