START Hack Vienna 2026 - fonio.ai
Close the loop on every cancellation.
fonio.ai builds AI phone assistants that handle calls for businesses around the clock. This track asks teams to fill newly freed appointment slots with a working outbound voice flow.
Challenge
Build the empty-slot refill loop
When a customer cancels an appointment, the slot often sits empty because staff have to call a waiting list manually and mostly hit voicemail.
Build a system inside fonio that detects a freed slot, chooses the right person from a waiting list, calls them, offers the slot, and books it when they say yes.
The demo should show the full loop end to end: cancellation detection, candidate selection, outbound call, and confirmed booking. Consent and edge cases must be treated seriously.
What to build
Detect a cancellation, pick the right waiting-list candidate, call them, and book the slot on yes.
Requirements
Submission requirements
- Public GitHub repo
- Up to 3-minute demo video
- Written submission
Judging
How this track is scored
- Functional MVP (30%): The demo runs end to end with a real outbound call rather than falling back to slides.
- Technical execution (25%): Engineering choices would survive production: persistence, error handling, idempotency, and sane architecture.
- Problem fit and relevance (20%): The team understood the real problem - the receptionist's day and the personalization issue - not an easier adjacent one.
- User experience and design (15%): The receptionist can actually use the dashboard and the owner can read the numbers.
- Pitch and storytelling (10%): Four minutes, clear and honest, showing the build rather than slideware.
Prize
Prize for the winning team
- EUR 2,000 cash plus 12 months of fonio access
Resources
Resources and support
- fonio accounts for building and testing
- Direct line to fonio engineering during the hackathon
- fonio account: One account per participant for building and testing.
- Infrastructure and documentation: Product documentation and build guidance are provided through the event platform.
- Support: Dedicated Discord and on-site help from fonio.
Mentors / Jury
People in the room
- Nicolas Hosp: Jury and mentor, HR at fonio - in person Sat 13:00-14:00 and 17:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-11:00
- Marco Caputo: Mentor, GTM Lead Italy at fonio - in person Sat 13:00-14:00 and 17:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-11:00
- Kim: Tech mentor, Forward Deployment Engineer at fonio - available on Discord
Mentors / Jury
Mentors for all cases
- Cristian Livadaru: n8n ambassador - mostly available on Day 1
- Gleb, Vlad, Sviat, and the proximata team: Available on the fourth floor in the Robotics Area