For the past 10+ years, I have been participating and running hackathons.

Won a few of them and it was really rewarding.

Today we go a little deeper and talk about WHY.

Why I do what I do.

Digging deep from my own experiences of participating, winning and organising hackathons, as we march closer towards the largest Startup Weekend Global happening this weekend.

This is a 5-part series on the behind-the-scenes of Startup Weekend Global and what it takes to run a hackathon that has morphed into a global entrepreneurship juggernaut.

Part 5: Why hackathon?

So many have asked me.

Why do Startup Weekends on a pro bono basis after all these years?

Why persist to run a voluntary hackathon for more than a decade?

Why do it?

Here’s 5 reasons why.

1. People.

You get to meet some truly impressive, entertaining, fun and weird people.

From all walks of life.

In every and any form possible.

For good or for bad, you roll with the punches.

But you also get to “test” people.

When you put people in a pressure cooker, their true character comes out.

Startup Weekend is that social pressure cooker.

54-hours, over a weekend, blood sweat and tears.

You get to see what people are really made of.

Do they quit when stressed?

Do they give up when they are tired?

Do they help when you need help?

If you find that one or two people who impresses you.

You probably found some good cofounder material, so pounce on that!

2. Builds character.

Hackathons are not easy at all.

They are often overnight, lasting multiple days.

You need the energy, wits, grit and perseverance to grind through it.

Why do you think hackathons became synonymous with Red Bull cans and Energy drinks?

Participants who hustled, endured, survived and emerge from hackathons, are true warriors.

Hackathons sieves out the weak.

Sometimes you need to get the pitch deck out in an hour.

Sometimes you forgot to save and accidentally deleted your entire GitHub repo.

Sometimes your teammates rage quits and leaves you hanging solo.

What do you do?

You figure it out.

Like a boss.

Like how winners do it, in life.

Yes it is brutal and unforgiving.

Yes you can grind for days and sleepless nights only to get rejected by the judges.

Yes it can be such a drag.

But it still builds character.

Whether you choose to leave bitter or learn from the experience, it's a choice.

3. Validation.

There is no better way to validate an idea than to do it at a hackathon.

You get to immediately test waters.

Throw it out there and see what sticks.

Share it with excited, talented, intelligent and experienced people, and see what works.

Hackathons forces you spit out your ideas.

Raw, unguarded and completely honest.

You don’t have time to hide, beautify, spruce it up.

You just need to grow a pair, dive right into it and validate it.

Test it with potential customers.

As Paul Graham said, get outside the building.

Your customers are not around you, often times, you need to get out there and hunt.

But it is the hunt, that notion of “finding” your customers, that really builds the idea.

You get to see what customers really want, what they think and how to approach the problem.

It is a fascinatingly powerful life experience that I highly encourage everyone to try at least once in their life.

4. Network.

They say you net worth is how much you are worth in dollars.

Bullshit.

I say your network is your net worth.

Show me a person’s network and I will tell you how good they really are.

A players like to meet and know other A players.

It’s no secret.

If you are a great coder, builder, maker, doer or founder, chances are, you have a tremendously talented pool of A players surrounding you too.

Guess what?

Startup Weekend allows you to do just that.

To quickly meet and build your network with the best.

Sure, not all of them would be A players, but it’s a fast, fuss-free, simple and effective mechanism to help build up your network.

And that is why I still love running hackathons till today.

I get a chance to invite, impress and network with world-class entrepreneurs like Justin Kan, Marc Nager, Andre Haddad, Renaud Visage and so much more!

They are all part of the SW community and adds to the fun!

5. Value.

SW gives so much value.

I learnt how to manage large teams of volunteers across multiple time zones.

I learnt how to handle Ministers, top tier VCs, world-class founders and even 9-year-old participants!

I learnt how to adapt hackathons to design and operate innovation vehicles for large corporations and government bodies.

I learnt how to market a hackathon on a global scale.

I learnt how to manage participants, the curious ones, the nice ones, the appreciative ones and even the angry ones.

