All about Hackathons

A hackathon rewards teams that make good decisions under a deadline. Coding matters, but so do team composition, problem selection, scope, testing, and the final explanation. The goal is not to build every feature you can imagine. It is to make one useful idea easy to understand and demonstrate.

Build a team that covers the work

A team of five developers can still have a gap if nobody owns the user experience, research, data, or presentation. Look for complementary skills rather than five copies of the same role. Developers may build the system, while a designer, domain specialist, or strong communicator helps the team choose and explain the right thing.

There is no universal team size. Four or five people is often manageable because work can be split without creating too many handoffs, but the event rules and the project itself should decide the final number. Agree on roles early, and make sure everyone knows who owns the main decisions.

Choose a problem you can finish

Pick a problem that is meaningful enough to explain and small enough to address during the event. Start by checking what already exists. You may find a gap, a neglected user group, or a simpler way to solve a familiar problem. A new idea is useful only when it improves something for a real user.

Read the problem statement and the judging criteria before committing. The rules may restrict external services, existing code, datasets, or generative tools. Reusing code from an earlier project can be sensible time management when the rules allow it; it is not a substitute for understanding what you are submitting.

Turn the idea into a working prototype

Research the problem first, then decide what the smallest useful version needs to do. Keep the first implementation narrow. A simple stack that the team already understands is usually a better choice than a new technology selected for appearance.

Make a short list of the core flow, the data it needs, and the parts that can wait. Build the core path before adding extras. Leave enough time to integrate the pieces and test the demo from a clean start.

Manage the long hours

Hackathons can run for a long time, but skipping every break is not a good plan. Eat, drink water, and step away from the screen for a few minutes. If someone is stuck, ask for help early rather than letting one blocked task hold up the whole team. A team that communicates its limits will usually make better decisions than one that hides them.

Make connections without abandoning the project

The event is also a chance to meet people outside your team. During breaks, introduce yourself to other participants, attend the activities or talks that are useful, and speak with sponsors or judges when the format allows it. Follow up later through LinkedIn or another professional site if the conversation was worth continuing.

Treat ethics as part of the design

If the project uses data, check where it came from and whether the team is allowed to use it. Protect private information, cite datasets and borrowed work, and explain important limits. Think about who could be excluded or harmed by the system, then adjust the design or document the risk. A prototype should not hide what it can and cannot do.

Prepare before the event starts

Set up the development environment, accounts, API access, and deployment path before the opening session. Keep a few code templates or examples ready, but do not assume a template will solve the new problem. Practise the parts that commonly slow teams down, such as API integration, authentication, and data visualization.

Useful tools and resources

Version control services such as GitHub and GitLab help a team work on the same codebase. For communication, Slack or Discord can be useful, especially in a virtual event. Figma and Sketch support quick interface planning. Services such as Firebase and AWS Amplify can reduce backend setup time. TensorFlow and PyTorch are options when the project genuinely needs machine learning. Choose tools for the work, not for the list of logos in the presentation.

Use a schedule you can adjust

A schedule keeps the deadline visible without pretending that every team works at the same speed. One possible plan is:

• spend the first 2-3 hours understanding the problem, researching existing solutions, and choosing the scope;
• use the next 12-14 hours for the core build;
• reserve time for integration rather than leaving it to the final minutes;
• spend about 4-6 hours testing and fixing the main flow; and
• use the last 2-3 hours to prepare and rehearse the presentation.

The event may give you more or less time. Treat these blocks as a starting point, and protect time for food, rest, and a full run-through of the demo.

Explain why the solution matters

A presentation should answer three questions quickly: what problem did you choose, who has it, and how does the prototype help? Show the core flow instead of listing every feature. Judges are people, so a clear explanation is easier to remember than a pile of technical details.

Spend enough time describing the problem. A precise problem statement shows that the team understands the task and gives the demo a reason to exist. If the prototype is incomplete, say so and explain which parts are real, mocked, or planned.

Adapt the process for a remote event

For a remote hackathon, test the internet connection, accounts, and video setup before the event. Create a workspace with as few distractions as possible. Keep the team in one video or chat channel, use tools such as Miro or Trello to track work, and schedule short check-ins so blocked tasks are visible.

Learn from the result

You may not win. That does not tell you everything about the idea or the team. Ask judges and other participants for specific feedback, write down what worked and what failed, and decide whether the project deserves more time. If it does, clean up the code, publish what you can, or keep developing it with the team. Writing about the decisions can also help you remember what you learned.

Possible next steps depend on the project: a team might open-source the parts worth sharing, explore a product or company only if the project genuinely supports that, keep working together if the partnership is useful, write a follow-up post, or enter another hackathon. None of these is an obligation; they are options when the result gives the team a good reason to continue.

A commonly cited example is GroupMe, a group messaging service that began as a hackathon project at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in 2010. Contemporaneous accounts describe Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci building a prototype in 18 hours, although later retellings vary. The team did not win, but continued developing it; Skype later acquired GroupMe for more than $40 million. The example is useful because the hackathon was the start of further work, not proof that every prototype should become a company.

This is a broad list rather than a complete playbook. If an event has a rule or practice worth adding, send a pull request or message me with the detail.