All You Need to Become a Web3 Rising Star is Polkadot Hackathon 2023 Summer
Polkadot Hackathon 2023 Summer, which started on May 12th, has gained attention and anticipation from Web3 developers worldwide. The competition has entered the latter half of the registration phase, with 264 participants and 65 teams registered, preparing to make their final push towards the highest honor. Over the years, the Polkadot Hackathon has become an incubator for Web3 projects, guiding hundreds of projects to find their path into Web3. Thanks to the opportunities provided by the hackathon, more and more developers have found ideal partners to unleash their creativity and drive practicality, creating Web3 products with genuine commercial value.
- All you need to become a Web3 Rising Star is the Polkadot Hackathon 2023 Summer.
- All you need to win the highest honor in the competition is a comprehensive project pitch guide.
Don’t miss out on the article prepared for you, the handbook for your hackathon project presentation. Let’s take a look!
【Special Reminder】The registration for Polkadot Hackathon 2023 Summer will continue until July 4th, 12:00(UTC+8). For those who haven’t registered, please seize the opportunity! At the end of the article, we have provided details of the final workshop. This Saturday at 20:00, OneBlock+ invited the sponsors of Bounty challenges to join the workshop. They will interpret the technology and application development techniques of the Polkadot ecosystem. All hackers, tune in!
✍️Registration Link: https://forms.gle/bfQCm1JUKDwBqXSW9
01. The Growth Path of Hackathon Projects
For developers looking to quickly enter the Web3 world, how to find a path to navigate through the challenges of the crypto winter? Unlike other hackathons, the Polkadot Hackathon provides a preparation period of several months, helping all participating projects go from 0 to 1 by refining their development work. Throughout the competition, there are live events, mentorship guidance, and sharing technical resources to support all developers. The growth path for participating projects primarily includes:
- Connect with Like-minded Partners: Meet the strongest teammates during the competition and embark on the Web3 entrepreneurial journey together.
- Drive Project Implementation: Brainstorm and develop a mature Web3 project under the guidance of the official technical support provided by the hackathon.
- Massive Exposure Opportunities: The final Demoday will provide all qualifying projects with a platform to showcase their work, receive feedback from judges, and gain media exposure.
- Win High Prize Pool: Winning hackathon teams will share the prize pool and also have the chance to attract investment, facilitating priority incubation for their projects.
- After the hackathon, if you dream and persevere, there is a chance to develop the next generation of Web3 star projects.
Entering the Financing Track
In recent years, participating teams in the Polkadot Hackathon have not only won in the competition but have also experienced rapid growth after the event, becoming prominent stars in the industry. For example, Parallel Finance, the winning team of the 2021 Spring Polkadot Hackathon, secured strategic financing from Coinbase, Section 32, and StarkWare in a year, reaching a valuation of $500 million. Manta Network developed ZK technology, achieving the largest-scale trusted setup in zero-knowledge proof history. It is considered the most decentralized and secure privacy and scaling solution, with a valuation of $300 million. Other outstanding projects such as CESS, Deeper Network, Acala, and more have made significant contributions to the Polkadot ecosystem in various domains.
The rapid development of these star projects after the Polkadot Hackathon can be attributed to the close collaboration with invited investment institutions and industry experts during and after the competition. Participating teams have the opportunity to showcase their team strength and project advantages to these influential guests during the exhibition process. This can potentially lead to practical support from industry pioneers, assisting in the implementation of their projects. Additionally, the hackathon’s prize pool often exceeds tens of thousands of dollars, providing start-up capital to winning teams and helping them establish a foothold in Web3.
Project Roadshow Guide
1. Show excellent project products. When preparing for a project roadshow, it is important to focus on the display of high-quality content of the project. Roadshow is the process of “selling” high-quality projects. Developers need to explain the most valuable advantages of the project, and introduce the use process and application scenarios of the project from the perspective of users . In addition, the project presentation needs to clarify the logic between each part, reduce the difficulty of understanding the audience and fully express the value of the project.
2.Make Concise and Informative PPT. In the hackathon roadshow session, each project has only 10 minutes to present. A concise and complete PPT not only makes the speaker’s presentation clearer, but also allows the judges and the audiences to grasp the key points of the project in a short time. A good PPT for a roadshow should contain the following parts:
⚡Title Slide: The first and most important page of a pitch deck summarizes the core content or point you want to showcase. The title slide must contain your project name, logo and vision. In addition, make sure that the basic information of the project, such as the logo, is repeated on other pages of the PPT.
