# Test Flight: what I learned without winning

By Nicolas Peters Saa · Published 2026-10-12 · https://nodolas.github.io/hackathon-recap-glasswing/

## Summary

In September 2026 I took part in Test Flight, the Glasswing Ventures
Enterprise-Ready AI Hackathon in Boston, part of Boston AI Week 2026. Our team
built and demoed a working product, Phision. We did not place.

## Event

- Name: Test Flight, the Glasswing Ventures Enterprise-Ready AI Hackathon
- Dates: September 26–27, 2026
- Location: Glasswing Ventures, 275 Newbury Street, Boston, MA
- Theme: Enterprise-ready AI, judged on technical execution and commercial viability
- Event page: https://aiweek.boston/schedule/glasswing-ventures-enterprise-ready-ai-hackathon
- Result: shipped a working product, did not place

## What we built

Phision (Pharma Quality Intelligence). When something goes wrong in a medicine
factory, an AI agent rebuilds what happened across the plant's systems,
stress-tests the suspected root cause, and gives QA an investigation where
every claim is backed by cited evidence. Work that normally takes days takes
minutes.

My part was the company itself: a fictional generics manufacturer with its own
records, quality events and a planted root cause for the agent to find.

- Demo (runs in the browser on fictional data): https://nodolas.github.io/hackathon-recap-glasswing/demo/
- Original hackathon deployment: https://glasswing-hackathon.vercel.app

## What I learned

1. Bring your own idea. Teams that arrived with a problem they already
   understood spent the weekend building. Picking an idea on the day eats the
   hours you need to make it work and make it convincing.
2. Come with your own team. Being matched with strangers works, and I met great
   people. But in 36 hours, learning how each other works pulls against the
   task. A team that already knows its roles starts shipping on hour one.
3. A random team is still worth it. I'd do it again for the people alone. Next
   time I'll do it with an idea and a team I've already lined up.

## The team

- Juan Cerquera: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jecer/
- Rohan Malik: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohan-malik-401814289/
- Maheen Rassell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrassell/
- Jai Surya Gupta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jai-surya-gupta/
- Nicolas Peters Saa (author): https://github.com/Nodolas