Winning is not always a straight line and requires a mix of skills and planning and some tricks , here i will spill some of them, from one beginner to another.
So recently I was able to win my very first hackathon as my team came First. Quite an achievement since in rare cases only people come first in their first try, Lucky, Yes.
Leading my stellar team to the first position was not an easy task as it requires skill, dedication, planning, smartness and a stroke of luck.
Even though it was my first time, I was able to learn how to edge the competition in such cases, So I will share them since I too was also looking for an article like this a few weeks back.
The Duration
This is the very first thing you should look into which is the duration of the hackathon, As it changes there from 24hrs to 10 days or even 40 days the duration varies wildly in this game but mostly it will be within 3–4 days.
Now why do you need to look into the duration is because it decides how you will have to pace yourself out.
24–32 Hrs
This means you are gonna have to work relatively fast and efficient. In most cases teams who win such kind of hackathons generally have 60–70% work done beforehand and the time duration only fine-tunes their hack.
5 days or more
In this, you can work in something from scratch but the problem is you cannot afford any hick-ups or problems which might cause you any problems, As the days go pretty fast and before you know it you will have to submit the final prototype.
So the duration should guide your work pace and efficiency
If it is below 5 days — Have most work-ready and try to integrate everything properly
If not — Work as you like but plan out everything and try to stick with it.
The Idea
The second most important thing in any hackathon is the idea, Majority of people spend a lot of time to make sure it sells.
In many cases, the actual idea is only fully developed in the final hours of the hackathon. So how do you cope with that?
I’ll tell you my story
We started with the idea of recommendation system and ended up with something very different. It was a recommendation system at heart but we also developed it as a user interaction system with DBMS capabilities and some other useful features.
By the way, my hackathon was of 10 days, so we had the time to do some changes.
Tip — In the planning session brainstorm some good ideas and then take the best idea while making it your core system. Then develop around the core system by adding only the features which you think are complementary to it and can be a key selling point.
Original Idea or Existing One with some New Features ?
This question will cross your mind too, Should you come with a brand new, completely original idea or take something that’s already there and improve on it.
My tip is to go with a good original idea i.e one that actually can be sold to a company and sounds great to the ears. As finally you will be picthing this to a board of judges. Who have to see everyone else’s idea and they are looking for something catchy and fresh.
What if getting an original idea is not possible?
At times it’s very difficult to come up with a new idea especially if its a closed-ended hackathon.
So go with the existing idea with a new set of features.
Add some great new features and sell it like a new product and compare it with the existing product and how your idea is leagues ahead how it can be implemented.
“ Basically take the old wine and sell it in a new bottle and add a new flavor or something “ — (Wise Words By My Mentor )
The Team
The most important thing in any hackathon is the team you choose to go with, They will help you to create your final product so make sure everyone in your team is really good at their jobs or in simple words make everyone complimentary.
Everyone in the team plays a crucial part and if you were to remove them it would be very difficult to create the hack.
A team’s winning chance is determined by how harmoniously you are able to work with each other and how clear your communication is.
A chain’s strength is determined by its weakest link — (Thomas Reid)
Tip- Be the weakest link, try to get a team of people who are really good at their parts, but that doesn't mean you are weak. You have your own set of skills which are also important assets to the team.
The Product Plan
Your team plan or master plan or whatever you call it should be simple and understandable. By plan I mean the product idea how it all works and the how the front end and backend is connected and pipelines so that your team has a clear and intuitive idea of how to set everything up.
In a lot of cases what happens is that the idea is very good but because their product is not integrated well in front and back end they end up loosing points .
Tip- Set up the pipelines before setting the entire backend.
Communication
The Heart and Soul of a team is its clarity
In many cases lack of proper communication can be catastrophic , and a hackathon is no exception .
Everyone in your team should have a clear idea of what their side of the job is how they should approach it.
Tip — Have team meetings after every big change , describe how the user flow is as this will help you clear up a lot of problems. Trust Me!
Know your game
In my recent experience, our team was against a bunch of talented seniors with experience in hackathons. Quite the odds for a novice
So How did we ace the game?
Well, we were given 10 days to develop the project and also with targets to meet in the numbered days.
We used the only 2 advantages we could go for
Race for the finish
What we did was to complete as much as we can in the minimum amount of time so we would be well past our required targets. Since other teams were comfortably pacing themselves , We were running to the 100% mark. This earned us a ton’s of time when we really needed it but i would not recommend this as this has its own risks.
Simplicity
This was our crucial paradigm, to be simplistic in our approach instead of making 6–7 features we stuck with only 3–4 crucial features as we not really the masters of our fields (yet) so we did what we do best, played it simple.
And it worked , why ?
Simplicity sells. ( Look at Apple Products)
Imagine you are the end-user,
What would you use a simple and intuitive app OR a complex app with a steep learning curve?
Pick the simple app since most judges are going to use your product for a few minutes so you want to make sure they understand as much of it as possible.
And there is a very satisfying beauty to everything which works in tandem to this.
Tip- Make Sure the UI/UX is simple and pleasing to look at
The Leap Of Faith
In every Hackathon, most teams have a point when you get an idea which might seem crazy but it just seems to be a ray of sunshine.
This is your Leap of Faith, as you don’t know whether it will work or not,
My team took it and we all are happy with the outcome.
But know this, Do Ponder on your idea and discuss it with your teammates and if they are on board go ahead and implement it since hackathon is all about how crazy you can get!
Debugging Session
Whatever your team creates as the final prototype might have some bugs and bugs are always bad. So have a thorough debugging session before the final pitch and squish out as many bugs as you can especially if its big like an input stream mismatch and if it's a small one like a font problem it's not going to be much of an issue.
Demonstrate The Working Project
A great tip given to me by an amazing Senior was to hand the product to the judges and then pitch the idea. Let them play with it and they would definitely like it if it’s very user friendly.
It is very risky to do this as you are not in control right now but it shows confidence in your product and that is something that sells.
Tip- While letting them use it, give the pitch in such a way that they will follow your user flow
The Pitch
One of the most important aspects of any hackathon is the final pitch in which your idea is sold to an audience or judges.
This is very subjective and it changes from one situation to another, But there are some things you could do to maximize your chances.
The Slides:- Don’t make very descriptive slides, no one will read it as they are looking at the product, Instead just 3 lines and some pictures will do. If you have to write, write like each word costs you (100$), So be concise and articulate well
Business Model :- Be very clear on why its a good idea and how this will sell like a bottle of coke on a hot summer day.
Dependencies :- Talk about all the major issues that could fail your prototype( Lack of net connectivity and so on ) but also make sure you tell them how are you going to overcome this as you develop your prototype into a final product.
Future :- Talk about how your prototype will develop and what all new and amazing features you could add in the near future.
Tip — Be very Positive and Inspiring like you are launching the next revolutionary product
P.S- No need to force humor in the pitch , It dosen’t end well when your heart is racing like a F1 at Monza (You See)
Thank You for reading , hope you have a wonderful hackathon.
