San Francisco, for a hackathon

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Trip: San Francisco, California · Oct 3–7, 2024 · with Brendon and Tithi · the E2B hackathon, during my first month in the US

In October 2024 I was about a month into my first ever stay in the US. I’d started in Boston, and then spent the rest of the time in New York, working at the AI company I’d just joined. In the middle of that, I flew out to San Francisco with two of my colleagues, Brendon and Tithi, for the E2B hackathon. It was my first time in San Francisco and in California.

I’ll be honest: I don’t remember this trip very well. Work was so busy those weeks that I stopped taking voice notes for about 15–20 days, and San Francisco fell right in that gap. Looking back, I really wish I’d recorded more. So this post is mostly pieced together from my photos.

We flew out on Thursday, October 3, after a morning at the office, and landed at SFO at around 9 at night. We had a late dinner and went to the place we were staying.

The hackathon

The reason for the trip was the hackathon run by E2B. We weren’t competing: Brendon was one of the judges, and Tithi and I went along with him.

We stayed in a place on Pfeiffer Street, up on the slope of Telegraph Hill above North Beach. It had a rooftop, and on the first morning I went up at sunrise. You could see the whole bay from there, with Alcatraz sitting in the middle of it.

The view from our roof, first morning.

It was a busy few days, with plenty of work in between and some very late nights. There’s a food delivery receipt for 2:44 on Saturday morning.

On Saturday morning I took my first ride in a Waymo, a car with nobody in the driver’s seat. A screen in the back shows you the route as it drives.

A Waymo. Nobody driving.

By lunchtime on Saturday the room was full of people at long tables, and Brendon gave a session on Athena, the company we work at.

Brendon’s session, just before it started.

Meeting the CopilotKit team

While we were there, we also got to meet the team behind CopilotKit in person. We’d been using their tools at work since my very first week, so it was nice to finally meet them face to face.

The city

On Saturday night I went out to see the Golden Gate Bridge, all lit up orange in the dark.

The Golden Gate, Saturday night.

Sunday was my one free day, and I spent all of it walking. In the morning I went to Saints Peter and Paul, the big white church on Washington Square in North Beach.

Then I climbed up to Coit Tower, right above where we were staying. From the top you can see the Bay Bridge, the piers and the whole waterfront.

From the top of Coit Tower.

From there I walked down to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. There’s a big California mural there that everyone takes a photo with, so I did too.

I got a coffee from a robot barista, a robot arm behind glass that made the whole thing while I watched.

My coffee, made by a robot.

With the Bay Bridge behind me.

Then I walked up to Lombard Street, the crooked one, which was packed with people taking photos.

Lombard Street.

I ended the day on Twin Peaks for the sunset. The whole city was spread out below, and the sun went down over the ocean.

Sunset from Twin Peaks.

On Monday we flew back to New York, and on October 13 I flew home to India.

Notes to myself

Take voice notes even when work is busy. A two-minute note would have saved this whole trip.
Go back to San Francisco with proper time to see it.

san-francisco on Aldrin Jenson

San Francisco, for a hackathon

The hackathon

Meeting the CopilotKit team

The city

Notes to myself