

Hackathons don't win you customers - mmahemoff
http://paul.kinlan.me/hackathons-dont-win-you-customers/

======
ig1
It sounds like the author is trying to tell companies what to do based upon
his personal preference on why companies should run hackathons rather than
based on any kind of evidence.

I know plenty of developers and founders who picked up an API (Twilio, Stripe,
Paypal and Azure come to mind) at a hackday and then ended up using it
commercially elsewhere. These companies aren't stupid, they're often investing
6-7 figures in marketing spend in running hackathons. They look at ROI.

It's fine if you prefer non-marketing focused hackdays, but that's totally
different from saying they don't work.

~~~
kinlan
It is based on a lot of experience running Hackathons. I chose not to
elaborate much further on the reasoning in the article to keep it to the
point. Ultimately the cost of running hackathons for the limited scale of
developers that you reach at anyone time could be best spent in many many more
ways.

The Hackathon _rarely_ wins the customer, and it is not sustainable as a
practice often due to cost and ROI is near impossible to determine.

~~~
jlees
Personally, I'd be interested in some data and reasoning to further understand
your point of view. Without elaborating, the points you make come across a bit
terse and declarative, whereas this comment makes me think you actually have a
deep understanding of the subject and good reasons for stating the points you
made.

As a standalone developer, I can think of several companies that I feel have
built great "developer brand" and goodwill through hackathons, whether running
their own, or sponsoring others (e.g. TC Disrupt, Startup Weekend). Twilio is
the first one that comes to mind. But whether that translates into actual
revenues is where my anecdotal evidence clearly falls short.

------
TheCapn
Honestly, Hackathons are more about what the developers get out of it.

I went to a couple to try and build a wider network among my local devs and to
try and win cool stuff.

Some went to hone existing projects using the APIs presented (to know if they
actually wanted to use it)

Some went for the prizes

Some went to try and score jobs

To say any of those options are wrong really isn't right. But to tell a
company why they should be there they should ask what the developers are
hoping to achieve and decide if there place belongs there or not.

I will agree completely on the comment about company reps _being present_
however. A lot of people were turned off from various companies because they
were difficult to work with through different online channels and elected to
not use their API simply because the cost to get it working with flawed
documentation or sparse contact was too risky if they were gunning for a
prize. Often the companies didn't return for the next hackathon for what I
assume was because of bad reception the first time around...

------
mmahemoff
I think it's a great point to reward developers who submit bugs and give
feedback.

Though I do think hackathons can serve different purposes. The most important
thing is to be clear on the objective and don't try to win on every front.
e.g. If it's to publicise your API among developers, great, focus publicity,
talks, challenges around that. If it's to get feedback, same thing.

And this mirrors how developers should approach hackathons, which is again to
have one clear objective. It could be to build something amazing, it could be
to learn an API, but you'll rarely achieve both.

------
ARothfusz
The only worthwhile hackathons I've ever seen or participated in were related
to the release of a new API, one that none of the participants had any access
to before release. This arrangement benefits both the hackathon attendees and
the sponsor: attendees know that they're starting from a level playing field,
that if there is a competitive angle to the hackathon, then everyone will be
judged on how well they use the new API in their software and not on what they
wrote before they showed up. For the sponsors, it is a trial by fire, testing
their API architecture, backend, documentation, and usefulness.

I completely agree that the optimal result for an engineering-driven hackathon
is a long list of bugs and a couple of surprisingly awesome demos. But I would
add a room full of excited-about-pioneering developers, and a battle-tested
developer support team.

------
3pt14159
Hackathons do a great job of attracting developers to your company though.

~~~
johnward
Isn't this kind of the point of hackathons? It has nothing to do with gaining
customers. Who even asked thought that it did? Hackathons, from my
understanding, have always been about developers getting together to improve
their skills. Also I'm not sure how much value a PM would get out or give to a
hackathon.

------
kaa2102
It seems like hackathons and other hacker conferences and events have
successfully capitalized on the popularization of start up culture. It makes
this* seem like one big fad. The deeper purposes of sharing, freedom, coding
and solving problems have been forgotten.

