Hack Your Way Into the Hacker House - powered by OnlyExit
📋 Event Description
Spend one day building at the frontier of AI and then pitch it to real VCs.
This is a one-day, in-person hackathon at Fordham University, co-hosted by OnlyExit Hacker House and localhost:nyc, where NYC's sharpest young AI builders ship something real and defend it live in front of a panel of seed-stage investors.
This is the NYC scouting funnel for OnlyExit Hacker House Cohort One - build well here and you skip straight to the front of the line to be part of a hacker house backed by top Silicon Valley Investorss.
⚡ The Frontier
We're not looking for another CRUD app. Build at the edge of applied AI:
AI agents and multi-agent systems
Applied / vertical AI for real industries
On-device and AI infrastructure
AI for hard, regulated, or high-complexity domains (defense, health, energy, robotics, science)
🗓️ What to Expect
10 am – 7 pm, one high-intensity build day at Fordham University
Solo or teams up to 4 - your call
~100 of NYC's most obsessive AI builders in one room
VC judges arrive mid-afternoon; live demos to the panel in the evening
Food and drinks to fuel the full day
🏆 What Winners Get
Access, not merch. The prize is the pipeline:
Fast-track OnlyExit Hacker House interview - top teams get a guaranteed in-person scouting interview for Cohort One in Seattle, skipping the cold-application line
Warm VC intros - standouts get direct introductions to the judging partners for their raise
Visibility - recognition to the OnlyExit and VC network as one of the strongest builders in the room
Access to After party dinner - More details will be given on the day of the event.
⚖️ Judges
A panel from our VC network:
D. J. Patel - VC | 3x exited founder
Prince Rumi - Excelsior Edge Ventures, Partner | AI Researcher
Shiv Jethi - Product at Cursor
Michael Barone - Investment Analyst at Everywhere Ventures, a global pre-seed venture capital firm
Lechi Richard Zhang - VC
Krathish Prakash - Founding Product Design @ Merciv
Srinivas Dharaneesh Jonna - Software Developer/Researcher
🎯 Who Should Attend
Founders and technical builders working on frontier tech and applied AI
Pre-seed or earlier - haven't raised, or only a small check
People with deep domain expertise or ex-unicorn / hard-tech experience
Fast, obsessive builders who can ship something real in a day
You don't need a co-founder or a finished idea, just show up ready to build at the frontier.
Credit Sponsors
Tavily: Connect your AI agents to the web.
Verdict turns your pitch deck into a brutally honest investment memo, in about ten minutes.
Lovable - Your AI website builder.
🤝 Hosts
Somya Gupta - The face of the NYC startup ecosystem.
OnlyExit Hacker House - A ten-week, live-in Seattle program for frontier-tech and AI founders, ending in a Demo Day at 40,000 feet.
CASTGNY: Since 1992, providing platform for learning, networking and mentoring for technology professionals and entrepreneurs.
Pulse NYC AI - A community, incubator, and venture fund built for founders, researchers, and technologists shaping the future of AI in New York City.
ConnNext is a next-gen mobile app and community built for career growth.
Madeline & Co. is the first Strategy and execution platform powered by Madeline-s1.
Bond AI - the curated community for AI events, connecting 140K+ AI operators, founders, & ecosystem partners.