⚡The Analysis of Market Pain Points. Please use at most one slide to introduce the pain points of the market that allows the audience to clearly perceive why you chose to do this project. It’s better to focus on one problem that the project can solve rather than generalize about many problems. Three dimensions of thinking that resonate with the reviewers.
- Have they ever been bothered by this problem?
- How can the solution to this problem contribute to ecosystem development?
- Will the solution to this problem bring real returns?
🚩Notice: Please use the most concise expressions to describe the market gap that the project fills.
⚡ Project Product Descriptions.
This slide will show you exactly what your product is. You can freely explain the core products of the project according to your product characteristics. You’d better prepare a demo of the product to accompany the project introduction. Please note that the project introduction should be relatively specific. Highlight that your product solution can solve the above market pain points. From “asking questions” to “solving problems” to form a rigorous logical closed loop. In addition, you can also outline how the product is now available. As the saying goes, “timing is everything” in business development. Too early or too late can lead to project failure.
⚡Project Advantages Showcase：
It is necessary to showcase the advantages of the project in adapting to the market and gaining market share. You can use the comparative analysis method to compare and analyze your project. Similar competing projects in multiple dimensions to show the particularity of your project. Additionally, you can also showcase the past market growth and future potential growth of the industry, highlighting the project’s potential strength from a market perspective and the value it can bring to investors.
⚡Project Business Value：
“An entrepreneur’s real product is not a solution, but a business model that works.” In this section, it is highly recommended to use diagrams to show the business value of the project. The key question to be answered here is:
- How did your business model become viable through experiments or case studies?
- How do your project products make money?
- How much money do you need to validate your business model? How is it distributed? (Financing Plan)
⚡项目团队介绍 Introduction to Project Team
Team members are probably one of the most important slides on any pitch deck. You need to show that your team is the best choice for executing the idea. When you create this slide, highlight two or three accomplishments and roles of each member (especially as they relate to project development). Highlight that you are a strong business fit with each other’s responsibilities and talents.
⚡Project Development Planning
On the basis of all the facts, figures and other information, the next step is to show you the prospects of the project. Future planning is one of the essential elements of the project, and a sound Roadmap can help demonstrate the long-term viability of your project.
⚡End Page Slide
A perfect ending，a recall for highlights. You can once again highlight the advantages of the project on the closing page and deepen the audience’s impression. It can also express the willingness to cooperate and attract the attention of investors. It is also possible to further deepen the project development vision… In addition, contact information is necessary. It allows investors interested in your project to reach you smoothly.
⚡Other Suggestions
- Attention! The above guidelines should be referred to as appropriate according to the characteristics of your project.
- Three cores: Demonstrate the team’s soft power. Prove logic with data. Value-driven benefits.
- Five principles: Text is not as good as words, words are not as good as tables, tables are not as good as pictures, pictures are not as good as scenes, and scenery is not as good as feelings.
- Don’t use the roadshow as an exercise. You must go through brainstorming drills before the official roadshow.
- Don’t follow the book. Only read the PPT, read according to the book, even the best ideas will be buried.
02. The Forth Workshop is Coming!
As the “guardian” of this hackathon journey, the pre-competition guidance workshop is about to reach its culmination. Through the first three sessions, I believe you have followed the footsteps of tech experts, mastered the use of blockchain tools, attempted to build personalized smart contracts, and drawn inspiration from innovative designs on blockchain infrastructure. You are now ready to showcase your skills in the Web3 world.
In order to allow more participants to immerse themselves in the technical charm of Polkadot and successfully incubate the next generation of star projects within the Polkadot ecosystem, the final workshop before the competition will teach you “How to Develop Applications on Polkadot.” Alibaba Cloud, Gear, Acala, Bifrost, and Astar, as the sponsors of the bounty challenges, will join the pre-competition guidance and explore the paths and techniques of developing applications within the Polkadot ecosystem with all developers. If you aspire to claim the highest honor and compete for the prize pool with additional rewards in this Polkadot Hackathon, make sure to tune in to the final workshop on July 1st at 20:00.
If you missed the first three pre-guidance workshops, you can watch the replay on YouTube.
