
Stop participating in hackathons just to win - awwstn
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/30/entrepreneurs-stop-participating-in-hackathons-just-to-win-them/
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_delirium
I feel like I've lived some kind of sheltered life now, in that I didn't even
know winning was a _thing_ at hackathons until I read this article. I don't
think I've ever been to a hackathon that had prizes and winners.

When I think of the term "hackathon", what comes to mind are events like the
OpenBSD hackathons (<http://www.openbsd.org/hackathons.html>), the Wikimedia
hackathons (<http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Hackathon_2013>), and
SuperHappyDevHouse (<http://superhappydevhouse.org>). You can't _win_ any of
those, at least not in any kind of formal sense.

The use of the term "hackathon" here seems to mean something else, less of a
dev-party and something more like, a time-limited, minimum-viable-product
startup competition. Is that a recent thing?

~~~
shawnreilly
I'm not trying to get involved with defining what a hackathon is (or isn't),
but I do know that Startup Weekend (www.startupweekend.org) has been hosting
events that have prizes and winners for quite some time now.

~~~
taytus
Yes, But SW it's not a hackathon (at least not in Dallas).

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trotsky
You know you've pretty much hit rock bottom as an industry when people are
complaining about Robert Scoble being mean about their fake business that they
created while on a bus to an expensive party.

~~~
richardjordan
The problem is that Silicon Valley has been flooded in recent years by people
who watched The Social Network and took it literally, believing this is how
startups are done. This Hollywood fake version of a startup has become the
model for so many folks trying to do real startups. I believe Baudrillard
should be compulsory reading for entrepreneurs.

~~~
paulrademacher
Any evidence to back that up? I haven't observed this at all.

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kateho
What should really happen is for hackathons to stop awarding prizes. There's
no need for them. Most people go to hackathons because they want to meet
people, try new things and learn stuff.

~~~
jasonlotito
The problem is, the OP isn't talking about hackathons. He's talking about...
Startup Weekend or other business oriented events.

Hackathons aren't about slides or business plans. They are about building
something.

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fotbr
I quit going to hackathons when they started to turn into "do something with
our web service" instead of "X straight hours of whacking away at whatever
project you're working on, surrounded by like minded people doing their own
thing, that you can bounce problems off of when you get stuck".

There are two local hackathons coming up, neither of which I'm the slightest
bit interested in, since both are based around handfuls of companies and their
products' web-based APIs. It's obvious that they are not interested in you
turning out a product, or even getting a start on a product. They're using you
to determine possible areas their company could branch into, and like Tom
Sawyer, they're getting you to pay to help them.

~~~
shuzchen
FWIW those product/company sponsored hackathons aren't all hackathons.
StartupWeekend happens with some regularity in tons of cities across the US,
and their schtick is "build-a-business-in-a-weekend". So you're free to come
up with whatever idea and build that.

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edent
Here is the number one reason people don't win hackathons (even if they have
an amazing creation) - they suck at explaining.

I was at one recently where a guy showed off what promised to be a very
interesting way of analysing data. He spent his 5 minute demo slot talking
about how he rewrote a webserver in "Go"...

I mean, ok, from a geek point of view it's kind of interesting that he wrote
an amazing server but a) this wasn't a server hackathon and b) he couldn't
explain his way out of a wet paper bag.

At the last hackathon I went to, one losing team spent their slot arguing
about why they couldn't connect their Macbook to the 800*600 projector used
for demoing. Ok, we all experience technical difficulties, but this team had
sat through 30 minutes of presentations and at no point thought "Hey, we'd
better make sure we don't waste time like these other teams - let me quickly
Google how to set my external screen resolution."

Honestly, the biggest thing standing between you and victory is (probably)
your inability to succinctly explain your idea in such a way that you will
captivate the judges.

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dirkdk
What I don't get so much is the push to take the result of a hackathon and
turn it into a company. Several occasions I have seen investors promise to
invest in winners, but most of the time it is just a group of people together
for the weekend with already their startup or a dayjob. Lauch, Angelhack have
this actually built in. Result: more focus on business and already existing
teams (companies?) that come in together to use the event as a launching
platform. Which is not the goal for me for a hackathon: trying out
technologies, meeting new people, have fun. I already have my startup, don't
need another.

~~~
enjo
Except it can be a fantastic way to launch a company. Social proof, publicity,
and credibility all in one weekend. Look at companies like Roximity that
effectively launched by winning Ford's contest at Disrupt. That's a real
startup now.

If you don't have a current venture you're working on, why not use a hackathon
as an accelerant?

~~~
dirkdk
because it is cheating to the judges, competitors and to possible people that
join up with my team and would put in hours for free. I am already out there
with my company. The number of successful startups that come out of a
hackathon is actually quite low I'd say.

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evanjacobs
I'm a big hackathon fan and participant and I can sympathize with the
emotional high of "hey, we built something really cool" to the low of "the
judges didn't just didn't understand what we've built". Most of the hackathons
in which I've participated use a panel of judges from the VC or general "tech
community" but whom aren't usually hackers themselves. I'd love to see an
event where the judges know what it takes to produce something that works in a
compressed timeframe and don't ask the inane questions like "how are you going
to make money?" or "who are your competitors?"

