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My Experience at YC Hacks

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Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#11

Post by calbear81 »

chambo622 wrote: post #8
necubi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The expo was pretty awful, as a presenter. After being up for >30 hours working on the project, having to stand up and pitch it for two hours was rough. It also meant not getting to go around and see everybody else's projects. If they do this again, they should shorten the expo significantly and do it in stages, so that nobody has to stand and talk for two hours.

I've been to a dozen large hackathons and they essentially all operate in this manner. I've been trying to come up with another way - the expo style has many shortcomings including those you listed. It's very hard to stand out in this format especially if your demo is not conducive to 10 seconds standing up at a table with 100db ambient volume. Makes the importance of designing a hackathon-friendly hack paramount.

LAUNCH had teams assigned to one of 15 groups of judges and you pitched them and the winners from each group of judges made it forward to the next round which meant one 3-5 minute pitch only. The downside was that you didn't get to see most of what everyone else built.

Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#12

Post by khangnn »

The best kind of hackathon project is to demonstrate a new technology. Facebook wouldn’t win a Hackathon, most social networks wouldn't, because technologically, they aren't that interesting. I am glad that you didn't spend much time business/revenue model or market research. I got it wrong the first time I joined a hackathon

Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#13

Post by gailees »

chambo622 wrote: post #8
necubi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The expo was pretty awful, as a presenter. After being up for >30 hours working on the project, having to stand up and pitch it for two hours was rough. It also meant not getting to go around and see everybody else's projects. If they do this again, they should shorten the expo significantly and do it in stages, so that nobody has to stand and talk for two hours.

I've been to a dozen large hackathons and they essentially all operate in this manner. I've been trying to come up with another way - the expo style has many shortcomings including those you listed. It's very hard to stand out in this format especially if your demo is not conducive to 10 seconds standing up at a table with 100db ambient volume. Makes the importance of designing a hackathon-friendly hack paramount.

The expo definitely has it's tradeoffs, but I've been to dozens of hackathons now, and before we switched to the expo, the endings were significantly lower energy: https://medium.com/how-to-throw-a-hackathon/635563ceab2f

Expo definitely favors larger teams as we only allow one person to demo from each team at a time, leaving the team members to swap out and check out all the other hacks. While the demos in front of everyone may be more fair, the expo builds community and gives people the opportunity to get immediate feedback on their pitch/product even if they dont win a prize or make it to the final round.

You should've seen the energy in the room.

Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#14

Post by oskarlong »

I took a splinter from my kid's toe: I'm a surgeon! Dev comments aside this post paints a picture of a person with an ego as consuming as her frustration for being second class to her technical peers. Yes you do not act like yr 33 ;)

Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#15

Post by Brajeshwar »

khangnn wrote: post #12

The best kind of hackathon project is to demonstrate a new technology. Facebook wouldn’t win a Hackathon, most social networks wouldn't, because technologically, they aren't that interesting. I am glad that you didn't spend much time business/revenue model or market research. I got it wrong the first time I joined a hackathon

Absolute True. I once joined a weekend Hackathon. I built a web app, released it live with a clear business/usage proposition.

I didn't even make it to the first round but the ones that got selected and won don't make any usable sense at all. They won and the 'business/app' dies at that Hackathon. There were no practical application at all.

Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#16

Post by datasmash »

khangnn wrote: post #12

The best kind of hackathon project is to demonstrate a new technology. Facebook wouldn’t win a Hackathon, most social networks wouldn't, because technologically, they aren't that interesting. I am glad that you didn't spend much time business/revenue model or market research. I got it wrong the first time I joined a hackathon

It all depends what your end goals are. A new technology paired with a new market is doubly risky.

New technology applied to an existing market or a new product aimed at an existing market is a lot safer of a bet if you're trying to build a business.

Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#17

Post by khangnn »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #15
khangnn wrote: post #12

The best kind of hackathon project is to demonstrate a new technology. Facebook wouldn’t win a Hackathon, most social networks wouldn't, because technologically, they aren't that interesting. I am glad that you didn't spend much time business/revenue model or market research. I got it wrong the first time I joined a hackathon

Absolute True. I once joined a weekend Hackathon. I built a web app, released it live with a clear business/usage proposition. I didn't even make it to the first round but the ones that got selected and won don't make any usable sense at all. They won and the 'business/app' dies at that Hackathon. There were no practical application at all.

Wow that was a bit extreme heh. But I think that role of technology vs role of business model is what makes a hackathon different from, say, startup weekend. And again, as the author pointed out, we don't need to get the first price to enjoy the 'high' and fun of a hackathon. Onward!

Re: My Experience at YC Hacks

#18

Post by chambo622 »

gailees wrote: post #13
chambo622 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been to a dozen large hackathons and they essentially all operate in this manner. I've been trying to come up with another way - the expo style has many shortcomings including those you listed. It's very hard to stand out in this format especially if your demo is not conducive to 10 seconds standing up at a table with 100db ambient volume. Makes the importance of designing a hackathon-friendly hack paramount.

The expo definitely has it's tradeoffs, but I've been to dozens of hackathons now, and before we switched to the expo, the endings were significantly lower energy: https://medium.com/how-to-throw-a-hackathon/635563ceab2f Expo definitely favors larger teams as we only allow one person to demo from each team at a time, leaving the team members to swap out and check out all the other hacks. While the demos in front of e…

PennApps, LAHacks, HackTech, HackSC...all had expos. You're right in that demos for everyone just aren't feasible. But I think you understate the challenges and downsides associated with expos.

The hackathon explosion is just getting started, I'm sure things will continue to improve as these events mature.

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