🚩The First Workshop：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRMLKHlQw0s
🚩The Second Workshop：
https://www.youtube.com/live/gX8om1MUYck?feature=share
🚩The Third Workshop：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWBxNTH3-L8
Event Time
July 1st, 20:00–22:00 (UTC+8)
Event Topic
Developing Applications on Polkadot
Event Schedule
- 20:00–20:30 How Alibaba Cloud supports your Web3 Journey
Leo Li, Alibaba Cloud International Hong Kong Head of Web3 Ecosystem
- 20:30–21:00 A parallel smart contract platform powered by Gear Protocol
Btwiuse, Gear Foundation Technical Lead
Nicole, Gear Foundation Community Growth
- 21:00–21:30 Build With Acala（Dapp/Chopsticks)
Shunji, Acala core code contributor
- 21:30–21:45 The rising of LSD-fi on Polkadot
Tyrone, Bifrost Governance Committee Member
- 21:45–22:00 The Multi-VM Smart Contract Hub on Polkadot
Mingshi, Astar Senior Biz Dev
03. The Registration is Countdown to 5 Days!
Countdown to 5 days! The 2023 Summer Polkadot Hackathon, jointly organized by Parity and OneBlock+, is still open for enthusiastic registrations. The registration deadline is July 4th at 12:00. So far, a total of 264 participants have formed 65 teams (including 10 teams from overseas) to participate in this hackathon. With a shared vision of building Web3, they embark on this competition as the “icebreakers” determined to make progress even in the bear market winter.Here, you will attempt to incubate a brand new Web3 entrepreneurial project from 0 to 1. You will engage in deep conversations and exchanges with like-minded developers. Moreover, you will have the opportunity to share the 714 DOT Travel Grant prize pool, gaining your “first bucket of gold” in Web3.
From July 15t-16, Polkadot Hackathon 2023 Summer will host the Demoday and Polkadot Decoded conference in an offline event. During this time, industry leaders, tech experts, investors, and other prominent figures will provide you with new technological perspectives and inspiration. If you aspire to be one of the fortunate participants standing on the ultimate competition stage and witness the brilliant future of the Polkadot ecosystem, join us now! You have 5 days left to seize the opportunity and become a Web3 star developer!
04. Please Vote for OneBlock 2023 Polkadot Summer Hackathon Proposal
In order to ensure the smooth progress of the 2023 Polkadot Summer Hackathon, OneBlock+ has submitted a proposal in the governance system regarding the “OneBlock 2023 Polkadot Summer Hackathon Proposal”. The Polkadot Hackathon, organized by Parity and OneBlock+, has successfully held 6 editions. They witnessed the growth of thousands of developers and the incubation of hundreds of projects. This hackathon has received participation from 230+ members from around the world, forming over 60+ teams. As the annual developer event in the Polkadot ecosystem, Polkadot Hackathon Summer 2023 continues to inject new vitality and momentum into the ecosystem. We hope that community members can actively participate in the voting and cast their valuable approval votes (Aye) to support the hackathon!
This proposal belongs to the “Medium Spender” track, with a decision deposit of 200 DOT, an import period of 4 hours, a decision period of 28 days, a confirmation period of 1 day, and a minimum execution period of 1 day. It is currently in the Deciding stage, with the current Approval threshold set at 90.5%. In addition, you can also convert your DOT into higher voting weights. Through the voluntary locking mechanism called “conviction voting” in OpenGov, DOT holders can increase their voting power by declaring their willingness to lock their DOT for a certain period of time. The formula for calculating the voting power is “voting power = token * conviction multiplier,” where the conviction multiplier increases by one for each doubling of the lockup period. In practice, when DOT is locked for a certain period of voting, it can still be used for voting and staking, with the restriction of not being able to transfer it to another account. Therefore, by increasing the lockup period, you can make your vote more influential and expedite the approval of the “OneBlock 2023 Polkadot Summer Hackathon Proposal”!
🚩Vote now: https://polkadot.subsquare.io/referenda/referendum/36
About OneBlock+
OneBlock+ is a leading global community of developers in the blockchain space, serving as a talent hub for Substrate development. We provide professional technical articles and development courses, organize workshops, hackathons, and entrepreneurial competitions to facilitate practical exchanges. Our aim is to help developers master Substrate technology and delve deeper into the Web3 domain. Additionally, OneBlock+ offers multiple entrepreneurship support services, including technical guidance and access to talent resources, for high-quality Web3 projects. Our goal is to encourage more development teams to build the future open networks using the Substrate technology framework.
