March Newsletter | 0 to 0.1
The Process | March Recap
Earlier this month, I was at an AI event—the youngest one there. Someone asked me, “Who got you into this space so young?”
Usually, I hear things like, “I wasn’t doing this at your age,” or “You’re so ahead!” But this time, it was different. It was a question about who.
“Who kickstarted your journey?”
I couldn’t answer. No clear person came to mind. Sure, I’ve had amazing mentors, but if we’re talking about the one person who truly kicked it all off? I drew a blank.
Then, on the train ride home, it hit me: Mr. Knowles—my Grade 11 computer science teacher.
I think it started with how genuinely enthusiastic he was about building. I still vaguely remember a story he told me about one of his old students who built something really cool with a Raspberry Pi over the summer—I forget what exactly, haha, but I remember thinking it was super sick. At the time, the idea of "working" during summer felt a bit wild, but once you find something you love, it becomes addicting.
We had conversations like that often, and naturally, it made me curious—made me wonder what I could do with entrepreneurship.
Funny enough, this all happened in a computer science course, but the two go hand-in-hand in a lot of ways. That’s really where it all began.
Mr. Knowles taught me for barely two months before he got promoted and left. Yet in that short time, he sparked something essential: curiosity and ambition. Here’s to the mentors who plant seeds they might never see grow—and to the quiet moments that change everything.
Let me introduce myself! 👋
Hey! I’m Noah. If we haven’t met before, or you want to learn a bit more about me—I recommend you check out this quick 30 second intro to both me, and this newsletter:
What I’ve Been Up To Lately
Working on a project for Samsung, where I placed top 5 in Toronto and now competing globally against 1000+ people
Attended the Socratica Symposium + a YC partner at a fireside chat.
Competing in one of Canada’s largest hackathons—my first of many!
Kicking off the #BoardyFellowshipCountdown
Working on SEO @ Armilla AI as an intern
Working on SEO and product @ Built for Impact as an intern
Attending the third GenAI Collective Event
Learning—a ton.
Working on a Consulting Project for Samsung 📱
My Second Challenge at TKS: The Samsung Project
Last month, I started my second TKS challenge—a global project with Samsung. My team competed against 1,000+ participants to rethink how Samsung could use AI to make accessibility more inclusive.
Our Solution: Galaxy Focus – A Neuro-Inclusive AI Smartwatch
The Problem:
Current smartwatches don’t support neurodivergent users who need real-time, personalized cognitive assistance.
1.3 billion people globally live with cognitive or sensory challenges
576 million live with ADHD, autism, or anxiety
20–25% of this group owns a smartwatch, yet no wearable adapts in real time to focus or sensory needs
Inaccessible tech experiences cost companies $6.9B+ in lost revenue annually
The Solution:
Galaxy Focus—the first Galaxy Watch that senses cognitive states and transforms environments using AI:
Detects stress, fatigue, distraction
Adjusts environment via SmartThings + Bixby:
Dims lights during sensory overload
Silences non-essential notifications to help with focus
Prompts cognitive breaks to reduce burnout
Built on existing Galaxy Watch hardware with ~$15/unit sensor upgrade
The Outcome:
Galaxy Watch sales projected to grow by 5% = +$7.5B in revenue
Samsung becomes leader in neuro-inclusive tech
AI personalization boosts user satisfaction by 80%
Galaxy Focus becomes a daily essential for millions
We recently found out we placed top 5 in Toronto out of 200+ participants—now advancing to global semi-finals.
My role in this project was to research, develop a prototype, and pitch on behalf of my team.
If you want to check out our final deck, feel free to check it out here:
And feel free to check out the interactive prototype I made here (open it on your phone!):
The prototype followed One UI 6 Guidelines design principles—toast stack, spacing, and all.
Overall was such an amazing experience—being able to work with Nitya, Aydin, and Naman again—absolute blast.
Attending Socratica Symposium & a YC Fireside Chat
Socratica Symposium was unreal—my first time in such a builder-heavy space. I met folks from Cansbridge Scholars & Fellows (check them out if you're entrepreneurial—the team behind it is fricking awesome!).
Also got to connect with people from UWaterloo and beyond.
It was surreal. I was building CoVenture (a network for ambitious teens to connect + build), but struggling with things like "The Cold Start" problem. I remember bringing it up—and people would sit with me in total silence for 10 minutes brainstorming real ideas.
It blew me away.
I left completely inspired.
My First Hackathon! 🧑💻
In March, I did my first hackathon: GenAI Genesis 2025, Canada's largest AI hackathon (2,200+ applicants, 600+ hackers from 25+ countries and 100+ schools).
I had made a team with three TKS fellows: Nitya, Yakshith, and Parsa.
That was us, minutes before pitching—dead tired haha. One of the most fun weekends I’ve had. It was 3 days straight—Friday evening to Sunday morning.
I slept twice: once on the TTC and once for 30 mins at 4:00 AM. Drank more caffeine than I care to admit.
Worth every second.
We built HackBuddy (check out our Devpost here) which is a personalized voice AI agent.
For most of us, it was our first hackathon—and the biggest issue we had was finding the right team. We were placed in a discord server but it was just nonstop sound and spam, it felt almost surreal that there wasn’t a more efficient alternative—that’s why we build HackBuddy! HackBuddy is your personal AI wingman for hackathons. Instead of stressing out over awkward intro messages or last-minute team scrambles, hackers can just hop on a call with HackBuddy, tell it their interests, skills, and ideas, and get matched with other hackers looking for teammates.
Two Channels:
B2B: Hackathons upload a CSV of participants and get a unique code to distribute
B2C: Users enter the code → call the AI agent → answer questions like:
“Spell out your name.”
“Your email?”
“Tell me about your experience. Any past projects or hackathons?”
“What are you proud of?”
“What kind of teammates are you looking for?”
“Looking for specific skills?”
“What team vibe do you prefer—fast and intense or chill and collaborative?”
The AI transcribes and stores the data in Supabase.
Matching used a super basic ChatGPT wrapper—it worked well, even if it was simple haha.
Incredible experience. Here's a photo of me completely passed out afterwards.
This month, I paused work on CoVenture to explore a new project—can’t share much yet since I’m deep in the learning phase. But expect more soon 👀
As always, reach out with questions, ideas, or if you just want to connect. Your input means a lot.
See you next month,
Noah
P.S. If you want to read more about any of these projects, check out my Medium, LinkedIn, or my new X / Twitter account!