AMERICAN
FRONTIER
BUILD
24-hour hackathon to launch investable American made ventures that improve lives of real Americans living or working in fragile communities or industries. Compress the entire pre-seed to Series A life cycle to within 24 hours.
PURPOSE
This is an American R&D sprint that produces investable artifacts. We compress the entire pre-seed to series A life cycle to within 24 hours, one turn of earth's wall clock run time.
Frame the event as a compressed pass through the GAI Foundry (Discovery to Design to Pilot to Production), clearing GAI risk retirement process.
GUIDING
PRINCIPLES
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY FIRST
Safe environment for innovation and risk-taking
REALITY > THEATER
Solve a P&L-visible problem with an on-ramp to production for fragile sectors of the US economy on land, at sea, and in the air
TRACEABLE & AUDITABLE
Every claim ties to artifacts, metrics, or docs
SKIN IN THE GAME
Sponsors commit data, SMEs, and post-event next steps
FOUR
TRACKS
Soil & tissue analytics: variable-rate ops; field logistics; co-op pricing; crop insurance ops
Load forecasting; DER orchestration; weather risk pricing; refrigerant leak intel; carbon MRV
Port ops; autonomous surface/underwater sensing; IUU monitoring; coastal resiliency
Demand planning; quoting/autopricing; labor scheduling; case intake & adjudication; revenue ops
Target Workflows: prioritize Core workflows (direct P&L drivers), then Supporting (amplifies Core); exclude Utility unless it unblocks Core.
TEAM
COMPOSITION
Sources of problems & talent: indie hackers, F1000 sponsor problem-owners, and GAI network tribes.
JUDGING
RUBRIC
PROBLEM QUALITY
Is your problem hard enough?
SOLUTION QUALITY
Is your solution good enough?
NARRATIVE
Is your story compelling enough?
EVENT
SCHEDULE
Prep (async)
Kickoff
Welcome + problem pitches + team formation
Gate A: Problem Framing
KPI, user, constraints; Success = a decision
Artifact: one-pager + Factory Input Record
Gate B: Feasibility
Working PoC on sample/anchor data (TRL ≥ 3); risk ledger updated
Gate C: Go-to-MVP
Repeatability evidence; 12-week MVP Charter; draft Value Bridge
Demos
6 min pitch + 4 min Q&A
Awards & Signings
Commit or kill; calendar follow-ups same day
AWARDS &
BENEFITS
PILOT FUNDING
Pilot funding consideration for top tribes
CASE STUDY & INTROS
Public case study & intros to anchor customers and partners for top tribes
FOUNDER TRACK
Founder track invitation for winners
RESERVED BUILD SLOTS
Reserved build slots in GAI's pipeline + credit toward a 100-Day Bridge (subject to diligence) for top tribes
JOIN THE
FRONTIER BUILD
We call upon the scientific and engineering community to join this effort as a matter of moral duty comparable in magnitude to the Moon Landing or Manhattan Project.