Moonlighting with Gemini + Exa

An invite-only AI hack night for top researchers, engineers and technical founders in SF 🌉✨

Hosted by Build Club with Gemini / Google DeepMind and Exa, alongside WorkOS, Convex, GMI Cloud, Photon, Mosaic, Vapi, ElevenLabs, AdaL and Apify.

The challenge: launch your side hustle in one night.

Come meet other researchers, engineers and founders, then get 1.5 hours of focused build time to turn a research insight, side project or technical idea into something real. We'll finish with lightning demos from the best builds, judged by an expert panel.

Bring your laptop and one idea you've been meaning to ship. We'll bring the tools, mentors, credits, food and good energy 🚀

What you'll get:

• $50 in Exa API credits for every participant

• $50 in Vapi credits for every participant

• 110,000 ElevenLabs credits for every participant

• $100 Apify credit redemption

• $20 AdaL / Sylph.AI attendee support

• Mentoring and hands-on support from the partner teams

• Demos and tutorials from Gemini, Exa, GMI Cloud, Photon, Mosaic, ElevenLabs, AdaL and Apify

• Food + drinks 🥤

Rules

• Compete solo or in teams of up to 5 people.

• There will be time for team forming at the event, but you can choose your team beforehand if you'd like.

• Submissions must be built during the event build time.

• You cannot start building before the event, but brainstorming beforehand is encouraged.

Judging Criteria

• Side-hustle potential: Does the project solve a real problem and have the potential to become something people would use or pay for?

• Working build and progress: Does the product work, and what meaningful progress did the team complete during the sprint?

• Use of sponsor tools: Are one or more sponsor technologies used thoughtfully and effectively? Quality matters more than quantity.

Prize Categories + Judges

Judges' Choice

• Prize: $200 cash awarded on the day

• What we're looking for: The strongest overall build of the night, chosen by our expert judging panel.

People's Choice (Voting)

• 1st place: $200 cash + $500 in Vapi credits

• 2nd place: $200 cash + $300 in Vapi credits

• 3rd place: $200 cash + $100 in Vapi credits

• What we're looking for: The build the room wants to see ship. Voted on by your fellow builders. People’s Choice submissions are due 11:59PM Monday, August 24, 2026.

Best Use of Vapi: Best Voice AI Build

• Prize: One pair of AirPods

• Challenge: Build a voice-first experience using Vapi that solves a real workflow through natural, real-time voice interaction.

• What we're looking for: A working voice prototype with a smooth conversation experience, a clear target user and thoughtful use of tools, APIs or data sources.

Best Use of Apify

• 1st place: $250 Visa gift card

• 2nd place: $150 Amazon gift card

• Challenge: Use Apify to power a build that needs to collect, scrape or structure data from the web.

• What we're looking for: A build that uses Apify well to find, structure and apply external information.

ElevenLabs Winner Prize

• Prize: 1.8 million ElevenLabs credits (approx. $500 value) for the winner or winning team

• Challenge: Build something that uses voice, audio or speech in a way that genuinely improves the experience.

• What we're looking for: A creative, well-executed use of ElevenLabs that goes beyond bolting on text-to-speech.

GMI Cloud "Clouder Opportunity"

• Prize: $100 in GMI Cloud credits for two months, a featured use case on GMI Cloud social channels, GMI Cloud swag, and fast-track review for the GMI Cloud startup program

• Challenge: Build something on GMI Cloud infrastructure that showcases a compelling real-world use case.

• What we're looking for: A build worth featuring, with a clear story about who it helps and why it matters.

Speakers & Demo Presenters

• Paige Bailey — Google DeepMind

• Jonah Berman — Exa

• Roan Weigert — GMI Cloud

• Adish Jain — Mosaic

• Antonio Aguirregomezcorta — ElevenLabs

• Julie Chen — Photon

• Aria Shi — AdaL / Sylph.AI

• Petros Hong — Apify

Judges & Mentors

• Yuqi Hou, Barack Liu, Lillian Ma — GMI Cloud

• Jolie Ni — H.ai

• Rodrigo Del Aguila — Circleback

• Xiya Tang — Pearl

• Patrick Ruan — Photon

• Li Yin, Haebin Seong, Haoran Zhang, Aria Shi, Shanglin Yang — AdaL / Sylph.AI

Hosted by Build Club

The most collaborative AI community in the world, with 60+ cities and 70K+ members, democratising access to AI education ✨ Home to Solaris, our enterprise AI adoption platform.

• Join our free e-learning campus: https://www.buildclub.ai