How to win Shipaton part 4: pitching your app

Shipaton still has a few weeks left, so there’s plenty of time to ideate, build, and grow your app. In this final part of How to win Shipaton, we’ll cover the practical side of submitting to Devpost — how to meet the requirements, tell a compelling story, and translate that story into both your written description and your video.

Before we dive into all that, here are the submission basics you can’t miss:

• A clear text description of your app’s features and functionality.
• A demonstration video (max three minutes judges are refiquired to watch).
• The video must show the app working on the target device.
• Upload the video to a public platform (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) and include the link in your submission.
• No copyrighted music, trademarks, or other protected material unless you have rights to use them.

Judges will only watch three minutes, so you need to hook them fast: show the problem your app solves, how it works, and why it matters. Beyond meeting the requirements, your goal is to make the video engaging, memorable, and different from the rest. If you’ve built something exciting, flaunt it. However, avoid the common pitfall of reducing your pitch to a feature list. That’s where storytelling comes in.

Why you need storytelling

A Devpost submission isn’t just a checklist of features. It’s a pitch. Judges will see dozens of app submissions, and what makes yours stick in their memory is not the technology alone but the story behind it. Storytelling turns your app from “another project” into something relatable, valuable, and worth awarding.

I’ve read a lot of screenplays and studied screenwriting as a hobby, and the same principles that make a movie or TV episode compelling can also make a hackathon pitch memorable. To show you how, we’ll borrow a storytelling method from screenwriting. First, we’ll cover the basics: how to frame the problem, how your app solves it, and how to express that in a way people remember. Then we’ll dive into a model called the Story Circle, created by Dan Harmon, and look at a simplified version you can actually use. Finally, we’ll show how to adapt this story structure to different formats, first a three-minute video and then the short logline you’ll need in your Devpost submission.

How to tell stories

Pitching, presenting, and selling are all just different forms of storytelling. To get better at them, you don’t need to become a brilliant writer or a polished speaker, although those skills do help. What really matters is understanding the structure of compelling stories. Once you see the common shapes that stories take, you can apply them to almost anything, including your app.

At its core, storytelling is what makes information stick. People remember stories long after they forget bullet points. Think of ads: when they’re just product features, they disappear instantly. But when they tell a story (or have a very catchy jingle), they become memorable, shareable, and far more likely to leave an impression. And the story doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to feel like a story.

In Western media, the most famous story model is the monomyth, more commonly known as the Hero’s Journey. Its structure is simple:

• A main character, the hero
• ..goes on a journey
• …faces and overcomes a decisive crisis
• ..returns home transformed by the experience

This is powerful, but it’s not particularly formulaic. That makes it harder to apply directly when you’re pitching something like a mobile app. For our purposes, we need a model that’s more structured and repeatable. That’s where the Story Circle comes in, which we’ll look at next.

The story circle

The Hero’s Journey is powerful, but for product pitches it often feels too abstract. What we need is something more concrete, repeatable, and easy to adapt. That’s where the Story Circle comes in. 

The Story Circle was developed by Dan Harmon, the screenwriter behind shows like Community and Rick and Morty. Harmon wanted a model for writing stories that could be used again and again for episodic television. In refining the Hero’s Journey, he ended up with a simpler, more formulaic structure that still carries the emotional weight of a full story.

Here’s how it works:

• 1. Setup: a character is in a zone of comfort or familiarity.
• 2. Need: they desire something.
• 3. Go: they enter an unfamiliar situation.
• 4. Search: they adapt to that situation.
• 5. Find: they get what they wanted.
• 6. Take: they pay a price for it.
• 7. Return: they come back to their familiar situation.
• 8. Change: they’ve transformed as a result of the journey.

It’s straightforward, but that’s the point. Unlike the broad strokes of the Hero’s Journey, the Story Circle gives you a practical template you can follow without getting lost in theory. At its core, the circle is about moving from order into chaos and back again, with the character transformed by that journey. That’s what gives even a simple product pitch emotional weight.

The question then becomes: how do you use this structure when pitching an app? In the next section, we’ll walk through a concrete example—first in a three-minute video, and then in a short written pitch.

Applying storytelling to Shipaton

Let’s start with a simple, feature-based pitch. It might sound something like this:

“Fitness app X provides personalized workout plans, progress tracking, and reminders to help users stay consistent with their exercise routines. The app includes features such as logging workouts, viewing charts of progress, and receiving notifications to encourage regular activity. It is designed for people of all fitness levels who want a convenient way to manage their health and fitness from their phone.”

