How to Win a Hackathon — From a Judge, Mentor and Participant Perspective
By Melvin Wong on The Capital
I had the privilege to be a judge for two hackathons, a mentor for six hackathons including three that were co-organized by AT&T and MCMC (Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission) in Kuala Lumpur, one by Amazon AWS in Los Angeles while another two as judge cum mentor. I’m also a mentor for AngelHack.
This year, I took up the challenge of participating in two hackathons — the Global Hack (reaching the top 10 in my category) and Hackathon@Home (final 4).
Traditionally, hackathons are supposed to be a 24-hour event (sometimes over a weekend) where members are asked to work on-site throughout the period to produce a brand new gadget, app, or software that they need to eventually demonstrate and pitch in front of judges. Since then times have changed.
Some hackathons last for a month and quite a few have recently been transformed into virtual affairs, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each hackathon that I was part of was always a unique experience. But most of them followed similar rules of engagement. Here’s my attempt to spill the beans on how you could dramatically improve your chances of winning a hackathon.
Think of something that is exciting and trendy — a.k.a sexy
The best way to lift hackathon judges off their feet is to woo them over with something amazing or hot in the news. Yes, it’s easier said than done but try brainstorming along the lines of,
- Latest technologies — AI, blockchain, fintech, MedTech, IoT
- Latest trends — social distancing, wearing masks, virus protection
- Latest issues — racial inequality (George Floyd), protests, climate change
Peculiarly, IoT (Internet of Things) projects usually do well in hackathons. This notion seems to defy competition logic but I’ve noticed time and time again that ideas involving IoT usually do well in hackathons. Case in point is SunCrafter, the overall champion of The Global Hack and a few others that I’ve personally witnessed. I guess human nature wants to go beyond “seeing is believing” by touching and feeling.
It pays to know the judges
Hackathon is a very subjective sport, much more than ice skating, gymnastic, and diving. You get judges from a wide array of backgrounds, domain knowledge, and experiences. Thus, it’s hard to please each and every one of them.
Therefore, try to find out who the judges are and what makes them tick. Although this often proves to be impossible, try these tips below if you hope to improve your chance of winning.
- Pick an idea that could be relevant to most people — avoid niche ideas such as sports, music, or vertical areas (unless that's the theme). I once advised a team to change their idea from a clubbing app to something less offensive to Muslims since two of the judges were Muslims. That team eventually got 3rd place.
- Pick an idea that could solve a recent pressing issue or problem — The number of hackathons related to COVID-19 sprung up like mushrooms within weeks into the pandemic. The cases in point are The Global Hack, COVID Global Hackathon, and Code Vs. COVID19. In 2013, a team was trying to solve a recent problem of fatal road accidents involving buses. They came up with a speedometer app that was barely working but they had a compelling presenter. With that, they won 2nd place.
Read the rules and then read them again
Each hackathon requires participants to follow a set of rules. Some come with a long list of rules, some are rather short. The problem is most of us hate reading these rules. So, please pay attention to them, or you might get disqualified.
But generally, submissions are judged the same way. Below lists some of the common judging criteria.
- Originality, creativity, or novelty of the idea — judges often look for something new and sexy (trendy). For example, during this year’s Global Hack, the theme revolves around the COVID-19. Thus, they were looking for unique solutions that could dramatically solve the problems caused by the pandemic.
- Implementation of the idea — how well did your team develop the prototype for the idea. The polishness of your work matters and could offer extra convictions for the judges to pick you.
- Impact or value of the idea — how your idea could change the world. This is where you need to think like Steve Jobs.
For hackathons with a long list of rules, the usual struggle is adhering and enforcing the laws. Some common enforcement problems are,
- Participants must only submit works that they produced during the hackathon, NOT before — Most of the time judges expect participants to upload their codes to GitHub during the event. However, this rule is rather hard to enforce because there’s no way to quantitatively or qualitatively determine if the code was created prior to the event. Therefore, it’s a guessing game for the judges, and sometimes, they turn a blind eye. Time and time again, we found cheaters who would attend the first onboarding session in the early morning of day one and went missing for the entire 22 hours of the hacking session and finally popping-up for the final pitch with a jaw-dropping product that some doubt they could complete within two day's work.
- Participants should follow strict rules during pitching — Ironically, in one of the hackathons I participated in, we were repetitively told NOT to use any slides in our pitch but instead demonstrate our prototype in a video submission. Shockingly, a team added slides in their video demo and worst is, they got away with it by winning the category. I still remember the judges saying how cool their video presentation was (with animated slides).
