ID8 | Devpost

Inspiration

At the opening ceremony of Pearl Hacks, the keynote speaker Rebecca Egger shared that only 2% of venture capital funding goes to women-owned businesses. This was shocking. Currently, investors rely heavily on connections to find new investments. However, women and non-gender conforming individuals are not represented in these circles. Thus, we created a platform where entrepresenurs can pitch their ideas separate from their identities. Names, genders, sexualities, ages, races, and ethnicities are not shared. Investors invest in ideas. We envisioned transforming investing in business as a shopping site where there is no subjective bias, improves diversity in supporting small businesses, and supports ideas that are simply good.

What it does

ID8 enables investors to discover and support groundbreaking businesses based on ideas, not identities—ensuring equitable opportunities for all founders, by eliminating bias in venture funding. We connect investors with businesses without revealing information like names, race, and gender, but provide access to statistics, experiences, backgrounds, financial statements, and pitch decks, so that investors can make a well-educated impression of the ideas behind these companies. Additionally, on the entrepreneur-side, the AI model will help judge and provide feedback to the entrepreneurs, so they continuously improve their pitch.

How we built it

For the investor side developing process, we built and deployed a beta webpage version of our product’s investor-side functionality using Git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and FileZilla.

For the entrepreneur side, we used Figma to model and prototype a beta webpage version of our product’s entrepreneur-side functionality. We first wire-framed the site layout, and then further designed the specific pages with interactive capabilities.

Challenges we ran into

Challenge 1: Our idea and project had many components to it. First, we had to narrow it down to a smaller more feasible steps for this short turnaround. Solution: After prioritizing our goals, we decided to build and launch a front end-development of a beta web version of the product.

Challenge 2: At 11:52pm, when we were done with the front-end, we were curious about how we could implements the back end. While we all have completed projects on isolated parts of the SWE process, we have never put it together before. Solution: After consulting the mentors, we learned about how this would work, but decided it would take too long. Instead, we used JavaScript to create a mini psuedo backend that stores usernames and greets the user using this input.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of our ability to leverage a wide range of software and technologies to create a seamless user experience for ID8. By creating both an interactive website and prototype through Figma design, we ensured that every aspect of our platform is optimized for clarity and accessibility, with room for future development. our platform is designed to level the playing field for women, non-conforming individuals, and other underrepresented entrepreneurs, ensuring they have a fair and equitable opportunity for their businesses to be recognized and invested in. Additionally, we are proud for everything we've learned--from meeting new people, discussing with the mentors, and arguing over colors, each decision was intentional and a product of conversations.

What we learned

Throughout the development of ID8, we explored a range of technologies and tools, gaining valuable skills in the process. Our focus was on utilizing HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and Figma for development. These experiences enhanced our understanding of software development, specifically front-end aspects. We also emphasized user experience and design, striving to create an intuitive and aesthetically pleasing platform that would ensure that investors could effortlessly explore business opportunities.

What's next for ID8

Moving forward, our next steps for ID8 involves implementation of an AI model in the Entrepreneur user experience. This enhancement will offer more business starters the opportunity to truly optimize their profiles to investors, allowing them to continue with their dream business. Additionally, after launching our pilot program, we plan to conduct further research on the impact of our platform in bridging the gap for minority entrepreneurs, assessing how it has improved their access to investment opportunities and overall success with investors.