

Hackathons are really bad for starting (or funding) companies - dirkdk
http://www.dirkdekok.com/2013/12/hackathons-are-really-bad-for-starting-or-funding-companies/

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veraHg
Meant to do this earlier but got busy organizing a hackathon ;) I think all
parties involved should lower or at least get realistic expectations. That is
sponsors, participants and organizers. Can't recall the name of the person who
said that, but hackathons are great for "sharpening your knives" and I would
add - great to play with new tech and potentially meet folks you may want to
collaborate with. As an organizer, I'm personally more concerned with how to
do a better job at providing tech support and resources after the hackathon is
over. Hackathons don't equal startups, let alone funding. And this is
perfectly fine.

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27182818284
Hackathons are pretty bad ideas, I think. I think they've crossed the
threshold into doing more harm than good. I've seen people get excluded. I've
seen the same project 10x over. Further, teams are realizing they can stack
the odds in their favors by having more graphic designers than programmers.
For judges, prettyness outweighs function at these public, often broadcast
events.

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dirkdk
Yeah, I have started to avoid certain events. The Dreamforce hackathon with
the 1 million dollar prize for instance looked way too much like a marketing
gimmick for Salesforce so I declined. AngelHack is becoming more of a company
launching program. I just want to write some code with new tech and meet
fellow developers and designers

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angilly
Just gonna throw this out there as a counterpoint ;)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6857213](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6857213)

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dirkdk
Yep, when starting a company the demand question should be the first one you
are trying to answer. Awesome product!

