Walmart Sparkathon Challenge Notes

Jul 25, 2024

Walmart Sparkathon Challenge Overview

Introduction

  • Eligibility: 3rd year or final year students can participate.
  • Opportunity: Full-time entrepreneurship opportunity plus prizes.
  • Previous Winner: Chirag shares insights from his experience as a finalist and winner of the previous year.
  • Application Deadline: Last date for applications is in August.

What is Walmart Sparkathon?

  • Type of Event: Open innovation challenge for Indian students.
  • Benefits:
    • Prize money
    • Tickets and sponsorship to attend the Converge event in Bangalore
    • Meet industry leaders and speakers, including Aman Gupta and Ankur Warikoo
    • Summer internship opportunities
    • Chance to interview for a full-time role

Application Process

Last Year's Experience (Chirag's Team)

  • Team Formation: Initiated by a college email about the event.
  • Team Composition: Focused on ARVR specialization.

Application Timeline

  • Application Opening: 15th of July.
  • Submission Deadline: 16th of August.
  • Submission Requirements:
    • Idea submission (text format including problem statement and solution)
    • Two-minute explanatory video uploaded to a public platform (e.g., YouTube).

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Innovation and creativity of the solution
  2. Technical feasibility
  3. Potential impact on Walmart
  4. Quality of proof and concept demo

Rounds of Competition

First Round

  • Submission: Text-based idea submission and video.
  • Judging Criteria: Based on the points mentioned above.
  • Team Selection: Top 8 teams progress to the grand jury round.

Grand Jury Round

  • Structure:
    • Pitch: 3 minutes for the idea
    • Video Presentation: 2 minutes video
    • Q&A: 10 minutes session with judges.
  • Outcome: Top 3 teams announced after a judging period.

Final Results

  • Announcement Date: Winners announced at the Converge event.
  • Internship Notification: Internship results communicated a few months later.

Team Building Advice

  • Initial Idea: Key to team formation is the idea in hand.
  • Skill Matching: Consider teammates' skills and tech stack necessary for implementation.

Themes and Project Ideas

  • Themes:
    1. Data
    2. Supply Chain
    3. Emerging Tech
    4. Future of Retail
  • Chirag's Team Project: Developed an XR solution to aid in product assembly for e-commerce products.

Internship Details

  • Internship Stipend: ₹1 lakh per month plus 14 days of hotel stay and sponsored flights.

Final Advice

  • Participate: Everyone should try to participate and submit their ideas.
  • Specificity: Focus on niche problems and unique solutions.

Conclusion

  • Encouragement to Apply: Engaging in such challenges yields unique opportunities and could lead to being a potential winner.