I'm also bootstrapping my startup primarily for the same reasons. I don't
particularly want or need validation from VCs, many of whom aren't hackers, to
distract me from figuring out whether what I've built is of any value to my
customers.

~~~
spamizbad
Have hackathons really turned into a prototype show-and-tell crossed with a
business plan competition? Because that's what a lot of these hackathon
contests seem like.

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EdJiang
I really agree with this post. Hackathons can be used as a great way of
energizing, educating, and building a community of passionate, motivated
hackers.

I'm really interested in using this force to build the next generation of
technologists, and we're currently doing this via an event called CodeDay.

High school / college students are always busy -- they have tests, homework
assignments, jobs, and other things that prevent them from spending time on
the things they want to do. A hackathon provides these students an opportunity
to focus, and for the students that are learning some tech on the side to
actually create something. At the same time, beginners who are interested in
technology get started and feel empowered to start learning and experimenting
in their own time. They all become friends, and create amazing things.

Through CodeDay,

* A High School student made $20,000+ building an android app he thought would be useful called Sidebar Pro: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mohammad.adib....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mohammad.adib.sidebar)

* High school students made a replica of Leap Motion's capture device: [http://blog.studentrnd.org/post/46637262311/studentrnd-profi...](http://blog.studentrnd.org/post/46637262311/studentrnd-profile-from-sf-codeday-to-dinner-with-leap)

* We created countless technologists, provided students with connections to jobs, and more!

Other news:

* [http://www.king5.com/news/Students-in-code-heaven-at-Code-Da...](http://www.king5.com/news/Students-in-code-heaven-at-Code-Day-193177871.html)

* [http://blogs.splunk.com/2013/02/19/studentrnds-1st-code-day-...](http://blogs.splunk.com/2013/02/19/studentrnds-1st-code-day-sf-success/)

We're currently in 6 cities, and looking for people to help us take this
across the country to more cities! Check it out: <http://codeday.org/>

~~~
EdJiang
Psychedelic Frisbee Hospital is probably my favorite thing from CodeDay:

<http://zaqthefreshman.com/FlyingDiscHospital/>

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mmanfrin
Question: I've been wanting to attend a hackathon, but I have no idea where to
find when/where they happen? Is there some sort of list, or do I just need to
keep my ear to the ground?

~~~
richardjordan
I will probably get torn down by the HN crowd for this one, but I think the
best one around is still the TechCrunch hosted one annually at Disrupt. If
you've never been to one that's a great starting point, and it's free - I am a
skeptic of the new trend of for-profit hackathons with entry fees, personally.

I still think that's a good starting point.

The Startup Digest is a good source of information on upcoming Hackathons.

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richardjordan
I think part of the problem here is that there are so many Hackathons around
nowadays, it's hard to attract attention to your hackathon, and attendees.
This is even worse for the for-profit ones rather than the more social
affairs. As a result they seem to have chosen to focus on prizes and big money
as their core marketing angle. This raises the stakes and makes it far more
about pursuing the dollars for many participants.

I've seen people pitching their startup idea in the one minute presentation
for the hackathon, thinking that this is the best way to launch a company
(spoiler alert: it's not!). Yes there have been some nice positive stories
coming from projects that started at hackathons, but that's the exception.

I love hackathons. I have a couple of buddies and we go to every TechCrunch
hackathon, and some of the others from time to time. We do it because it's
fun. We love the social aspect of it. We don't go expecting to win. We go
because we enjoy it.

I like the little side prizes $x free services for the best on Y platfom; a
free iPad for the best using Z platform. But when it's become about $50,000
grand prizes, and places in unproven incubators/accelerators I think we risk
destoying the atmosphere of hackathons. We'll drive away the social
participants and it'll just be competitive hackathoners, and when they realize
it's not the best way to achieve their startup goals they'll move on...

Let's just go back to fun hackathons, like the old TechCrunch ones used to be.
Good food, social activities, fun atmosphere, lots of vendors and partners to
teach us about their APIs and perhaps a few side prizes that are nice-to-wins
but don't have people thinking this will make or break their startup.

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shawnreilly
From my experience, different people view Hackathons differently. I wouldn't
want to make any blanket statements about why one should or shouldn't go, or
what the focus should be. I don't really think there is anything wrong about
being competitive and wanting to win. I think what's important is recognizing
what you want, and building a team of people that match. Some people will be
competitive and serious about winning. Others may be more laid back, and just
want to enjoy the experience. Some may want to actually create a product and
start a business. Others may just want to work with new technology, or learn
something new. Building a team that is aligned with your views and
expectations is important. If you don't build the right team, the experience
can become frusturating. In extreme cases, it might even pull the team apart.

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sjtgraham
Wait, what happened with Scoble?

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jacalata
I am shocked, shocked I say, that people who have just gone three days with
almost no sleep get grouchy, whiny, and stupid. Not getting enough sleep isn't
cool, it doesn't make you more productive, and for many people it makes you a
horrible person to be around. Unfortunately, it seems that many coders still
view it as a badge of honor, not the symptom of poor decision making. (See the
author of this post, cheering on the group who made a 'bold' decision to go
out drinking instead of getting sleep.)

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jabbernotty
> Once I realized that, I looked around me. I saw a group of people whom I
> know will be successful as they push onward, because I’ve seen them go
> through hell and still come out on top.

The phrase 'have gone through hell' is not at all applicable to losing this
competition. The competition comes with a two/three day investment and allows
one to focus on the social aspect of the gathering.

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zupatol
It shouldn't be possible to win a hackathon. Building things is fun, and the
fun of one team is not worth more than the fun of another.

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jamesmcbennett
Been to design-a-thon's (same, same but different) and haven't met anyone
there to win, people enjoy working on a problem with others. There were
prizes, but more as tokens, not anything worth shouting about.

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rhizome
Title is misleading; the story is about not being a sore loser.

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jld
Why don't they just give away prizes randomly in a raffle at the end?

Teams can still win, but losing a contest that has no prize is seldom as
stinging.

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namank
Lol. That's like saying stop doing startups just for money.

Do you see the irony?

