Google I/O Kickoff: Pre-World Cup Hack ⚽

​The whistle just blew at Google I/O. The World Cup kicks off in 3 weeks. There's no better time to ship something real.

​Join GDG (Google Developer Group) Newport Beach, RocketRide, and GMI Cloud for a one-day build sprint in San Francisco, right after Google I/O drops its biggest AI announcements of the year. Your challenge: build AI-powered agentic apps with what just shipped, before the world's attention shifts to the pitch.

​⚽ WHY JOIN

• ​Build with the freshest Google I/O releases

• ​Build faster with RocketRide - skip the orchestration headaches and focus on what your agent actually does

• ​Run inference on NVIDIA H100/H200 GPUs via GMI Cloud, free credits for all participants

• ​Compete for prizes and fast-track into the GMI Clouders Ambassador program

• ​Enjoy a proper Brazilian BBQ lunch, because great builds deserve great food

• ​Connect with the sharpest AI builders in SF

​📅 SCHEDULE — Saturday, May 23, 2026

​09:00 — Doors open + full breakfast spread + team formation 10:00 — Kickoff: Google Workshop
10:30 — GMI cloud workshop
10:45 — RocketRide workshop

​11:30 - Team formation and Team submission deadline
01:30 — Brazilian BBQ lunch (keep building)

​5:00 - Submission deadline
05:10 — Demo presentations (3 min per team) + (2 min Q&A) Judging
08:00 — Prizes announced
08:30 — Closing + networking

​⚙️ THE STACK

• ​GMI Cloud — NVIDIA-powered GPU inference, 170+ models, OpenAI-compatible API, NVIDIA Cloud Partners globally

• ​Google AI Studio — build with the models that just shipped at I/O

• ​RocketRide — the app layer, in-editor agent development with one-click deploy

• ​Mentors for Google, GMI Cloud and RocketRide on site

​All participants receive free GMI Cloud inference credits to use during and after the event.

​🏆 PRIZES

​To be announced, stay tuned.

​👥 JUDGES

​Abhinav Balasubramanian, Staff AI Engineer @ NVIDIA
Magne Jul Pedersen, VC @ Exponential VC
Sachin Gupta, E-Commerce Engineering Leader @ eBay
Joe Maionchi, Co-Founder & COO RocketRide
Roan Weigert, DevRel AI Engineer @ GMI Cloud

​and a couple more to be announced....

​📋 RULES

• ​Teams of 1–4 people; solo submissions welcome

• ​Projects must be started at the event (no pre-built apps)

• ​Must use Google technologies, GMI Cloud and RocketRide

• ​Submit via GitHub repo + 3-minute live demo + 2-minute Q&A

• ​In-person attendance required for prize eligibility

​👥 COMMUNITY

​Brought to you by GDG Newport Beach x RocketRide x GMI Cloud x NVIDIA

​By registering, you agree to the event terms and conditions. Attendance implies consent to photography and video recording for promotional use.