CMU T&E - Updates for November | Founders Happy Hour, Hack for Impact, & More 🚀

November Updates
Hello Tartans! 🍂
As we welcome November, we want to remind everyone that Election Day is here—if you haven’t yet, make sure to get out and vote! This month, we’re excited to feature impactful events, including networking with Hamatha in SF, a Hack for Social Impact weekend, and more.
T&E Bay Area | Founders Happy Hour with Hamatha

📅 Date: This Tuesday, November 5, 2024
🕒 Time: 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM PST
📍 Location: Saluhall SF, 945 Market St, San Francisco, CA
🎟️ Registration: Approval Required
Join Hamatha and CMU T&E for a Founders Happy Hour! 💼✨
We're excited to host members of the CMU T&E community for a networking happy hour with Hamatha!
Event will Feature:
Delicious Food & Drinks: Catered by the iconic Saluhall Market.
Meet Fellow Founders: Connect with other CMU founders and share your entrepreneurial journeys.
Networking with Active Investors:
Hamatha is actively seeking innovative startups for investment. Founders and CMU alumni can engage directly with the investment team to share their visions and explore potential collaborations.
Exciting Announcements from Hamatha:
First Check Investment Event Announcement:
Learn about the upcoming Hamatha First Check Investment Event, exclusively for CMU founders! Hamatha is investing 4 $25k checks into CMU companies between March 1 and May 31, 2025: https://hamatha.com/events/cmu-investment-event-2025H1/Pre-Accelerator Announcement:
Hamatha is also announcing a new pre-accelerator for Pitching to Early Stage Investors, and they're reserving the first cohort for just CMU founders! More info here: https://hamatha.com/events/pitching-to-early-stage-investors-2025H1/
Hamatha is a value-add angel syndicate formed to make angel investing accessible and to form positive working relationships with the entrepreneurs they invest in. Hamatha is leading multiple programs aimed at supporting the Carnegie Mellon University startup ecosystem. This is an opportunity for first-time founders and startups in very early stages of development, including ideation, to fundraise
Election Week Reminder

It’s Election Week in the United States! 🇺🇸 If you are eligible, participating in elections is a vital way to make your voice heard. From local to national races to ballot initiatives and propositions, your vote has an impact on the issues that shape our communities and future.
Haven’t voted yet?
Check your polling place: Locations vary by city; visit your local election website or vote.org.
Plan your voting time: Polls can get busy, so give yourself plenty of time.
Bring required ID: Check state guidelines for identification to ensure a smooth process.
Upcoming: Holiday Mixer / Open Mic in Pittsburgh 🎉
We’ll be hosting a casual Holiday Mixer/Open Mic event in Pittsburgh where we celebrate the end of the year.
Save the date for early December and keep an eye out for more deatils!
McGinnis Venture Competition Judges Needed

The McGinnis Venture Competition is back!
McGinnis, a platform exclusively for Carnegie Mellon University's community of student entrepreneurs, brings together Carnegie Mellon's best and brightest student entrepreneurs to compete for $60K in investments. All participants receive crucial interaction with alumni entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, an opportunity to raise capital and valuable feedback about ventures.
This multi-round competition kicks off in early January, starting with two virtual rounds and culminating in a final live round celebration at Carnegie Mellon University.
CMU student entrepreneurs will pitch for $60K in funding, and we’re looking for early-round judges. If you’re interested, please contact Steven Guo.
Bay Area | Hack for Social Impact

📅 Date: Saturday, November 9 - Sunday, November 10, 2024
🕒 Time: Nov 9, 9:30 AM - Nov 10, 6:30 PM PST
📍 Location: San Francisco, CA (RSVP to see details)
🚀Make an impact on real world problems in a single weekend!🚀
Join Hack for Social Impact and tackle real-world challenges! We are teaming up with United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Chan Zuckerburg Initiative and other non-profit partners to present you with important, pressing, and well-scoped challenges. These problems can be solved by you!
Solve problems like...
💧💧Land degradation, drought, and people
How does land degradation affect natural disasters such as drought? How does it impact the lives of people in economic and social indicators? How effective is land restoration in different areas in leading to economic growth and economic well-being? What tools can you build to help in the analysis of these factors?
🇺🇳🌏💬Fast and accurate translation of UN documents in highly technical contexts
UN documents are domain specific and involve complex concepts not common enough in most language models to be readily translated accurately. Build natural language systems that can learn from existing official documents and translate these documents into other UN official languages or tools to assist official translators in producing accurate documents.
🏠🏠Understanding building codes for housing affordability
Each jurisdiction in California has a different building code that developers have to follow to construct new housing creating a fragmented and confusing space for new housing to be built. Is it possible to create a system that can clearly organize and display differences in building codes? It would be an immense help to affordable housing construction and policy change!
With hackathons and happy hours, we hope November’s events help you make the most of the season. Looking forward to seeing you at events in the future!
Best,
The CMU T&E Team 🎉