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 — open-source runtime for building and deploying AI solutions: any models, any agents, your stack.
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 (Cash 💰)
1st Place: $2,000
2nd Place: $800
3rd Place: $200
👥 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
William Viet Tran, ML/GenAI @ Meta
Francesca Sala, GDG Newport Beach Lead
Jose Escoto, Senior Engineer @ City County San Francisco
Francis Ma, Tech executive, ex-google
Francis Oledibe, Software Engineer @ Netflix
📋 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.
Winners of Google I/O Kickoff: Pre-World Cup Hack ⚽:
🥇 1st Place Spike
🥈 2nd Place Jordan
🥉 3rd Place Master Coach