7 tips for Hackathon Success
If you’ve never been to a hackathon, they are typically a 24-48 hour event during which time your team needs to build a working prototype for a product, usually a web or mobile app, but some teams build actual hardware devices. We’ve been to a lot of these hackathons, and have observed some patterns for what makes for a successful hackathon experience. So without further ado, here are 7 tips for hackathon success:
1. Set realistic expectations
There’s the temptation to go into a hackathon thinking that you’re going to build a 1.0 version of a product. The reality is that with only 48 hrs, you’ll be lucky to build something that actually works and is demoable. Make sure it’s something you can build in 48 hrs. Otherwise, you’ll spend the majority of the time postulating on all the different things you could build and trying to prioritize the features, and you’ll be left with a bunch of diagrams on the back of a napkin, but no actual thing that you can demo.
You need to think big, but start small. What is the simplest thing you can build that provides value? Err on the side of subtracting functionality rather than adding functionality. In lean startup terminology, this is called a minimum viable product (MVP).
2. Attract talent to your team
If you are a business guy and can’t write code, you’re going to need to convince a developer to join your team. Likewise, if you’re a developer but can’t design, you’re team is going to be much stronger if you can attract designer talent. Without the right people on your team, you’re going to be handicapped and have a hard time getting to a working prototype.
How do you attract talent to your team? Most hackathons provide an opportunity to pitch your idea before the hackathon starts. Write down a concise description of what you want to build, who it’s for, and why they would want to use it (what’s the problem that you’re trying to solve). And then practice your pitch so that it comes off naturally when you stand up to present it. State very clearly who you are looking for, and if you have a particular technology in mind, mention that too. If you’re planning to develop in PHP, you just might attract other developers who want to code in PHP too.
3. Do your homework
We highly recommend going through the examples and understanding how the various libraries you’re going to use, are put together. That way you don’t spend precious time reading docs, and trying to figure out how to use a library or 3rd party API, but can focus 100% on building the functionality that is unique to your app.
According to our RULES, you can’t write any code beforehand, but you can leverage existing open source libraries. Using existing code can drastically speed up your development time, but beware of code that is buggy or not well-documented. You could spend as much time debugging someone else’s code or scratching your head because of non-existent docs, than if you were to just build the functionality from scratch.
4. Take frequent breaks
When you’re under time pressure, and when the whole team is counting on you to build feature XYZ, it’s tempting to sit in one spot and plow through until you’re fingers are numb from all the typing.
Remember to get up from the desk, stretch your shoulders and wrists, and go get a drink of water. We’ll have some cool break out sessions to help you refresh yourself.
5. Envision your perfect demo and work backwards
The best way to prepare for demo day was to think about what you wanted to show in your demo, and then work backwards. In other words, build the functionality and UI screens that you need to show the audience what is unique about your app. A 48 hour hackathon is not the time to build a full-featured product, so focus on the parts that you want to show in the demo, and only work on those. If you decide to continue working on it, you can always come back and fill in the missing pieces.
6. Use an HTML/CSS framework
According to our RULES, you can come to the Hackathon with pre-made wireframes or mockups, so you should definitely do this in advance, so you’re not spending valuable time doing this at the Hackathon. But what about the HTML/CSS? I’d highly recommend using Twitter Bootstrap or Foundation to build a nice-looking prototype without having to write hardly any CSS yourself.
If you’re worried that your Twitter Bootstrap site is going to look like every other bootstrap site, head over to Bootswatch to get a free bootstrap theme. The advantage of using something like Twitter Bootstrap is that you can assign someone in your team who is less technical but who has good design sense, to create the templates using Jetstrap, a completely web-based drag-n-drop tool for building Twitter Bootstrap templates.
7. Have fun!
Remember that you’re at the Hackathon to have fun. Yes, it’s a competition but it’s also a place to experiment, meet interesting people, learn something new and build something from scratch. Don’t stress yourself out too much if you don’t accomplish what you set out to do, or if you don’t win. Just have a good time and put your best effort forward.
Happy hacking!
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There you have it – How to prepare for Digital India Hackathon.
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