Brew Automate | Devpost

landing page of brew automate

Inspiration

Growing up as a second-generation entrepreneur, I’ve seen firsthand the struggles of traditional and family-run businesses. My family’s venture, much like HOK, taught me the value of legacy, relationships, and hard work but also exposed the inefficiencies that slow these businesses down. Owners like my father and peers in our circle faced the same challenges as they juggle with manual invoicing, chasing payments, stock-outs, paper-heavy workflows, and resistance to new technology. They poured energy into running the business but had little time left for growing it. That disconnect became my spark to build this with the team which comes from the same background and face the same problems in their family businesses.

What it does

BrewAutomate is an RPA-powered automation platform built for traditional, legacy, and family-run businesses. It automates repetitive, error-prone tasks like invoicing, stock tracking, payment reminders, GST filing, and purchase billing, while also providing AI-driven demand forecasting and market insights. It connects seamlessly with tools business owners already use (WhatsApp, Tally, Excel), delivering real-time updates, alerts, and daily digests in a simple, mobile-first way. Instead of replacing human effort, BrewAutomate augments business owners and staff, saving time, reducing errors, improving cash flow, and giving owners peace of mind and control over their business without needing technical expertise.

How we built it

We built BrewAutomate using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to replicate repetitive tasks like data entry, invoicing, and billing. On top of this, we layered AI/LLMs for demand forecasting, price monitoring, and smart decision-making. The system integrates with familiar tools like Tally, Excel, WhatsApp, and email, ensuring owners don’t need to change their habits. We designed it mobile-first, multilingual, and trust-driven with features like suggest mode, rollback, and daily digests — making automation simple, reliable, and owner-friendly.

Challenges we ran into

Building BrewAutomate wasn’t just about writing code but it was about listening, learning & adapting. One of our toughest challenges was getting validation from legacy business owners. Each conversation revealed different problems in different parts of their business, which made it hard to decide what to build first. But those discussions gave us clarity and shaped the features that mattered most. On the tech side, integrating and fine-tuning GPT OSS for real-time results was tricky. At one point, the code just wouldn’t run on my Mac right before a critical demo but thanks to my team, we pulled together, debugged, and even managed to complete the video shoot on time. Working across time zones wasn’t easy either with Srikar in the US and the rest of us in India, coordinating meetings and late-night sessions became a part of our rhythm. Yet, those very nights turned into the most memorable parts of the journey: the laughs, the “aha!” moments, the endless feedback loops from users, and the joy of getting our first 6 users onboard. We still remember nights where we hacked until morning, then rushed to university classes with little sleep but a lot of excitement. On the final day, despite fatigue, we taught each other, solved bugs together, and finished what we started. These challenges weren’t setbacks — they were stepping stones. They taught us resilience, teamwork, and how to balance ambition with empathy. Most importantly, they gave us the conviction that BrewAutomate isn’t just a hackathon project — it’s a real solution we’re carrying forward.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As a medical student i don't know how to code but this hackathon really taught me the basics and all thanks to my incredible team for guiding me throughout the journey, fixing my bugs and support throughout the journey. The accomplishments that we're proud of are turning an idea into reality from brainstorming pain points of traditional businesses to actually building a working automation platform in such a short time. then winning trust early with our first 6 users onboard, seeing them use BrewAutomate, and hearing how it saved their time and reduced errors wasn't easy but it showed us we can take this ahead and move forward with this. Balancing academics and passion while pulling off late-night hacking sessions, then showing up for university in the morning, and still delivering a product we believed in. I remember Srikar pulling off late nighters while being in US, Adhiraj managing his interviews and college with the hackathon, Adarsh coding and fixing bugs while running to university and keeping all of us chill with his fun nature haha, saurabh managing all this with the research paper he's been working on. This incredible team, the bond we created, the brainstorming, the build and debug times is the best ones we cherish a lot. Then overcoming roadblocks together from debugging broken code minutes before a demo to managing time zones between India and the US, we always found a way through as a team and what matters the most is growing as builders and leaders as we didn’t just write code; we learned to talk to users, listen deeply, adapt features, and build with empathy. More than anything, our biggest accomplishment is the bond we built as a team, supporting each other, teaching each other, and laughing our way through the chaos while creating something we’re proud to take forward.

What we learned

We learnt to listen before building i.e every business owner has unique pain points, and real innovation starts with understanding, not assumptions. We learnt that simplicity wins as traditional businesses don’t need complex software; they need tools that feel natural, like WhatsApp alerts or one-click automations. The best one we felt and learnt along the journey was that teamwork is everything from late-night hacking to helping each other debug at 3 AM, we realiaed that collaboration and trust matter more than individual brilliance, also our adaptability is key as the code will break, timelines will clash, but learning to pivot quickly kept us moving forward and user feedback is gold as early feedback loops from our first users shaped our roadmap more than any plan we had on paper.

What's next for Brew Automate

We’re just getting started. Our next steps are to onboard more users and learn from their feedback to shape BrewAutomate into the tool business owners truly need while refining and expanding our features making invoicing, stock tracking, and automation smarter, faster, and even more reliable features. we want to improve the frontend and UI/UX so that every interaction feels simple, intuitive, and owner-friendly and our mission is to grow together as a team, continuing the same energy of late-night hacking, problem-solving, and building with empathy as BrewAutomate isn’t just a project but it’s a journey to empower legacy and family-run businesses with the kind of automation that makes their work easier, their processes smoother, and their growth unstoppable.