Welcome to the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight, curated by HackerNoon’s editors to showcase noteworthy tech solutions to real-world problems. Whether you’re a solopreneur, part of an early-stage startup, or a developer building something that truly matters, the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon is your chance to test your product’s utility, get featured on HackerNoon, and compete for $150k+ in prizes. Submit your project to get started! Welcome to the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight, curated by HackerNoon’s editors to showcase noteworthy tech solutions to real-world problems. Whether you’re a solopreneur, part of an early-stage startup, or a developer building something that truly matters, the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon is your chance to test your product’s utility, get featured on HackerNoon, and compete for $150k+ in prizes. Submit your project to get started! Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight Proof of Usefulness Hackathon spotlight Proof of Usefulness Hackathon Proof of Usefulness Hackathon $150k+ Submit your project to get started Submit your project to get started In this interview, we talk with Dorcas Ngoie about CutePetPal, an all-in-one pet care application designed to streamline the management of pet profiles and health tracking. CutePetPal aims to reduce the mental load on owners by offering a centralized system for reminders, medical history, and emergency alerts. CutePetPal What does CutePetPal do? And why is now the time for it to exist? CutePetPal is an all-in-one pet care app that helps owners manage pet profiles, track health, set reminders for feeding, meds, and vet visits, and get emergency alerts. It keeps pets’ information organized, monitors wellbeing, and ensures timely care with smart notifications and insights. Now’s a good time for CutePetPal to exist because pet owners are increasingly seeking digital solutions to manage the complexity of modern pet care and health monitoring. What is your traction to date? How many people does CutePetPal reach? At launch, Pet care app could have an initial reach of around 500 to 2,000 users per month, mainly from early adopters, friends, and word-of-mouth. With targeted promotion on social media, pet forums, or partnerships with vets and pet stores, this reach could grow to 10,000+ users per month. In the long term, if the app gains wider adoption globally, it has the potential to reach 50,000 to 100,000+ active users monthly, helping pet owners everywhere stay organized and provide better care for their pets. Who does your CutePetPal serve? What’s exciting about your users and customers? This project brings value to pet owners who want to keep their pets healthy, safe, and well cared for. It is especially useful for busy individuals or families who may forget feeding times, medication schedules, or vet appointments, as the app provides smart reminders and health tracking. It also benefits new pet owners who need guidance on care routines, and anyone who wants a centralized system to monitor their pets’ growth, medical history, and wellbeing. Additionally, features like emergency alerts, vet contacts, and lost-pet info make it valuable for all responsible pet caregivers seeking convenience and peace of mind. What technologies were used in the making of CutePetPal? And why did you choose ones most essential to your techstack? CutePetPal is built on a robust backend using Node.js and Express, ensuring scalable API performance. Data management is handled by PostgreSQL via Supabase for reliability, while security is prioritized through JWT and bcrypt authentication. The frontend user experience is currently being crafted in Figma to ensure intuitive interactions for pet owners. What is traction to date for CutePetPal? Around the web, who’s been noticing? Currently, the project has established a solid technical foundation with a fully operational Node.js backend and a Supabase-hosted database. Core REST APIs for user authentication and pet profile management have been successfully implemented and tested via Postman. While the frontend is in the design phase, the backend architecture is active and maintained on GitHub. CutePetPal scored a 23 proof of usefulness score (https://proofofusefulness.com/report/cutepetpal) CutePetPal scored a 23 proof of usefulness score (https://proofofusefulness.com/report/cutepetpal) https://proofofusefulness.com/report/cutepetpal What excites you about this CutePetPal's potential usefulness? What excites me most about this project is how it turns everyday pet care into something proactive instead of reactive. By centralizing pet health data, reminders, and emergency information in one place, it reduces the mental load on pet owners and helps prevent missed medications, appointments, or early warning signs. Walk us through your most concrete evidence of usefulness. Walk us through your most concrete evidence of usefulness. The main proof of usefulness comes from talking directly with pet owners. Many people I spoke to said they often forget things like vaccinations, medications, grooming, or feeding schedules, especially when they are busy or have more than one pet. When I explained the idea of CutePetPal, most people were interested in the reminder feature and asked when the app would be available, which showed that the problem is real and relatable. How do you measure genuine user adoption versus "tourists" who sign up but never return? How do you measure genuine user adoption versus "tourists" who sign up but never return? After launch, I plan to measure real users by actions, not just downloads. A real user would be someone who creates a pet profile, sets reminders, and comes back to the app. The reminders are expected to be the main reason users return. If we re-score your project in 12 months, which criterion will show the biggest improvement, and what are you doing right now to make that happen? If we re-score your project in 12 months, which criterion will show the biggest improvement, and what are you doing right now to make that happen? The biggest improvement will be traction and user engagement. Over the next year, the focus is on building and launching an MVP, getting early users, and improving the app based on feedback. How did you hear about HackerNoon? How did you hear about HackerNoon? I heard about the Proof of Usefulness Hackathon through my university (SUU), which shared it with students. I’ve enjoyed the experience and the focus on building something genuinely useful. You mentioned potential partnerships with vets and pet stores. How do you plan to incentivize these partners to recommend CutePetPal over existing established competitors? You mentioned potential partnerships with vets and pet stores. How do you plan to incentivize these partners to recommend CutePetPal over existing established competitors? CutePetPal is meant to support vets and pet stores by helping pet owners follow care advice more consistently through reminders. This makes it easier for professionals to recommend it as a helpful tool. Since the market is saturated, what specific "smart notification" or "insight" feature will CutePetPal offer that isn't currently available in other top-rated pet care apps? Since the market is saturated, what specific "smart notification" or "insight" feature will CutePetPal offer that isn't currently available in other top-rated pet care apps? CutePetPal will focus on simple, personalized reminders based on the pet’s type and age. The goal is to keep things easy and helpful, not overwhelming. Meet our sponsors Meet our sponsors Meet our sponsors Bright Data: Bright Data is the leading web data infrastructure company, empowering over 20,000 organizations with ethical, scalable access to real-time public web information. From startups to industry leaders, we deliver the datasets that fuel AI innovation and real-world impact. Ready to unlock the web? Learn more at brightdata.com. Bright Data: Bright Data is the leading web data infrastructure company, empowering over 20,000 organizations with ethical, scalable access to real-time public web information. From startups to industry leaders, we deliver the datasets that fuel AI innovation and real-world impact. Ready to unlock the web? Learn more at brightdata.com. Bright Data: brightdata.com Neo4j: GraphRAG combines retrieval-augmented generation with graph-native context, allowing LLMs to reason over structured relationships instead of just documents. 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