3 Live Challenges, Real Deadlines This Week: Here's Exactly What to Submit

Three live challenges on BrainSumo have real prize money attached, real deadlines this week, and zero submissions between them. That's not a great look for us — but if you're a student, early-career marketer, or anyone who likes thinking about growth, naming, or referral problems, it means there is currently no competition on any of them. First real entry has real odds.

None of these need a design tool, code, or a portfolio. Every one of them is a written pitch: think it through (using ChatGPT or Claude if that helps you structure your thinking), then write up your own idea in your own words. Here's exactly what each one wants, and how close each deadline actually is.

1. Pitch a growth idea for an Indian D2C snack brand — $50, closes Aug 12 (4 days left)

A small Indian D2C snack brand — think a millet-chips or protein-bar startup — wants one sharp, actionable idea to win more first-time customers in the next 30 days, on a modest budget.

What to submit (300–500 words):

The growth idea itself
Why it fits how Indian Gen Z actually discovers and buys snack brands
A rough one-week execution plan that fits under a ₹15,000 budget

How it's judged: specificity and creativity (50%), realism (30%), clarity (20%). Full prize goes to the single best submission.

This is the closest deadline of the three — if you're only going to do one tonight, this is the one with the least time left.

2. Name and brand a budget grocery delivery app — $55, closes Aug 15 (7 days left)

A new budget grocery delivery app aimed at tier-2 Indian cities (think Indore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Nagpur — not metro Gen Z) needs a name, a tagline, and a short positioning statement.

What to submit (200–400 words):

A brand name
A tagline, under 10 words
A short paragraph on why this identity would actually resonate with budget-conscious tier-2 shoppers

How it's judged: memorability and fit to a tier-2 audience (50%), clarity of positioning (30%), originality (20%). One rule: the name can't already belong to a well-known existing brand.

3. A referral idea to bring students back to a local cafe — $55, closes Aug 15 (7 days left)

A college-town cafe has seen footfall drop and wants one clever, low-cost referral or loyalty idea that gets students actually coming back — and bringing friends.

What to submit (200–400 words):

The referral or loyalty idea
Why students would actually bother participating (not just "give a discount")
A rough monthly cost estimate, under a ₹10,000 budget

How it's judged: specificity and creativity (50%), realism of cost and execution (30%), clarity (20%). "Give everyone a discount" is an automatic non-starter — the brief explicitly asks for something specific to a real cafe and student context, not generic advice.

How to actually do this in one sitting

Pick the one that matches how you think — growth/budget math, naming/positioning, or community/referral mechanics.
Use ChatGPT or Claude to pressure-test your idea, sanity-check the numbers, or find the angle — then write the final version yourself, in your own words. Submissions have to be original write-ups, not a template someone else could paste in.
Stay inside the word count and answer every part the brief asks for — the "why" and the budget math matter as much as the idea itself for the score.
Go to the live challenges, create a free account if you don't have one, and submit.

All three prizes are real and already funded — not "we'll pay if this goes well," the money is sitting in the challenge already. With zero submissions so far, whoever submits first on each one is currently the only entry being judged against.