Some numbers take time to sink in. 75,000+ teams competed at the OpenAI Buildathon 2026. We finished in the top 74. That's top 0.1% in the world. First year students from Yenepoya University mangalore, competing against the globe's best AI builders.
From 75,000+ Participants to Top 74: Our Journey at the OpenAI Buildathon 2026
By: Anand Mahadev Category: AI | Achievement | Innovation | Student Life
Introduction
Some numbers take time to sink in.
75,000+ teams. Top 74. Top 0.1% in the world.
I'm still processing it honestly. But here it is — our team competed at the OpenAI Buildathon 2026, one of the most prestigious and competitive AI competitions on the planet, and we finished in the top 74 out of more than 75,000 participating teams from across the globe.
First year students. From Yenepoya University. In the top 0.1% of the world.
This is that story.
What is the OpenAI Buildathon?
The OpenAI Buildathon is not a college hackathon. It is not a regional competition. It is a global stage where the most driven AI builders — students, professionals, researchers, and founders — come together to build real, meaningful products powered by OpenAI's cutting-edge technology.
The scale of this event is hard to overstate. 75,000+ teams from countries around the world. Builders ranging from solo developers to full product teams. Ideas spanning healthcare, education, productivity, climate, finance, and beyond. The top performers got to present at the AI Summit 2026 — an exposure that most people spend years in the industry trying to earn.
This was the arena we walked into.
How It Started — Just an Idea
Every great submission at a competition like this starts the same way: with an idea that feels too ambitious, slightly uncertain, and completely worth pursuing.
Ours was no different.
We sat down, looked at the problem space, and asked ourselves one honest question — what can we build with AI that would actually matter to someone? Not a demo. Not a proof of concept dressed up to look impressive. Something real. Something that solves a genuine problem in a way that only AI makes possible.
That question drove everything that followed.
The Build: Pressure, Iteration, and Pushing Through
Building for a global AI competition is a different experience from anything else I've done. The bar is not just set by the judges — it's set by the 75,000 other teams who are all trying just as hard, many of them with far more experience and resources.
That pressure is not comfortable. But it is incredibly clarifying.
Every feature we considered, we asked — does this make the product meaningfully better, or are we just adding complexity? Every design decision, every prompt, every integration had to earn its place. We iterated constantly. We built something, tested it, broke it, rebuilt it better, and kept going.
The AI Summit loomed as the finish line, but the real work was in the hours before it — the building, the debugging, the pitching to each other at midnight to make sure our story was as sharp as our product.
The AI Summit 2026
Making it to the AI Summit 2026 as finalists was itself an achievement most teams never reach. Standing in a room with some of the most talented builders in the world — people who have been working in AI for years — as first year students was a surreal and grounding experience at the same time.
We pitched. We answered hard questions. We held our own.
And when the results placed us in the top 74 globally — top 0.1% out of 75,000+ teams — the room felt very quiet for a moment before it felt very loud.
What Top 0.1% Actually Means
I want to be honest about something. A ranking like this can sound like a trophy to put on a shelf. But what it actually represents is something more meaningful than a number.
It means our idea was sharp enough to cut through 75,000 others. It means our execution was strong enough to hold up under global scrutiny. It means that two first year students from a university in Karnataka, India, built something that could stand alongside the best builders in the world.
That is not a small thing. But it is also not the end of anything. It is a starting point.
What This Experience Taught Me
The World is the Real Competition
Competing at local and national hackathons builds confidence. Competing at a global level builds perspective. When your competition is 75,000 teams from every corner of the world, you stop thinking small. You start thinking about what it actually takes to build something world-class — and you realize it is more achievable than it looks from the outside.
AI Rewards Clarity of Thought
The teams that win at AI competitions are not always the ones with the most technical sophistication. They are the ones who most clearly understand the problem they are solving. AI is a powerful tool, but it amplifies your thinking — if your thinking is fuzzy, your product will be too. Clarity of thought is the most underrated skill in AI development.
Iteration is the Real Skill
We did not build the final product in one sitting. We built, questioned, discarded, and rebuilt. The ability to iterate without ego — to throw away something you worked hard on because something better is possible — is what separates good products from great ones.
Exposure is Irreplaceable
Being at the AI Summit, seeing how top teams think and present, having your work evaluated by people at the frontier of AI — that experience compresses years of learning into days. There is no substitute for putting yourself in rooms like that.
Gratitude Fuels Growth
I am genuinely grateful. For the team that gave everything. For the pressure that made us better. For the platform that OpenAI built for builders like us. Gratitude is not just a feeling — it is a mindset that keeps you hungry without making you bitter.
A Note on Being a First Year Student at a Global Competition
People ask me sometimes if it feels strange to be competing at this level so early. Honestly — yes. Every single time I walk into a room at one of these competitions, there is a moment of doubt. A voice that says you don't belong here yet.
I have learned to answer that voice the same way every time: I belong here because I showed up and built something worth showing.
That is the only credential that matters in a buildathon. Not your year of study. Not your GPA. Not your university's ranking. What you built and how well you can defend it — that is the only thing being judged.
First year students can compete at the highest levels of global AI innovation. We are proof of that.
We Are Just Getting Started
Top 74 at the OpenAI Buildathon is the most significant achievement of my journey so far. But I mean it genuinely when I say — we are just getting started.
There are bigger problems to solve, better products to build, and more stages to compete on. Every competition we enter raises the ceiling of what we believe is possible. Every result — whether a win or a near miss — sharpens us for what comes next.
The OpenAI Buildathon showed us that we can compete with the world. What comes next is figuring out how to lead it.
Thank You
To my team — top 0.1% in the world is ours, not mine. Every late night, every iteration, every moment of doubt we pushed through together belongs to all of us.
To OpenAI for building a competition that genuinely democratizes access to a global stage — where a first year student from Sullia, Karnataka has the same shot as anyone else in the world.
To NIAT YENEPOYA UNIVERSITY and everyone who has supported this journey — your belief in us has never gone unnoticed.
And to every student reading this who is wondering whether to enter their first big competition — enter it. The world is waiting to see what you build.
— Anand Mahadev First Year Student | Yenepoya University OpenAI Buildathon 2026 — Top 74 | 75,000+ Global Participants | Top 0.1%