Guide to winning a hackathon

by Cyrus Stoller

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by @cyrusstoller from @hazelnutapp guide to winning a hackathon

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National Winner – Summer 2012 Boston • New York • Seattle • Silicon Valley 900+ Attendees • 250+ Teams GiveGo

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Winner – Fall 2012 DoubleYou

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Preparation Hacking Challenges

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Preparation Build a team Brainstorm ideas Get feedback

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Why is your team competing?

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To win
Hack for fun
Stress test relationships
Build a company

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Picking your idea Is this a real problem? Is this the right hackathon? Does everyone agree?

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Think Backwards What is being evaluated? What looks impressive? What do you want to demo? Finalized your idea?

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Is your idea valuable?

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Winning hackathons isn’t just about engineering ... ... it’s about commercial viability

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Hacking Build product Create buzz Get feedback

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How should you spend your time?

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Business development Back-end engineering Front-end design Video submission Pitch preparation

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What did we do?

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Front Page of HN 120+ sign ups on Launch Rock Deployed on Heroku Stylized pages for our demo Polished screencast Well-practiced pitch

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What counts?

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Insight Product Business Model

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Bonus points

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Endorsements Press coverage Polish

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What did we do?

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HSS of City and County of SF ABC News Compelling presentation

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What you need

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Real Problem Real Solution Real Traction

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Challenges Difference in vision Risk tolerance Business model

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Reflect

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Did you want to kill each other? Did you disagree well? Would you want to hire your teammates? Would they want to hire you? Are you happy with what you built? Can you agree on your next steps?