I Bombed an Exam Because I Couldn’t Get Help, so I Built an App That Helps Everyone Else: HUSTL ⚡📲[Live Demo Inside]

This is a submission for the World's Largest Hackathon Writing Challenge: After the Hack.*

Hustl: Helping Students Help Each Other, One Task at a Time

I was going to fail my calculus exam.

It was 2:00 AM in the library.

I was sitting alone, my eyes burning from hours of studying, and my stomach completely empty. My calculus exam, worth half my final grade, was in just a few hours. I was running on caffeine and stress, but my laptop battery had other plans. It dropped to five percent. My charger was back in my dorm. The dining halls were closed. Campus was silent. And I felt completely alone.

I looked around the library and thought, what if someone nearby had an extra charger? What if someone walking back from the Student Union could bring food? Maybe they were just a few feet away, but I had no way to ask. No platform. No connection.

That night, I didn’t just struggle.
I failed.

And in the middle of that failure, a thought hit me:
No one should ever have to be in this position again.

That’s where the very first version of Hustl (okay,it was called “Rent a Minute” back then, yikes) was born. And this hackathon became the perfect place to build Hustl.

Over the past month, we used Bolt.new to transform that frustrating night into a full product. Not just a demo. A working platform. With real users. With real impact.

In just a few days, over 75 students at the University of Florida signed up and began using Hustl. Tasks were posted and accepted. They requested snacks, asked for rides, found study partners, and borrowed chargers. Every interaction proved the same thing: students want to help each other, they just need the right way to connect.

This post walks through how we:

• Used prompt-driven workflows in Bolt to build Hustl lightning fast
• Integrated real tools like ElevenLabs, RevenueCat, Sentry, and Supabase
• Created a platform that makes campus feel a little less lonely and a lot more supportive
• Our Vision and Future

1️⃣ What I Built – Hustl: A Campus Task Marketplace

Hustl is a student-powered platform where people can post small tasks: forgotten items, campus rides, food runs, or last-minute study groups and instantly connect with others nearby who are willing to help.

From “Can someone grab me goggles from my dorm?” to “Anyone driving toward Archer Road right now?”.

The goal? Make it feel easy, safe, and fast to get the little things done — especially when you’re in a pinch.

Thanks to Bolt, our first working prototype came together in days.

2️⃣ How Hustl Works (Step-by-Step)

Hustl is mobile-first, simple, and built for speed. Here's how both sides of the platform flow:

For Task Posters (Requesting Help)

1. Select Category and Urgency

Select a task type (ride, food, item, study group) and how urgent it is.

2. Post a Task

Add a description, current location, timeframe, and any payment or reward if offered.

Optional Voice Input

Too tired to type? Just speak it. ElevenLabs transcribes your voice to a clear, accurate task description.

3. Task Appears on the Map and Feed

Nearby students instantly see your task on the feed or map and can offer to help.

3️⃣ Demo: Hustl In Action

4️⃣ How I Used Bolt to Build Hustl

✍️

First — What is Bolt.new?

Bolt is a zero-setup full-stack dev playground. It gave us React, TypeScript, Tailwind, Supabase, and Firebase with zero config — and let us build and iterate insanely fast.

That kind of speed was everything during this hackathon.

✍️ Prompt Templates We Used

We relied on Bolt’s prompt system to solve both design and backend logic painlessly. Some key examples:

Frontend Prompt:

“Make the layout mobile-friendly with a sticky bottom nav and no layout changes to the current UI.”
📌 Solved mobile bugs across devices

Backend Prompt:

“Connect Firebase with the frontend to handle real-time updates for task status, chat messages, and user location. Include error handling for failed task creation and syncing.”
📌 Powered real-time sync and status updates

UX Prompt:

“Make the post task modal scrollable and fully responsive across devices without changing the component layout.”
📌 Solved user complaints about broken inputs on smaller screens

🔧 Integrated Tech Stack
Voice AI: ElevenLabs (post tasks by voice)

Realtime Backend: Supabase + Firebase (auth, DB, chat)

Payments & Premium: RevenueCat (for business accounts and org subscriptions)

Monitoring: Sentry (live AI-assisted error triage)

UI: React, Tailwind, TypeScript (clean, scalable, mobile-first)

4️⃣Use Case & Who Benefits
🎓 Who is Hustl for?

• Students needing quick help
• Dorm residents who forgot something across campus
• Clubs and student orgs looking to share tasks or errands
• Commuters needing rides
• Students offering their time and earning money or credits

🌱 Why It Matters

Instead of being stuck in a moment of stress or isolation, Hustl makes help available with just a few taps. You’re no longer on your own at 2 AM, aomeone nearby can bring food, lend a charger, or get you home.

🔚 Wrapping Up – Building With Purpose
Hustl didn’t start as a startup. It started with a real moment, when I was alone, hungry, and overwhelmed, and turned into a product that’s already helping students on campus.

We didn’t just learn to build. We learned to solve problems.
We learned that building something useful means more than competing.
And we learned that with tools like Bolt, you don’t have to wait to make an impact.

🌍 What’s Next and our Future Vision

When we started building Hustl, our goal was simple, solve a problem that felt personal. But what began as a late-night idea quickly turned into something much bigger.

We’re not just continuing development.
We’re launching a startup.

We are also excited to begin working with UF IGNITE, the on-campus startup program supporting student-led ventures. With their guidance, we will be filling out a business model canvas, exploring long-term revenue plans, refining our product through mentorship, and tapping into opportunities to connect with other startups, VCs, and entrepreneurial resources. IGNITE will be a key part of our next chapter as we grow Hustl from a hackathon MVP into a long-lasting company built by and for students.

The response during testing at the University of Florida made something clear: students need this. The small, everyday moments of being stuck, needing a charger, a ride, a snack, or a classmate to study with,happen constantly. Hustl became a way to solve them in real time. And now, we’re focused on scaling that solution far beyond one campus.

In the coming months, we plan to expand Hustl to universities across Florida, including FSU, UCF, USF, and FAU, and ultimately grow it into a platform used by students nationwide.

This month of building changed everything for me.

I learned how to move fast without compromising quality. I learned how to lead a team, how to turn vague ideas into real product flows, how to apply AI tools like voice input and smart matching, and how to use no-code and low-code tools like Bolt to build functional, full-stack solutions without drowning in complexity.

But above all, I learned this: building something useful is more fulfilling than any competition.

This wasn’t about winning a prize.
It was about watching real students use something we made — and seeing their lives made easier by it. That was the win.

I went from someone who failed my calculus exam to someone launching a real startup. From feeling stuck and hopeless at 2:00 AM, to building the very platform that could solve that moment for others. Hustl gave me direction, purpose, and momentum.

So what’s next?

We’re going to keep shipping, keep learning, and keep listening to students, because this isn’t just a project anymore.

It’s not just an app. It’s a community.

And we’re just getting started.