VIABL
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Globalhack VII

GlobalHack VII

Summary

In 2018, Viabl competed in GlobalHack VII, a 48-hour hackathon in St. Louis focused on improving the immigration journey. By leveraging our core value, Commonsense Engineering, we ideated and implemented a user experience the judges deemed the best out of over 100 professional teams. By designing the platform for easy translation and minimal text, we ensured the solution could easily scale to different languages and cultures. Despite formidable competition from major tech consultancies, Viabl’s practical, user-focused approach earned us first place.

Key Takeaways

  • Speed Wins: At Viabl, development speed is the name of the game and a hackathon environment plays to this strength.

  • Commonsense Engineering: When time is of the essence, focus on the basics: user experience and engineering execution.

  • User Experience is Key: Structuring the platform by user type (experts, guides, and immigrants) created a trustworthy pathway for sharing and receiving help.

The Challenge

GlobalHack VII challenged participants to address the physical, financial, and emotional hurdles immigrants face as they settle in a new country. Teams had just 48 hours to conceptualize and develop meaningful solutions. For Viabl, the immediate obstacles were clear:

  • We had to operate without Castle, the AI-driven coding engine, our usual secret weapon.

  • We needed to design a tool flexible enough to serve many different immigrant communities.

  • Localization was paramount—every word of the interface had to be translatable.

  • The platform needed to be intuitive, bringing together immigration professionals, established immigrants, and newcomers under a single, easy-to-use tool.

Our Approach

Speed is our strength. However, to achieve speed, you need a good plan. We didn’t write a single line of code on the first day. Instead, we talked it over for hours. Ultimately, we decided we didn’t know anything about immigration and that our solution should link those who need this information with trusted sources who could provide it. We then organized the work that needed to be done and divided it up amongst ourselves. 

This approach highlights our Commonsense Engineering: we know what to focus on when to achieve business goals. In this example, we had to strike the right balance between structuring the project and executing on the project. Too much or too little of either could doom the project. After all - we only had 48 hours.

Solution

We defined three user roles—experts (e.g., immigration lawyers), guides (immigrants who had already made the journey), and new immigrants seeking advice. This role-based structure let users ask questions, share expertise, and build supportive communities.

To tackle the language barrier, we kept all app copy minimal and integrated a real-time translation API called Locize. This ensured each user could easily access relevant content in their native language, even under the tight 48-hour timeline. By prioritizing simplicity and direct communication, our team delivered a functional, localized solution within the timeframe allotted.

Results

The judges recognized our platform’s ability to empower immigrants with the practical support they need—connecting them directly to legal experts and mentors who had once faced similar challenges. Our first-place finish underscored the value of a user-first approach and Commonsense Engineering. The judges appreciated how our solution didn’t try to solve the issue, but rather empowered those with more knowledge to solve the issue.

Looking Forward

Globalhack illustrated Viabl’s Commonsense Engineering as a competitive advantage. Even without our usual secret weapon - Castle, the AI-driven coding engine - we were still able to outcompete major tech consultants on speed and quality of solution.