

YC Hacks – August 2-3 - katm
http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-hacks-august-2-3-2014

======
anateus
While some sort of tokens provided to some exceptional teams might be fun I'm
sad to see the Hackathon-As-Competition idea promulgated. The origins of the
term are about a collaborative event where the marathon-style combined creates
a sense of cohesion or at the very least fun that encourages some sort of
shared problem solving. Not everyone has to be working towards a single
unified goal, but the usefulness of this style of event is for certain classes
of collaborative work where the fever pitch allows the combination of
innovative ideas with laying down a lot of code.

As soon as you turn it competitive, you lose the _benefits_ of this type of
event, beyond those you'd get from just a con with a "best in show". While
ostensibly you create what you present at the hackathon, teams with greater
pre-made components get a significant advantage. To counter that you then have
to lay down rules and that just brings the tone of the event down. My
criticism is specifically about the usefulness of competition in hackathons,
rather than about competing teams in other kinds of events.

It doesn't seem like the competition aspect is as emphasized here as in many
other hackathons, which is great. I hope the prizes remain an ancillary bonus
rather than the focus.

~~~
gailees
Why do you lose the benefits as soon as it becomes competitive? Sports are
competitive but people still play sports because they love them.

I imagine most attendees will be there for the same reason though the prizes
are a great plus.

~~~
andrewfong
Inter-team collaboration drops in a competitive environment. One of the nice
things about hackathons is that you can get feedback and ideas from other
teams in those environments. If you're actively competing (and for something
as scarce as a YC interview spot), then the incentive to help someone else out
decreases.

~~~
nightpool
This is not a iron-clad rule—just look at FIRST Robotics, which has managed to
maintain a very strong sense of inter-team collaboration even in a competitive
environment. Just because something isn't often done doesn't mean it can't be:
the rules just need to be right.

~~~
neilparikh
As someone who took part in FRC this year and last year, I'd agree that the
inter-team collaboration is definitely very strong. We got a lot of help
during competition (and occasionally helped others too).

But part of that might be because during qualifying rounds, you are on teams
of 3, which change every game. So by the end of qualifying rounds, you play
with (and against) most of the teams there, so it makes sense to help the
other teams (since you will probably play a game allied with them sometime).

The other reason is that the culture of FIRST emphasizes those ideals, and so
they're maintained that way too. One of the core values is Gracious
Professionalism, and it really is emphasized everywhere.

I'm not sure which factor is the most important (I suspect it's the second
one), so I'm just thinking out loud, but I thought I'd get some more
information out there. But I think the rotating teams gives strategic value to
helping other teams, which also increasing collaboration.

------
RaphiePS
I'm scared this will mean rampant cheating. What's to prevent an early-stage
startup from masquerading as a hack and getting a "fast-tracked" interview?

I know this is a problem for most hackathons, but the stakes seem
significantly higher here.

~~~
samstave
Isn't that kind of what is being encouraged here, exactly?

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lowglow
This is great news! We had YC companies come out and sponsor Hackendo: IoT
Hackathon a few months back.
[https://hackendo.techendo.com/](https://hackendo.techendo.com/)

I'm glad YC is taking a more active role in developing their offline
community.

[edit] Also, I run the SFHN meetup. Join us!
[https://www.facebook.com/groups/gosfhn/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/gosfhn/)

------
minimaxir
> _If you 're out of school, where do you work, and at what?_

I'm surprised that YC is making the assumption that the applicant has a
permanent job.

~~~
sama
"i'm hacking on X, Y, and Z" is a perfectly acceptable response, at least as
good as "i work at facebook".

~~~
minimaxir
Gotcha, that wasn't immediately clear from the language.

------
HistoryInAction
If anyone is coming in from another country and interested, I'm happy to sit
down and go through your visa options as a potential founder. It's basic
stuff, but you don't need to reinvent the wheel in collecting this
information.

E.g. [http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/06/11/7-us-
startup-v...](http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/06/11/7-us-startup-visa-
options-international-founders/)

Let me know craig (at) politihacks (dot) com

~~~
cmadan
Thanks, I might take you up on that soon! Meanwhile, I've subscribed to the
poltihacks mailing list.

~~~
HistoryInAction
Oh, ha! I should update my bio, cause I don't push out the PolitiHacks digest
anymore, just curating the Startup Digest Gov Reading List.

I had too many "VP of Public Policy" scrounging it for value; founders,
investors who were my target audience didn't care.

------
kingGreed
Just checking out the submission form and was wondering what do they mean by
"What tools do you like?" Languages used ? IDE used or text editor ?
Frameworks ?

~~~
anthony_franco
They purposely leave it vague. Developers might list their favorite language,
PMs might list their favorite diagraming tool, salespeople might list a CRM,
etc.

~~~
kingGreed
Ok thanks !

------
ankey1
Will there be a chance to meet people and form teams before the hackathon or
should we apply with a team already in mind?

~~~
xur17
I'm curious about this too - I don't have a team in mind; can I still apply?
(never been to one of these before)

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habosa
I like that YC under sama is trying new things. Taking in Quora, more open HN
meta-discussion, and now this hackathon. I'm someone who may never even apply
to be in YC so I like that they are making an effort to have YC reach the
community as a whole, not just the participating founders.

------
dmabram
Is it possible to apply as a team, or only as an individual?

~~~
katm
Please apply individually. We just added a field where you can list any people
you'd particularly like to work with.

~~~
marcog1
What's the recommended team size?

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jcr
katm and sama,

Is this _only_ for those with YC aspirations?

I'm neither founder nor employee material, and I'm certainly not an "idea
person," but hacking for fun on whatever is needed sure does sound like a good
time.

~~~
radikalus
Yeah -- I'm pretty much the same. I'm in SFO that week anyways and would love
to play-with/help-build something outside my normal repertoire.

------
gailees
Does YC actually expect a hack built in a weekend to be on par with some of
the startups they take for interviews?

~~~
zmitri
They very well could be. But more likely, the people that would meet there
could go on to do great things together and perhaps YC would be a part of
that.

I met my cofounder at the TC Disrupt Hackathon in 2011, were selected as one
of the winners, and have worked together ever since. We even did YC last
batch.

~~~
nwenzel
"the people that would meet there could go on to do great things together"

+1

I don't think you have to look much further than comments by sama and pg about
building YC into an institution that lasts 100 years. It's the network that
creates sustaining value. I have no insider knowledge, but this event seems
like a great way to expand and grow that network.

Love to see it. Love to see YC continuing to do and try new things.

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consta
I would so much love to participate, but the flights from Europe to SFO are
too pricy.

What about an YC Hacks hosted in Europe?

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trekky1700
Any travel reimbursements available?

