should I focus on encouraging and motivating them to realize how cool it is to create your own product No. You shouldn't have to motivate someone to see how co

should I focus on encouraging and motivating them to realize how cool it is to create your own product No. You shouldn't have to motivate someone to see how cool something is. Expose them, yes. Motivate them, no. If they can't see how cool it is on their own, then they shouldn't be doing it. should I help them create a product that has a chance to succeed? In a hackathon? Really? What is the purpose of a hackathon, to create an outcome or to enjoy the process and the compansionship and maybe even learn something? Personally, I can't imagine a worse environment to create a successful product. it could be devastating for a newbie That's a pretty perverted use case for the word "devastating". A serious accident? A loss of a loved one? Those are devastating. Being told your idea sucks? If that's devastating to you, maybe you don't have the backbone for this and should be doing something else. I was always very gentle with this situations Don't be. You're not doing them any favors by coddling them. They need brutal honesty. If they don't get it from you now, rest assured that they will from someone else later. it's almost impossible to succeed with wrong assumptions, too big scope or incomplete team. I would rephrase that "it's almost impossible to succeed this time". They will likely learn much more failing on their own than blindly taking some mentor's advice. When you taught your children to walk, did you ever let them fall? Personal failures provide the best feedback to toughen up and grow. Don't take that away from them. They wasted the weekend You can waste a weekend getting drunk and watching TV, but you can't waste a weekend at a hackathon. Lighten up.