ColorStack

Over the past two weeks with ColorStack IU, I had the opportunity to co-run two professional development events! The first, in collaboration with IUB Luddy Career Services, focused on how to build a strong LinkedIn profile and create a professional resume that stands out. The second event was all about finding internships, using ColorStack membership resources effectively, and preparing for interviews, especially technical ones. I really enjoyed leading these sessions because many students, especially first-year and underrepresented students, often don’t know where to start when it comes to career prep. Being able to share what I’ve learned (and learning new things myself along the way!) was so rewarding. Huge thank you to everyone who attended and to IUB Luddy Career Services for collaborating with us and sharing your expertise! 🙌 ps: here is a video of a day in my life, if you are interested :)) https://lnkd.in/gPHyP4Ft

It all started with a message in a ColorStack Slack Channel: "Hi team! I'm reaching out curious to see if we'd be interested in forming a team…" That message led to the ideation and formation of Team CashCow — four students from four different schools who had never met before. Over 36 hours, we combined our ideas and skills to build a fully-functional Chrome extension. The Problem: Nearly 70% of credit cardholders leave rewards unused, translating to over $10 billion in unclaimed cashback and points every year. Managing category bonuses and rotating offers across multiple cards is confusing and time-consuming. Meet CashCow 🐄💰 CashCow is a Chrome extension that maximizes credit card rewards in real time. At checkout, users open the extension and instantly see which card gives them the best rewards. How it works: 💳 Scrapes live promotional data using Model Context Protocol (MCP) from Bright Data 🤖 Optimizes card selection through Fetch.ai uAgents integrated with Claude AI 🐍 Runs on a Python backend that categorizes purchases and recommends the best card for each checkout ⚡ Delivers recommendations in an instant The Experience: None of us had built a Chrome extension before. Three of us were first-time hackers. We had to learn new APIs and integrate multiple tools in 36 hours. Despite being strangers from different schools, we figured out each other's strengths and worked seamlessly together. We debugged (and danced around) at 3 AM, laughed through the chaos, and built something we'd actually use ourselves. What's Next: I'm continuing development on CashCow post-hackathon. Beyond just saving money, this project is about financial literacy—helping people understand how their credit cards work and making smart financial decisions accessible to everyone, not just rewards enthusiasts tracking spreadsheets. A huge thank you to the CalHacks Crew (shoutout Wallace T.) and all the sponsors, judges, and mentors who made this event possible, especially Dylan Vu. A special thanks to Fetch.ai, Bright Data, and Anthropic for the tools and support. And to Abigail Shih, Abdirahman Bashir Mohamed, Marcos Arnold—couldn't have asked for better teammates! 🧡 Your cards, fully milked. Your rewards, fully collected. 💰🐄 #CalHacks #FinTech #AI #ChromeExtension #FetchAI #BrightData #Anthropic #TheOhioStateUniversity #PaymentExperiences