Blog
Zilliz at HackNC 2023

Zilliz at HackNC 2023

Nov 08, 20231 min read

Halloweekend HackNC was great this year! As an alum, it was super exciting to get back to HackNC for my third appearance. This year, I came to represent Zilliz, give a workshop, and give a keynote speech.

There were over 1,300 registrations (wow!), 650 hackers, 80-something projects, and ONE winner for the Best Use of Zilliz! Big congratulations to the team “wellSpent”.

The inspiration for 'wellSpent' stems from a simple question: "Where's my money going?" At its core, it showcases a dynamic pie chart, giving users a quick snapshot of their expenses. But that's just the start. The app lists all transactions, ensuring you never miss where that extra dollar went. With features like travel planner, student debt planner, and other expense planners, users can forecast, strategize, and optimize their financial futures.

When asked what they were proud of, the team said:

“ Creating a user-centric interface that's both intuitive and efficient tops our list. We're also immensely proud of the predictive features – like creating comprehensive tools that will tell you how you can save money even after a transaction, along with other tools like customer trip planner already built using your spending transactions and trends. Using vector databases was our first time, and we are very proud of our outcome. The wellSpent Team at HackNC

When asked to describe their project, the team said:

“ 'wellSpent' is an intuitive mobile application designed to simplify and visualize spending habits. At its core, wellSpent displays a dynamic pie chart that offers a snapshot of expenditures. Users can access detailed transaction lists and explore predictive features like the travel planner, student debt planner, and other expense planners, all designed to optimize their financial journey. Built on Flutter and powered by Firebase, wellSpent stands as a testament to ensuring every penny is, indeed, well spent. The wellSpent Team at HackNC

Big shout out to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill organizers for this amazing HackNC! I am so proud of you all, and always great to see excellence from fellow TarHeels. Looking forward to being back next year!

Updated on Jul 27, 2026

Yujian Tang
Yujian Tang is a Developer Advocate at Zilliz. He has a background as a software engineer working on AutoML at Amazon. Yujian studied Computer Science, Statistics, and Neuroscience with research papers published to conferences including IEEE Big Data. He enjoys drinking bubble tea, spending time with family, and being near water.

Keep Reading

What Is a Vector Lakebase?

A Vector Lakebase is a unified, lake-native data architecture for AI that combines vector-database-grade serving with open lake storage, reusable lake-level indexes, and a shared semantic layer.

Vector Lakebase: End the AI Data Silo

Learn how Vector Lakebase unifies vector search, data lakes, and AI data operations so teams can serve RAG and agents without copy-and-sync pipelines.

Why and How to Migrate from Self-Hosted Milvus to Zilliz Cloud

A simple, step-by-step guide to migrating from Milvus to Zilliz Cloud. Learn both endpoint and backup methods for a smooth, scalable vector database migration.