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> The main goal of the startup hackathons (or any other) is to validate the idea in a limited time that the product you build is needed by the people in the roo
by yupper32 5y ago
> The main goal of the startup hackathons (or any other) is to validate the idea in a limited time that the product you build is needed by the people in the room.
No, that's a Startup Weekend-type event: https://www.techstars.com/communities/startup-weekend https://www.techstars.com/communities/startup-weekend. They rightfully don't call themselves hackathons.
A hackathon should be related to software development, not entrepreneurship.
Nothing wrong with either, but labels matter.
- siva7 5y agoThe term hackathon nowadays is almost never related to software development. You can win most "hackathons" with a powerpoint slide, doing actual programming won't win you a price.
- jjoonathan 5y agoYeah, it shouldn't be this way but it is. Unless we figure out how to reclaim the term, the important thing is to recognize when a "hackathon" is actually a "pitchathon" (usually) and to not waste effort doing things that will go unappreciated at a pitchathon (namely, hacking).
- some_furry 5y ago> Unless we figure out how to reclaim the term, The only winning move is not to play. Or more specifically, the only winning move is to exploit these pitchathons to meet people with complementary skills ("backend dev? meet UI engineer") and then collectively run the hell away from the event with your expanded network. Then go do a real hackathon with interested parties, and not business pitches.
- mohanmcgeek 5y ago> The only winning move is not to play It has infact come to this. A lot of people whom I met at hackathons don't participate anymore and it took me a while to realise that this was because hackathons aren't what they used to be.