🧠 London Founder House Hackathon – AI, Ethics & My First Real Founderspace

I was fortunate to be selected out of hundreds of applicants to join the London Founder House Hackathon — a weekend-long event dubbed “the world’s largest hackathon” and hosted by ElevenLabs and the London Founder House team at the beautiful Dawn Capital offices in central London.

This was my first time surrounded by so many startup founders and high-energy builders. At first, I felt a heavy wave of imposter syndrome. But being in that room eventually turned that feeling into drive — a hunger to learn and achieve what the people around me were striving for.

I teamed up with my childhood friend and fellow aspiring software engineer, Jacob. In 24 hours, we built a classroom game inspired by the classic trolley problem dilemma — infused with real-time debate, student voting, and AI-generated arguments.

🎮 What We Built

• Teachers open the site and display it on a projector.
• Two AIs (voiced using the ElevenLabs API) are randomly assigned opposing stances on a moral dilemma.
• Each AI delivers a short argument in real time.
• Students vote during the debate and interact with the outcome.
• Teachers can pause the debate to lead deeper discussion on the ethics involved.

Inspired by platforms like Kahoot and Quizlet, our goal was to make philosophy and ethical reasoning more engaging and accessible. The format encourages participation, discussion, and critical thinking — all through the lens of AI-powered dialogue.

🛠️ Tools We Used

• React – Frontend application
• Flask – Backend logic and debate handling
• ElevenLabs API – Text-to-speech for real-time AI voice debates
• Bolt.new – Rapid frontend prototyping

This was more than just a hackathon — it was my first real glimpse into the founder world. Meeting other builders, hearing startup pitches in the breaks, and working in such an intense but creative space was a game-changer for me.

I walked in feeling like an outsider — and walked out feeling like I belonged. I'm incredibly grateful to the organisers and everyone I met. And I’m already looking forward to building more, learning more, and giving back.