Work/018/Concept study · Hackathon
MentorBot
3 strangers on a Zoom call had 90 minutes to build a coaching app for people in their first job.
Concept study. Built in 90 minutes at an online AI x UX hackathon.
- Role
- Research synthesis, the chatbot idea, notes on our pivots, opening the pitch
- With
- Jeremy and Suyen, on a team drawn at random
- Year
- 2025, 90 minutes
- Tools
- Claude, ChatGPT, Lovable, Magic Patterns, FigJam, Gamma, Zoom
01The short version
At my first AI x UX hackathon, hosted online by UX Support Group, I was put on a team with 2 people I’d never met.
In 90 minutes we had a clickable coaching app and a pitch, and we took 1st place.
The prototype is still up at mentorbot.lovable.app.
02The brief
The brief landed, and the 90 minutes started.
The task was to help young professionals with workplace communication. The judges scored design, AI use, execution and empathy.
Our team was drawn at random, so we spent the first minutes meeting each other and splitting up the work.
03Splitting it up
We split the work 3 ways, and I took the research.
I ran the brief through Claude and ChatGPT to pull out the pain points, then pitched a chatbot coach as the smallest thing we could get working in time. While I prototyped ideas side by side, Jeremy worked in UI patterns and Suyen built the pitch deck in Gamma.
With no time to recruit anyone, I had ChatGPT draft a persona from the brief, so we had someone to design for. He was a 23-year-old called Declan, which is why the home screen says “Hey Declan!”
042 prototypes, 1 pick
We built a light version and a dark one side by side, and picked the dark one.
The team picked Lovable’s dark mode, because it felt like a safer, more focused place to practise a hard conversation.
Then we built it out in Lovable: practice scenarios and an AI video coach, plus progress bars and XP you can trade for small rewards like a coffee voucher.
05The pitch
I opened the pitch, and we closed it with a live demo.
Suyen walked the judges through our decisions, and Jeremy showed the video feedback working in real time.
Next on our list was testing with real people in their first jobs, since everything we knew about them in those 90 minutes came from the brief and a persona ChatGPT drafted.
Credits
MentorBot
- Research, concept and pitch opener
- Alex Jammali
- UI patterns and live demo
- Jeremy
- Pitch deck and walkthrough
- Suyen
- Hackathon
- AI x UX, hosted online by UX Support Group
Concept study · Hackathon · 2025 · 1st place
