nicholas lin
// about
I'm a software engineer and builder based in the Bay Area. I spend most of my time exploring deep learning, cloud infrastructure, and building products that push what AI can actually do.
Hackathons are where I do some of my best work. I've won six of them, and each one has taught me something different about speed, execution, and what happens when you stop overthinking and start building.
At the Celebrity Hunt Hackathon in San Francisco, we were handed a list of 100 names, presidents, CEOs like Jensen Huang and Tim Cook, world-renowned artists, and told to get one of them on FaceTime. We mapped the networks around public figures: their assistants, managers, producers, and collaborators. Using Apollo, we pulled phone numbers for over 40 people on that list. Most of them hung up on us. One didn't. Michael Dell, the 13th richest person in the world, picked up. We were the only team at the entire hackathon to get someone from the list on a call. First place, $1,250, and mentorship sessions with people from Palantir, Google, and OpenAI.
At Funding the Commons, we placed 3rd out of 240 submissions and walked away with an invite to a private equity investor meeting with several VCs.
I also took 2nd place at Y Combinator's Hack the Stackathon, which came with a $10,000 prize. And I've had the chance to judge hackathons too, which is a different kind of rewarding, getting to watch other builders sprint toward something real.
// cybersecurity
Outside of hackathons, I spend time on cybersecurity research. I've found vulnerabilities in several YC-backed companies, and I genuinely believe the best way to understand how systems work is to try to break them. Knowing where things crack makes you a much better builder.
// beyond the keyboard
When I'm not at a keyboard, I'm probably playing piano, nine years and counting, or flute, where I'm the section leader for my school's ensemble. Music and code have more in common than people think. Both are about structure, iteration, and finding flow in the details.
I'm always down to collaborate on interesting projects or talk about things worth building. Feel free to reach out.