Honestly, Hackathons are more about what the developers get out of it. I went to a couple to try and build a wider network among my local devs and to try and w

Honestly, Hackathons are more about what the developers get out of it. I went to a couple to try and build a wider network among my local devs and to try and win cool stuff. Some went to hone existing projects using the APIs presented (to know if they actually wanted to use it) Some went for the prizes Some went to try and score jobs To say any of those options are wrong really isn't right. But to tell a company why they should be there they should ask what the developers are hoping to achieve and decide if there place belongs there or not. I will agree completely on the comment about company reps being present however. A lot of people were turned off from various companies because they were difficult to work with through different online channels and elected to not use their API simply because the cost to get it working with flawed documentation or sparse contact was too risky if they were gunning for a prize. Often the companies didn't return for the next hackathon for what I assume was because of bad reception the first time around...