Rami's Universe

TreeHacks 2026

8 min read

IDEAS fund application

Please provide a brief description/overview of the proposed activity. Approx. 200 words

TreeHacks 2026 is a 36-hour hackathon hosted at Stanford University that brings together students from around the world to collaborate on creative solutions to real problems. I’ll be teaming up with other students to brainstorm, prototype, and learn from mentors across tech and design. It’s not just about building something, it’s about learning how to work under pressure, think fast, and bring ideas to life with people who share that same drive.

After the event, I plan to stay a few extra days in the Bay Area to join post-hackathon meetups and follow-up sessions that usually happen around the event. It’s a great chance to build on the relationships formed during the hackathon and connect with others who are equally curious and ambitious.

San Francisco and Palo Alto are known for their community of builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Being surrounded by that energy perfectly aligns with my mission of helping people reach their full potential. By immersing myself in that environment, I’ll be learning from the people building the future, growing as a builder and communicator, and bringing back lessons that can help me inspire others to do the same (will be making a video about what I learned from that experience)

How does this activity further your personal and/or professional goals in your discipline and/or area of interest? Approx. 300 words

A brief background on me and my life mission before I start: I live by the quote in my Instagram bio: instagram.com/psycho.baller

“and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same”

By me striving to reach my fullest potential, I inspire to bring out the best in the people around me. I am literally a beam of light. A cheerleader. Which is also what one of my mentors, Guy Lavesque (Director of Hunter Hub in UCalgary), describes himself as.

Everything that I do in life aligns with my purpose of helping everyone around me reach their full potential. More specifically, help people who are currently struggling with a thing that I managed to overcome (loneliness, social anxiety, communication skills, addiction, etc)

To be able to reach that point of coaching others, I have to put myself in situations where I can grow the most and connect with the people who I look up to. Going to TreeHacks would be the perfect opportunity for myself to do that. It’s a place where the most ambitious students from around the world meet the most inspiring entrepreneurs, founders, and industry professionals. It’s a place where the most ambitious students from around the world get to learn directly from the entrepreneurs, founders, and industry leaders who are shaping the future. Last year, OpenAI, Tesla, Nvidia, and a dozen of growing start-ups were all under one roof.

Attending TreeHacks would allow me to immerse myself in that environment and learn directly from people who are building the future. To exchange ideas with peers who think boldly, and to challenge my own limits by building something that matters during that hackathon. I’m not going there just to participate in another hackathon; I’m going there to grow as a builder & leader, to form relationships with people who share the same obsession for solving the problems I mentioned before

How will your participation in this activity aid in your development as a scientist and/or leader? Approx. 300 words

One thing I know for certain is that I am an amazing leader, but I also know that I’m far from perfect. Mainly because there’s a lot I have not experienced, and situations I haven’t dealt with. In other words, I don’t have the wisdom, and wisdom comes from experience.

I’m currently the project manager in Tech Start Calgary (a UCalgary club) where I’m leading my team of 9 to build https://getaudora.app (I’ll be chatting with a lot of industry professionals in there and getting their perspective on the project we’re building and how can we tailor it to the needs of our target audience)

Going to this hackathon will allow me to exercise that part of my leadership and teamwork skills because I’ll be working with other random strangers who might or might not have similar work ethics or ambitions

and last year I worked on https://github.com/psycho-baller/orbit with 6 other people and ended up making it to the UCalgary news:

Attending hackathons offers a unique opportunity to experience what it takes to turn ideas into real solutions. TreeHacks is the perfect environment to strengthen my innovation and collaboration skills. I see TreeHacks as the ultimate testing ground to further understand my strengths and weaknesses. It’s where I can turn abstract ideas into working prototypes, collaborate with people who think differently, and learn what it truly takes to bring a vision to life under real pressure. More than anything, it’s a chance to immerse myself in a community that values creativity, grit, and impact which are the same values I want to carry into everything I pursue next

TreeHacks application

Why do you want to come to TreeHacks 2026?

Attending hackathons like TreeHacks, CalHacks, and HTN offer a unique chance to experience what it takes to turn ideas into startups. Maybe I’ll even meet my cofounder there. There’s no better or faster test than 36 hours of shared struggle. The odds are low, but you never know🤷. I also love using hackathons to validate ideas I’m passionate about. It’s the perfect place to test an MVP, get feedback, and see if the concept has potential.

With so many new use cases for AI agents, TreeHacks will be full of people experimenting (including sponsors building entire companies around AI). I’m especially interested in context engineering and giving AI human-like memories as I do here: youtu.be/CyZygumNDG8.

TreeHacks’s the perfect environment to strengthen my innovation/collaboration skills while being surrounded by the best in the industry and to finally immerse myself in the “SF tech bro” community I’ve always wanted to join

Tell us about a project you’ve enjoyed working on, technical or non-technical

Over this past year, I have spent over 800 hours working on 2 mobile apps: Exo and Orbit. These 2 open-source applications & community represents everything that I stand for: using technology to reduce the barrier to human connection. Exo helps people have better conversations with their partners and friends. Then 14 months ago, I started working on another app that aims to fight loneliness in university

Orbit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/getorbitapp Exo: https://getexo.vercel.app/ Orbit Manifesto: https://youtu.be/vaBTLpGfVQE demo: https://youtu.be/QI8HgFye-m0 My university reached out to me to write an article & video about me:

unfortunately they couldn’t find sustained traction, so I moved on. Through that experience though, I learned a lot and now at a point where I discovered and tested out getaudora.app (my 4th pivot) and I haven’t been more confident in something having serious potential.

What’s something you’re excited to work on in the next 10 years? Dream big!

I live by the quote in my Instagram bio: instagram.com/psycho.baller

“and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same”

By me striving to reach my fullest potential, I inspire to bring out the best in the people around me. I am literally a beam of light. A cheerleader.

Everything that I do in life aligns with my purpose of helping everyone around me reach their full potential. More specifically, help people who are currently struggling with a thing that I managed to overcome (loneliness, social anxiety, communication skills, addiction, etc).

The beauty of technology is that it’s scalable. I essentially want to work on things that allow me to scale the impact I wanna create on the world. This is why I built heyember.me (open.substack.com/pub/ramimaalouf/p/the-courage-to-be-chalant) and why I’m building tryaudora.app.

btw check the word count for all my answers :)

Tell us a fun fact about you :)

I started instagram.com/thechalantsociety in August to help people grow by doing uncomfortable things. Each week, I host meetups with three to five members, encouraging them to step outside their comfort zones. I act as a cheerleader: motivating, supporting, and celebrating every small win as we expand our limits together.

I would describe myself as…

a performative chalant male who loves to inspire others to be more chalant… and also a tech bro

Give back activity

  • I have a YouTube channel where I share advice that I learned from the unique experiences that I went through. I plan to make YouTube videos sharing advice on that experience. Possibly in a vlog style documenting my journey of meeting cool people and sharing advice that I learned through the experience. This is my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ramimaalouf
  • You can also take a look at my presentation that I did at the end of my exchange program where I shared some advice to my fellow exchange program friends based on the things I learned from my entrepreneurship classes I took in there: https://youtu.be/lq2LqPiCSp0
  • Here’s a video of me asking startup founders for some advice: https://youtu.be/rtSxXFBUGcA
  • I see myself doing something like this during my time in Stanford and Silicon Valley

Expenses

Nothing has been purchased yet

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