Do expect the rules to be changed. Usually, hackathon organizers are new to this trade (since these events are usually one-off) thus they often would need to change the rules to go with the flow of things. In one case, the organizer decided to combine two categories into one, thus reducing the number of winners from six to three.
Know the organizers and their purpose of running the hackathon
There’s always a real purpose of why someone wants to organize a hackathon. In the Hackathon@Home event that I and my team participated, I took the liberty of asking the head judge why my team did not win (we only reached the final 4). He told me that our project did not bode well with the real purpose of the event, which was to promote collaboration between Germany and France. Our project was for the global market, not particularly for these two markets.
That hackathon was organized by an organization situated in a city called Strasbourg which sits near the border between France and Germany. Thus, it makes total sense for them to choose the rightful winner who offers a psychological-care solution that caters to French and German people.
So, learn from my lesson — understand the true purpose of the hackathon you are joining and ensure your idea meets this purpose.
You must produce something. Don’t turn up with just a bunch of slides
Try to build an all-rounded team with coders, designers, and presenters, unless you are a jack of all trades yourself. I’ve seen many participants who entered these events without a team or worst, without knowing how to code. It’s important to note that I’ve yet to see someone winning a hackathon with just an idea scribbled on some slides. If the organizer just wants ideas, they could have created an idea competition instead, not a hackathon.
Most hackathons use Slack as their communication medium so try to search for team members there who know how to code. But do note that usually coders who joined already have their own ideas in mind. Thus, you need to entice them to accept your idea instead. And you could always play the role of the presenter in your team.
Find someone who can really pitch
Ever heard of the phrase “3 minutes of fame?” This is exactly it. You only have those short minutes to prove to the judges why they should pick your team as the champion.
Programmers are usually not the best presenters, so it’s best to find someone who could put inspiring words into your codes. If you have a poor or simple prototype, supplementing it with a bombastic pitch could give you an edge.
Practice, practice and practice your pitch, for it is your judgment day
Seriously, do not underestimate the importance of your pitch. I’ve seen teams with really crazy ideas but went on to win just because their pitches almost deserve a standing ovation.
A hackathon pitch is more critical than a fundraising pitch because you will only be judged during those short minutes when you are on stage, period. Don’t expect the judges to have the time to view your pre-uploaded slides or google for more info about you. It’s your “make or break” moment, literally!
One case in point is in a hackathon this year where the winner in the category I was in submitted a project idea that was already available in the market 13 years ago (since 2007). Surprisingly, the judges were not aware of that and decided to award them the prize anyway. A simple googling could have revealed this fact.
In another real-life example, I once helped to spot an important question for a team and incidentally, the question was raised by the head judge during their pitch. They answered it perfectly and went on to win the hackathon and $9,000 cash.
Here’re my recommendations for preparing your pitch.
- Find someone who could really present and talk — a salesman kinda guy.
- Use easy to understand analogy. Choose phrases/words that judges could relate to.
- Drop the jargon. This is the very reason why a tech person should not pitch because they love their jargon. Use simpler terms instead.
- Do not miss mentioning the cool and unique features of your idea.
- Make the effort to rehearse your pitch over and over again. This helps to ease your tension and to stick within the time limit.
- Action speaks louder than words. Don’t forget to demonstrate your project and make sure it works.
- Try spotting questions from judges (assuming there’s a Q&A session). Get your pitch person to practice their pitch with strangers (or best, mentors) and prepare to answer the common questions they asked. FYI, mentors are often judges too, as that happened to me before.
It’s about the human effort
Hackathon might have borrowed its name from marathon, (a 42.195 km race) or triathlon (a you-don't-want-to-know-how-long race). If you notice the resemblance in the words, you should also feel the connection to human strength and endurance.
Hackathon is about showcasing human’s brightest ideas and how we could realize them in a short period of time. Thus, it takes a huge effort to produce something so swiftly.
With that regard, do make the effort while competing in a hackathon. Judges are commonly impressed with hard-working teams. Some hackathons that I mentored awarded honorary mentions to teams that showed significant efforts.
My final advice
All the tips above are not hard and fast rules that will guarantee a road to victory in your next hackathon. But I assure you that I wrote them from my experiences of being there, doing that. My final thought is, join a hackathon for the fun and the learning experience, perhaps even for networking. Most winners did not expect to win. So, if you do win, it’ll be the perfect cherry on top!
