Being finalists in the prestigious Microsoft Imagine Cup competition certainly comes with its share of exciting perks and unique opportunities.
Last month, three innovative students had the honor of joining two other top teams in Seattle, where they were celebrated for their groundbreaking work. These three students, the creators of Roadmap — an app designed to assist individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — enjoyed a truly red-carpet experience that included a stay at a luxurious hotel and several remarkable dining experiences.
However, the most valuable aspect of their time at the competition went far beyond comfort and cuisine. They built meaningful connections with industry leaders and potential partners that could propel their project to a global audience, transforming Roadmap from a promising idea into a widely used tool.
The trio behind Roadmap—Clay Battle and Ever Goldin, both soon to be seniors at Binghamton University, along with co-founder Aaliya Jakir, a Georgia Tech student—first crossed paths during their freshman year at the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Computer Science.
Their collaboration began during a HackBU hackathon, a campus event focused on innovation and rapid prototyping. Even after Jakir transferred to Georgia Tech, the team continued to work closely on Roadmap, refining it into an AI-driven coach that provides personalized strategies to help users stay focused and organized.
At the Imagine Cup finals, a global event celebrating student startups built around artificial intelligence, the Roadmap team competed alongside two other impressive teams from the U.K. and Turkey. Although they did not take home the grand prize, the two runner-up teams, including Roadmap, each earned $50,000 in funding to advance their projects.
In addition to the prize money, the finalists had the rare chance to meet influential figures from Microsoft, including the company’s chief accessibility officer, as well as representatives from other leading corporations and venture capital firms. Many of these professionals were enthusiastic about Roadmap and its potential as an effective ADHD app.
Roadmap leverages the power of Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to fuel its intelligent ADHD coaching. Upon first opening the app, users are asked what task they want assistance with. As the AI coach interacts with the user, it breaks down that task into smaller, manageable steps and collaborates with the user to find the most effective approach for getting started. Should they listen to music or work in silence? Are planners helpful for tracking progress? Do deadlines motivate sufficiently, or would other incentives work better? These thoughtful, personalized interactions make Roadmap more than just a task manager—it becomes a trusted assistant tailored to each user’s unique needs.
For the Roadmap team, simply being one of three finalists — chosen from 20 semifinalists and hundreds of entries spanning over 50 countries — felt like a monumental achievement.
“It was awesome,” Goldin said. “We didn’t get to see all the semifinalists present, but we were in a group of six and got to see those. They were all incredible startups — so well thought-out and well executed that it felt amazing to be part of that group.”
Battle highlighted two major factors that helped set Roadmap apart from other semifinalists. First is the vast potential user base for the app. ADHD affects roughly 5% of children and 2.5% of adults worldwide. That means hundreds of millions of people face challenges such as difficulty making decisions, problems maintaining attention, impulsivity, and emotional regulation issues.
“Microsoft highly values accessibility, but a lot of companies think ‘accessibility’ means physical disabilities like vision or hearing loss, or amputees and other things like that,” Battle explained. “We’re doing accessibility for different brain types, and that resonated with not only what Microsoft values but also with the competition’s focus on accessibility.”
Secondly, Battle noted that Roadmap’s grounding as a business-focused startup gave them an advantage. The team has already participated in accelerator programs such as the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator and Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X Startup Launch, which help prepare student entrepreneurs to bring viable products to market.
“A lot of student startups are very tech focused, building out the world’s most perfect-looking product, but there’s no business demand for it. Fifty percent of the judging criteria for the Imagine Cup is business viability,” Battle pointed out. This focus on both innovation and market readiness helped Roadmap stand out.
Thanks to the prize money and additional funding opportunities, Goldin and Jakir plan to dedicate their summer to working full time on Roadmap. Beyond software improvements and refining their AI coach, the team also aims to build a strong network of ADHD specialists who can help introduce and promote the app to potential users.
Attending the Imagine Cup event proved to be a significant morale boost for the Roadmap team as they prepare to expand their reach.
“Attendees at the conference would come up to us and say, ‘I love what you’re doing — please keep doing it. I have ADHD, and your product and your messaging resonates with me,’” Battle said. “It was an overwhelming sense that what we’re doing is important.”
With such enthusiastic support and strategic partnerships forming, the Roadmap team is well-positioned to make a meaningful impact for people with ADHD around the world.
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