My journey through hackathons and startup weekends
I have a hobby: visiting hackathons and “startup weekends”.
Over the last 5 years I’ve participated in ~15 events (and won ±7 of them)
How hackathons/startup_weekends work:
1️⃣ on Friday you gather a team, decide on an idea, start work. Each event usually has a “theme” (legaltech/medtech/fintech/fashion etc.)
2️⃣ on Saturday you work on the idea, get feedback from mentors
3️⃣ on Sunday you prepare the MVP, the presentation, and finally pitch the idea on stage; possibly win a prize!
… and on Monday you most likely never come back to that idea 😵
Some project highlights that I’ve worked on:
🏅 sunorwind/gRoof, 2017
📜 Project summary: enter your home address to get calculations on savings & costs of installing solar/wind energy/green roof.
It was organized as part of Nasa Space Apps Challenge.
That was my first victory!
Prize - paid trip to visit 🛩️ AirBus in Toulouse, 🇫🇷.
With my great teammates - Emil, Kasia and Mateusz:
🏅 LastPost*, 2017
📜 Project summary: will/testament on the blockchain.
Prize - $2500/8 people 🤪.
🥉Donna* 2019
“Hackyeah” - annual hackathon in Poland with 2500 participants.
The Prime Minister of 🇵🇱 came to visit and I took a picture with him!
Prize - $750/4 people.
📜 Project summary: Chatbot to answer FAQ for employees of an organization.
🥇Screen Notary 2019
📜 Project summary: store a webpage screenshot on blockchain, certifying that this is what it looked like at a moment in time (so that it can be used in legal proceedings).
Dream team: Me, wife, sister, sisters BF 👨👩👧👦
🥇 Intelilex 2019
📜 Project summary: Microsoft Word autocomplete plugin. Biggest success, longest ride.
Youtube video: intelilex (we paid ±$1000 for this video).
In spring 2022 we sold our company for a 4-digit $ number / 7 people 💰💰💰
🥈Easygration 2020
Hackathon organizaed by WoltersKluwer in the last days befor COVID lockdown in March 2020.
📜 Project summary: Turning immigration law 2 code and automating immigration process”.
🥉🍽️ “StepByStep Menu”, May 2022
My first hackathon after COVID!
📜 Project summary: QR menu, ordering, payment, live queue (provide the McDonalds ordering experience to any restaurant).
🥉⚖️ “VeriCerti” June 2022
📜 Project summary: bulk Linkedin certificate generator
Why do I keep participating???
I think that visiting hackathons is a great way to 🤝 get acquainted with like-minded people, 👩💻try to create something over weekend, 💡 validate ideas, 🎤 pitch practice.
🎉 It’s always a fun experience to live through!
If you’re interested in this kind of experience - Here’s a 📅 calendar of startup weekends around the globe.
With love, Yaro 🐻