
Salesforce $1 Million Hackathon - jmacd
http://events.developerforce.com/dreamforce/hackathon
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jnbiche
So it costs $99 to participate in this? Let me get this straight -- I pay
Salesforce $99 for the privilege of developing mobile software for them, using
their API, in return for a (very small) change of winning a big prize?

Yeah, I'll stick to developing for those companies who don't charge developers
for this kind of free exposure and software (for Salesforce).

~~~
mattsoldo
This hackathon is part of Dreamforce
([http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF13/](http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF13/)),
Salesforce's big annual user / partner conference. Dreamforce normally costs
$1199 to attend, but that was _way_ to big of a cost barrier for a hackathon,
so they created a $99 pass that doesn't include sessions or the concert, but
does provide access to the developer area (all of Moscone West) and keynotes
(Sheryl Sandberg is a headliner).

I'd ask yourself not if $99 is worth it for the hackathon, but if it is worth
it to attend Dreamforce as a developer. I have found it to be a useful view
into the world of enterprise software-as-a-service, both in what solutions are
and are not available, but also in the way they are marketed to businesses.
You might even get an idea for your next startup...

And if $99 is too expensive, there is also a free pass that provides access to
the keynotes and expo floor only. But not the developer area where the
hackathon is located.

Full disclosure: I work for Heroku, a Salesforce company

~~~
sandieman
Dreamforce is typically free for most attendees. They even advertise it as
free:
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/pr1q10lp58j4kfu/2013-10-25%2009.26...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/pr1q10lp58j4kfu/2013-10-25%2009.26.46.png)

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stefl
Usually the idea of a hackathon is you make something in a short period of
time. Because you can start _now_ , before the event has started, really it's
"Hey developers, please make some stuff with our API and then come and show us
on the day of our conference". Or have I got this wrong?

~~~
lojack
The part of this hackathon that concerns me is this:

> Are granting us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license
> to: (i) use, review, assess, test, and otherwise analyze your Entry and all
> its content in connection with this Hackathon; and (ii) feature your Entry
> and all its content in connection with the marketing, sale, or promotion of
> this Hackathon and of Salesforce.com (including but not limited to internal
> and external presentations, tradeshows, and screen shots of the Hackathon
> Entry process in press releases) in all media (now known or later
> developed);

Maybe this isn't their intention, but win or lose there's nothing stopping
Salesforce from taking your submission and running with it.

~~~
craigkerstiens
Under the terms of the Rules and Regulations they explicitly say that they
don't claim any right to own or use the Entry. They do get a license to use,
review, asses, test, market, promote the entries in connection with the
Hackathon. It generally seems it can be used for marketing but nothing really
beyond that scope.

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robomartin
A lot of negative posts.

Here's one way to look at it: You are buying a $99 lottery ticket for the
opportunity to win $1,000,000.

Except, the probability of winning is in the order of 1 in 1000 rather than 1
in 175,223,510 (US/Powerball lottery).

And this lottery isn't won by random chance, it is won based on the merits and
quality of your work.

And, someone WILL win it.

So, yeah, if you have interesting ideas and understand the Salesforce platform
it might be really smart to give this a shot. Even the lesser prices might be
well worth it for some.

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hardwaresofton
Can anyone tell me what the "salesforce" API is? And what they do?

I'm a little interested, but honestly don't know what the hell they bring to
the table, all I've been able to find to describe what they do is business
jargon

~~~
infinitone
I interned at salesforce. They have quite a few products so its hard to say
what is they do in one sentence. But their target market is basically
enterprise, they provide cloud infrastructure, they provide employee
performance app (work.com - previously was startup Rypple they acquired).
Their core product is the CRM (customer relation management) which is not
really CRM now but more of a platform that you can add 3rd party apps to (such
as work.com). Other products is a yammer-like thing called chatter (not a fan
of it) but they give it out as a freebie last i checked.

Summed up, i would say they are like the iOS/appstore platform but on the
cloud and only for businesses. So i can use it to track my customers then i
can add an app that does appointment scheduling for me for those customers,
for example.

~~~
epa
That was probably the worst explanation i have ever heard, except for the last
sentence.

~~~
hardwaresofton
I have to agree, but although I got nothing but the first paragraph (kinda
like the website), last sentence was a HUGE help

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a2kadet
So Salesforce is going to get an overhaul of the their mobile platform and, as
a result, their business for one million dollars?

That sounds like a steal to me.

~~~
willis77
You really think they are going to "get an overhaul of the their mobile
platform and, as a result, their business" from a three day hackathon? You
underestimate Salesforce's size, the complexity of business in general, and
about 50 other factors that make an event like this far from a silver bullet
overhaul, whatever that means.

~~~
mp01
From the official rules: "Participants may begin forming their teams and
working on their entry...as early as October 25, 2013."

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jcutrell
It really would be good to know definitively if this hackathon allows "mobile
applications" that are web-based (not just native).

~~~
craigkerstiens
Definitively HTML5 or web-based mobile apps are absolutely fine and
applicable.

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mp01
"Second through fifth prizes may be awarded their prize (in the case of teams,
to the team leader) in the form of one or more gift cards."

Do they plan on telling people what the gift cards could be for or are they
going to wait until teams have worked on their submission for several weeks?

~~~
CaveTech
Congratulations! You've just won a $50,000 gift certificate for SalesForce!

~~~
yelnatz
Sweet! I can afford signing up for the hackathon.

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Segmentation
Are Hackathons of this scale broadcasted on the Internet? It would be cool to
see a Twitch.tv for Hackathons. Also, you might think it's not worthwhile
considering Hackathons take place over 24+ hours, but then some League of
Legends tournaments take place over a week.

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eventhough
Grand Prize:$1,000,000 Second Prize:$50,000 Third Prize:$25,000 Fourth
Prize:$10,000 Fifth Prize:$5,000

[http://events.developerforce.com/en/dreamforce/hackathon/det...](http://events.developerforce.com/en/dreamforce/hackathon/details)

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hakcermani
Its a great move by Salesforce. If they get 10K developers it is almost a wash
for them. And suddenly they have a huge number of new developers looking at
their platform.

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mmmack
It's cool to see [https://goinstant.com](https://goinstant.com) included as
one of the APIs too!

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ChrisCinelli
Pretty much it means working no stop for 30 days. But if you want to work in
this space his is a great opportunity to launch your app.

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karthikm
Looking for team members to hack along with ... my email is in profile

~~~
bmcd
karthikm I don't see it?

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elmarto755
Oh how i wish this was in the UK :(

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falcolas
Allow me to don my cynic hat and add a subtitle to this:

"Salesforce's marketing department joins the 21st century."

