7 tips for winning at hackathons - developermarch · #2 • if you are pitching the idea, practice...
TRANSCRIPT
Topics• What’s a hackathon?
• Why should I do a hackathon?
• How to win a hackathon?
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
@prpatel @TripLingo
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
MY EXPERIENCE
What’s this hackathon
thing?PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Hackathon• Hack something, of course :)
• Vary in duration
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Types• Software
• Hardware
• Design Hackathons too!
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Types II• Startup (Startup Weekend)
• Corporate (internal or extranet)
• Vendor (ex: Salesforce or at&t)
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Purpose• Hack something, of course :)
• Create, from scratch, a project !
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Organizer’s Goal• Community hackathons
• Corporate
• SaaS / Vendor
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Length• An afternoon to a weekend to a whole month
• Hackathon = HACK + marATHON
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
General schedule• Pitches
• Idea selection
• Form Teams
• Hack!
• Final presentation
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
This is me
What is your goal?
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Why do a hackathon?• Win money, prizes, fame
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Why do a hackathon?• Learn something
• Make new friends & connections
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
BEST OUTCOME: WIN AND BUILD A NEW BUSINESS
7 Tips for Winning a Hackathon
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#1: Be Prepared
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#1• Be prepared and organized
• Have a “game plan”
• Do your homework: What are the criteria to win and how will my team meet them?
• Have mockups of the idea ready.
• Hit the ground running!
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#2: Practice the pitch / preso
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#2• If you are pitching the idea, practice over and over until you have it memorized and it excites everyone (possible team mates and judges)
• If you are doing the final presentation, start working on it early, then practice practice practice
• Show confidence in your idea and team
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#3: Split Into Sub-
TeamsPRATIK PATEL | CTO
#3• Business Plan, Marketing Plan, and final Presentation
• Web/Mobile Application
• Server-side
• Data analysis/algorithms !
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#4: Use Tech You
KnowPRATIK PATEL | CTO
#4• A high-pressure environment like a hackathon is not a good place to learn something new
• Use tools/langs/platforms/libs that you can code fast!
• If you get stuck, stub it out and move on
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#5: Remember Your Goals
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#5• Startup Weekend- You’re building a business: who are you users, what is the potential market size, what is the revenue model?
• Corporate/Vendor hackathon - what are the criteria to win? How many of these will you meet?
• Are the goals expressed in final preso?
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#6: Have
Awesome Design
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#6• The design (logo, layout, colors, etc) make a HUGE difference
• Find a good designer to create these assets
• Use them in the demo and the preso
• Makes your team look “professional”
• If it looks good, it must be good :)
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#7: Set a
Schedule & Finish
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
#7• 1/2 of hackathon teams never finish
• Come up with a schedule with time to “integrate” everything into final preso
• Better to demo something rather than nothing
• Have a big vision, but break down into smaller chunks so you can demo something
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Be careful of organizer keeping IP
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
How many teams
continue?PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Stats• Approximately 10% continue after a Startup Weekend
• Approximately 5% still of these still alive after a year !
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Post hackathon
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
After Hackathon• Identify team members you want to work with. You want no more than 4 including you.
• Get all team member to sign “work for hire” before hackathon starts - i.e. you know all the IP as the team captain
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
Action expresses priorities.
PRATIK PATEL | CTO
- M.K. Gandhi
Bye
!
Follow me on twitter: @PRPATEL