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I participated in AngelHack 2012, placing in the top two in my city, and competing in SF. Although it wasn't terrible, and I did have a lot of fun (turns out I

I participated in AngelHack 2012, placing in the top two in my city, and competing in SF. Although it wasn't terrible, and I did have a lot of fun (turns out I love SF!), I found the competition to be disorganized and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I won't be competing again. A few things that stick out: * Inconsistent WiFi for duration of competition (in our home city) * Aggressive event staff (also in our home city) * No write-ups about our team, or mention of us anywhere at all, even though we were finalists -- remember that this competition is for us too guys! We wanted some recognition. * Slowness in getting paid back for plane tickets (required reminders) * A "mentor" who forgot about meetings (completely stood us up), and was difficult to set up meetings with in the first place * The overall feeling that we were being taken advantage of...just a feeling mind you, but if I felt this way in a contest, I wouldn't be surprised to feel that way if I took their money Take it with a grain of salt. One man's experience. They could be great for all I know.

HighOnLife 14y ago
Wow that's a list of negatives - which city was this? In London I didn't win, so cant comment on your after win experience - aggressive staff sounds totally the opposite of my experience - Wi-Fi needed improving as did food portions although neither stopped me - see previous post - also I believe they're being fixed
ggopman 14y ago
Hi Thrown, This is Greg from AngelHack. Everything you said is valid and I thank you for your feedback. We'll organize over 100 hackathons this year and while we work with venues for 8 weeks to ensure they're up to speed, train organizers on weekly calls, and oversee that everything is A-grade, we still have some problems. We've scaled fast, re-placed organizers that weren't top notch, and cut ties with venues that couldn't handle Wi-Fi caps that they promised us they could. We're a startup, and like any startup, we move fast and cut the shit out of the way as soon as it forms. What you went through last summer was the first iteration of our pre-accelerator. We knew there would be holes and we knew the only way to truly understand it was to do it. We took no equity from your class because we wanted to make sure we added enough value first. At this point we're confident that we are. We've built a new system for identifying good mentors, following up with them, and have hired 2 new members to oversee things for you. Sorry you had to be a guinea pig, but you lost nothing in the process and got a free trip out to Silicon Valley and the chance to show top VC's your work...
Sindrome 14y ago
I've been to a handful of hackathons and they were all poorly managed. Angelhack SF is the only hackathon I ever went to that was well managed.

HighOnLife 14y ago

Wow that's a list of negatives - which city was this? In London I didn't win, so cant comment on your after win experience - aggressive staff sounds totally the opposite of my experience - Wi-Fi needed improving as did food portions although neither stopped me - see previous post - also I believe they're being fixed

ggopman 14y ago

Hi Thrown, This is Greg from AngelHack. Everything you said is valid and I thank you for your feedback. We'll organize over 100 hackathons this year and while we work with venues for 8 weeks to ensure they're up to speed, train organizers on weekly calls, and oversee that everything is A-grade, we still have some problems. We've scaled fast, re-placed organizers that weren't top notch, and cut ties with venues that couldn't handle Wi-Fi caps that they promised us they could. We're a startup, and like any startup, we move fast and cut the shit out of the way as soon as it forms. What you went through last summer was the first iteration of our pre-accelerator. We knew there would be holes and we knew the only way to truly understand it was to do it. We took no equity from your class because we wanted to make sure we added enough value first. At this point we're confident that we are. We've built a new system for identifying good mentors, following up with them, and have hired 2 new members to oversee things for you. Sorry you had to be a guinea pig, but you lost nothing in the process and got a free trip out to Silicon Valley and the chance to show top VC's your work...

Sindrome 14y ago

I've been to a handful of hackathons and they were all poorly managed. Angelhack SF is the only hackathon I ever went to that was well managed.