This is clear, but it’s also forgettable. It lists features without showing why they matter. To make it stick in the minds of judges (or potential users) we can reshape it using the Story Circle.

Step 1: The first half of the circle

• 1. Setup
  Introduce a relatable protagonist:
  “Meet Sarah. She’s busy, juggling work and family, and struggling to stay consistent with her workouts.”
• 2. Need (Problem)
  Show the frustration without your app:
  “She knows fitness is important, but the gym feels intimidating, and she keeps losing track of her progress.”
• 3. Go (Crossing the Threshold)
  Introduce your app as the tool that helps them take action:
  “That’s when she downloads X, her pocket fitness coach.”
• 4. Search (Struggle / Exploration)
  Show her trying the core features:
  “With personalized workout plans, real-time tracking, and progress reminders, Sarah starts building a routine that actually fits her life.”

At this point, you’ve already done more than list features. You’ve created empathy and given judges someone to root for.

Step 2: Completing the circle

• 5. Find (Discovery)
  Show momentum building:
  “She discovers how easy it is to log her workouts and celebrate small wins.”
• 6. Take (Payoff / Transformation)
  Show the effort and the reward:
  “Some mornings are tough, but with clear progress charts and supportive reminders, Sarah pushes through.”
• 7. Return (Integration)
  Show the new normal:
  “Now, Sarah looks forward to her workouts, whether at home or at the gym, because she can see the difference it’s making.”
• 8.Change (Resolution)
  End with transformation and a call to action:
  “She feels stronger, more confident, and in control — and you can too. Start your journey with X today.”

Why this works for Shipaton

This version has two big advantages over the plain pitch. First, it’s a real story, not just a list of features, so it’s more likely to be remembered by judges who will watch dozens of submissions in a row. Second, it highlights value over features. Judges and users don’t care that your app has a chart, they care that it helps someone feel progress, stay motivated, or achieve a goal.

Yes, the Sarah example is generic, because the app itself is generic. Your challenge at Shipaton is to apply this framework to your own unique project. If your app has a surprising use case, a quirky origin, or an unexpected benefit, lean into that. The more distinct and specific your story feels, the more likely it is to stand out in the competition.

Now let’s take that same structure and see how it plays out in your three-minute video

Using the Story Circle in your video

A great Shipaton video is proof first, polish second. In the opening 15–20 seconds, start with Setup + Need: introduce who you’re building for and the frustration they face. Keep it concrete—one or two moments that viewers will instantly recognize.

Then move to Go + Search by showing the app running on the actual device. Use simple screen captures or over-the-shoulder shots that clearly demonstrate taps and responses. Focus your narration on what the user is achieving, not just what the interface looks like.

In the middle, highlight Find + Take: the progress being made, the effort required, and why your solution works better than alternatives. If you have numbers—retention, completion, time saved—show them with a quick before-and-after.

Close with Return + Change. Show the new normal and wrap with a one-line transformation plus a clear call to action. Keep pacing tight: judges are only required to watch three minutes, so deliver your hook and proof in the first 60–90 seconds. Finally, double-check compliance—your footage must show the app working on the target device, avoid unlicensed music or third-party assets, and be uploaded publicly (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) with the link in your submission.

Turn that video into a clear Devpost description

Your text should mirror the same beats, but in compact form. In screenwriting a short one sentence summary of a plot is called a logline. Start with a logline for your app that compresses Setup → Need → Change into one sentence, for example:

“For [who], [App Name] helps [job to be done] by [distinct approach], so they can [valuable outcome].”

Follow with two short paragraphs:

1. The problem and why existing options fall short (Need).
2. How your app works and why it’s different (Go → Search → Find). Keep it user-centric—focus on flows and outcomes, not just features.

Add a final paragraph with evidence (Take → Return → Change): traction, test results, or signals from early users. After the hook you can do a full feature list, and also tell the story of how you ended up building the app. You can even use the Story circle to make that captivating.

Before publishing, run a compliance check: the description clearly explains functionality, the video link is public, the demo shows the app working on the device, and no copyrighted assets are used without permission.

Conclusion

Storytelling isn’t decoration; it’s how you make judges care within strict time and attention limits. The Story Circle gives you a simple structure: start with a relatable problem, show your app solving it on the actual device, and end with the transformation it creates.

In your video, focus on proof and clarity. In your description, compress the same beats into a logline and a few sharp paragraphs. Always emphasize outcomes over features. Judges and users want to know the value your app delivers, not just what buttons it has.

If you build around these principles, your submission won’t just meet Devpost’s requirements — it will stand out. So don’t just list features. Tell a story worth remembering.