10 days. One idea. Countless iterations. And one result we didn't quite expect.
For Shreya Gupta, Shivangi Gupta and me, Girls Hack Day Delhi 2026 became much more than just another hackathon.
We chose the Women Safety & Security track and started building Safera — but from the beginning, we kept coming back to one question:
Would this actually be useful to someone?
That question became our filter for everything we built.
The 10-day build
The next few days were a mix of brainstorming, building, breaking, fixing and rebuilding.
We discussed features endlessly, worked on the PPT and prototype, refined the UI, and kept questioning whether something genuinely added value or was simply there because it sounded innovative.
And then came the classic hackathon phase:
3 AM debugging sessions.
Late-night Google Meets and WhatsApp chats just to show each other a feature we were way too excited to wait until morning for.
"Let's make the UI prettier."
"Wait, what if we add this?"
"I'll fix it."
And somehow, another few hours disappeared.
When we got selected for the offline round, it all became even more real.
🏢 Paytm Office, Noida.
It was my first visit there, and our second offline hackathon together.
The final hours
Even on the day of the round, we weren't done.
I was literally working on the project during the metro ride to the venue because one part of a feature I had spent a lot of time on suddenly decided to disappear. 😭
We fixed things, continued modifying the project, practiced our pitch, and headed into the mentor round.
And then…
the demo broke five minutes before we walked in. 🥲
Not exactly ideal timing.
But there was no time to panic for long.
We pulled ourselves together and presented Safera to our mentor, Ekta Arora.
She gave us suggestions for further improvements — and then said:
“I liked it.”
After all those late nights and last-minute panic, those four words meant a LOT. ❤️
The results
Then came the part nobody can prepare for.
Initially, we had been told that around 10 teams would make it to the finals.
Just before the announcements:
“Okay, we selected 9 teams — we're running short of time.”
And then the names started.
1st… not us.
2nd… not us.
3rd… still not us.
By the 9th name, we were nervous, disappointed, and still holding on to a little hope.
The final 9 were announced.
Our name wasn't there.
Then came the Featured Teams.
And we heard:
“Team Technominds.”
🥹
We didn't make the final 9, but being selected as a Featured Team felt incredibly special.
Of course, there was that tiny:
"What if we had been just 1–2 points higher?" 😭
But alongside the disappointment was something stronger:
motivation.
What we're taking forward
This experience reminded us that hackathons aren't just about the final ranking.
They're about taking an idea and making it tangible.
They're about learning while building, figuring things out when they break, listening to feedback, working as a team, and coming back with the urge to make the project better.
For us, Safera isn't ending here.
We're taking everything we learned from this experience and using it to make it more practical, more polished, and more worthy of being built.
A huge thank you to CDN Commudle Developer Network, our mentors, and everyone we met at Girls Hack Day Delhi.
And of course, Shreya Gupta & Shivangi Gupta ❤️
10 days of brainstorming, building, debugging, “wait, let's add this too,” and “GUYS THE DEMO BROKE.” 😭
Wouldn't have wanted to go through this chaos with anyone else.
And just when we thought the day was finally over…
another hackathon final was waiting for us 30 minutes later — still inside the Paytm office, with heavy rain outside.
But that's a story for another post. 👀
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