Earlier this month on Feb. 7, Future Fest 2025 was hosted by the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University. This was an all-day event, lasting from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., starting with a hack-a-thon style tournament judged by The Baiada Institute Innovation Tournament and ending with an awards reception.
Hoping to win a share of the $10,000 in prizes, second-year computer science major Ame Shajid, third-year computer science major Abdul Chaudhry, third-year computer science major Samii Shabuse, first-year electrical and computer engineering major Faris Dababneh and fifth-year management information systems major Ibraheem Ahmad teamed up to compete in the tournament. Out of 14 competing teams, they secured first place, ranking among the top four teams awarded prize money, and their team, DisasterReady, won $2,500 for their innovative product.
The following interview was edited for length and clarity.
Nayab Iqbal: Did you approach the hackathon differently this year compared to last year?
Ame Shajid: Yes, we decided to do our own thing and made our own rubric. This year we followed Chuck Sacco’s rubric that was provided, and that’s what we based our slideshow and problem-solving methods on.
Abdul Chaudhry: Last year we mainly focused more on developing the product itself, and when it was time for the pitch, we didn’t put in as much effort. Since it was an entrepreneurship-based event, most of the winners were those who had entertaining and good-quality ideas. While we had a good product, our pitch was mediocre. This year we put a lot more effort into making sure our idea was sound, as well as the presentation.
NI: Can you walk us through your project and what set it apart from the competition?
The following prompt was given to all of the teams: Develop a business idea that addresses at least one of the six components of disaster relief: Preparedness, Mitigation, Response, Recovery, Prevention and Communication.
Samii Shabuse: Our idea was DisasterReady. A survival kit and learning app that helps families in disaster-prone areas prepare for emergencies. It’s a mix of a care package and a Duolingo-style training app designed to increase survival rates through both equipment and essential skills training.
NI: What was the inspiration behind your winning project?
Shajid shared that their idea stemmed from real-world challenges they observed, specifically the recent wildfires that occurred on the West Coast.
AS: We realized that during these disasters, there was a lack of professionals available to assist regular citizens. So we thought—how do we upskill everyday people? We decided to take the essential skills that professionals use and teach them to the average citizen. That’s how we came up with our idea for a learning app designed to help people with life-saving knowledge during natural disasters.
Chaudhry explained that Disaster Ready was unique because it combined customized survival kits with an intuitive, easy-to-use learning app. Compared to traditional manuals and diagrams, Disaster Ready intends to teach you the most important survival tips that would lead to the best chances of survivability.
AC: For the survival kits we wanted to focus on the four main elements, water, air, fire and earth, which was kind of inspired by Avatar. We wanted to design unique survival kits specifically for each of these scenarios, and different parts of the United States and other places in the world are more prone to fires, earthquakes or tsunamis, so the customer base would be paying for peace of mind and the best chance of survivability.
NI: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the event, and how did you overcome it?
AS: The biggest challenge was initially trying to get an idea together. All five of us wanted to include our own piece in the final product, but we realized we had to be honest with each other and figure out what would work best. By the end of our brainstorming, all of us had pitched an idea we believed would be best for our product.
AC: Last year, we were really set on our idea and did not want to see any weaknesses it potentially had. This year we turned that around and instead focused on any counterarguments or flaws we could see within our idea. Based on this, we were better prepared on how to tweak our idea and how to answer questions we may be asked, whether that be our customer base or acquiring revenue on our product.
NI: What advice would you give to teams that didn’t win this year but want to come back stronger?
AS: Last year we focused a lot on our product but didn’t focus on our pitch at all, that’s a common mistake many teams this year made as well. The three main reasons teams did not win were because they went over the time limit, they did not have a good pitch, and they didn’t have a story. You need to focus less on the product, and more on its presentation, which is a really important skill and something you should focus on during an entrepreneurship event.
AC: You don’t want to be throwing a lot of information at the user that’s really complicated. You want to slim things down and make it easy to digest. That’s what we focus on doing this year as well, and also having a story that hooks the investors in, and gets their attention right off the bat, is really important. They’re sitting through about 14-15 presentations, so really stepping up there, bringing 100 percent getting their attention, and then making sure you have that attention throughout your presentation is really important.
Chaudhry recalled a memorable moment the team shared that unexpectedly worked in their favor.
AC: We were expecting to be one of the first teams to present, but when they skipped over us, we realized we were actually going last. At first, it gave us extra time to prepare, but it also built up the nerves. We knew that by the time we got up there, the judges would be tired, so we had to bring the energy and really wow them.
In the last 10 seconds, I was closing out our pitch with our slogan, but I completely butchered our team name—I said ‘Discover Ready’ instead of ‘Disaster Ready.’ The judges started laughing, the audience was laughing, and in that moment, I thought I’d made a mistake,” Chaudhry admitted. “But it actually made our pitch more memorable. The judges remembered us because of it. I think having something that stands out, whether it’s purposeful or not, can really help you stand out in competition.
So, what are they doing with their share of the prize money?
Shajid is putting his winnings towards the new PC he has been building, while Chaudhry will potentially invest in the new Nintendo Switch.
The team’s victory at Future Fest 2025 represents a major achievement in their professional and entrepreneurial journey. As they prepare for next year, they aim to build on their success and come back even stronger for future competitions.