I learnt how to reach out to sponsors cold and pitch them.

I learnt how to design operations and processes for my teams to handle.

I learnt how to scale a global operation and still be lean, effective and agile.

I learnt how to be ultra-creative in my approach for the thesis and concept behind each Startup Weekend.

Those are the reasons why I do what I do.

Hackathons are proven mechanisms.

To kickstart entrepreneurial communities, to hack our ideas quickly, to allow top talents to find one another and to spur innovation forward.

The world is better off with hackathons.

Excited to join Startup Weekend Global?

Well, what are you waiting for?

If you want to participate and stand a chance to win up to $100k of prizes, join us now!

If you want to watch the finals on 4 March at 10pm (SGT), get your tickets here.

-

Startup Weekend is a volunteer-led initiative under Techstars. Since its inception in 2009, hackathons have been held in over 1,800 cities and ignited the fire of over 500,000+ startup enthusiasts across the globe. Notable alumni including Zapier, EasyTaxi, Rover and Carousell even went on to raise more than 7 billion dollars.

-

Will you ever join a hackathon?

-

#startups #business #startupx #growth #success #socialmedia #culture #entrepreneurship #strategy #eth #btc #crypto #polygon #partnerships #startupweekend #NFT #swglobal #unicorns #mentors #founders #judges #hacking #thewhy

For the past 10+ years, I have been participating and running hackathons.

Won a few of them and it was really rewarding.

Today we go a little deeper and talk about WHY.

Why I do what I do.

Digging deep from my own experiences of participating, winning and organising hackathons, as we march closer towards the largest Startup Weekend Global happening this weekend.

This is a 5-part series on the behind-the-scenes of Startup Weekend Global and what it takes to run a hackathon that has morphed into a global entrepreneurship juggernaut.

Part 5: Why hackathon?

So many have asked me.

Why do Startup Weekends on a pro bono basis after all these years?

Why persist to run a voluntary hackathon for more than a decade?

Why do it?

Here’s 5 reasons why.

1. People.

You get to meet some truly impressive, entertaining, fun and weird people.

From all walks of life.

In every and any form possible.

For good or for bad, you roll with the punches.

But you also get to “test” people.

When you put people in a pressure cooker, their true character comes out.

Startup Weekend is that social pressure cooker.

54-hours, over a weekend, blood sweat and tears.

You get to see what people are really made of.

Do they quit when stressed?

Do they give up when they are tired?

Do they help when you need help?

If you find that one or two people who impresses you.

You probably found some good cofounder material, so pounce on that!

2. Builds character.

Hackathons are not easy at all.

They are often overnight, lasting multiple days.

You need the energy, wits, grit and perseverance to grind through it.

Why do you think hackathons became synonymous with Red Bull cans and Energy drinks?

Participants who hustled, endured, survived and emerge from hackathons, are true warriors.

Hackathons sieves out the weak.

Sometimes you need to get the pitch deck out in an hour.

Sometimes you forgot to save and accidentally deleted your entire GitHub repo.

Sometimes your teammates rage quits and leaves you hanging solo.

What do you do?

You figure it out.

Like a boss.

Like how winners do it, in life.

Yes it is brutal and unforgiving.

Yes you can grind for days and sleepless nights only to get rejected by the judges.

Yes it can be such a drag.

But it still builds character.

Whether you choose to leave bitter or learn from the experience, it's a choice.

3. Validation.

There is no better way to validate an idea than to do it at a hackathon.

You get to immediately test waters.

Throw it out there and see what sticks.

Share it with excited, talented, intelligent and experienced people, and see what works.

Hackathons forces you spit out your ideas.

Raw, unguarded and completely honest.

You don’t have time to hide, beautify, spruce it up.

You just need to grow a pair, dive right into it and validate it.

Test it with potential customers.

As Paul Graham said, get outside the building.

Your customers are not around you, often times, you need to get out there and hunt.

But it is the hunt, that notion of “finding” your customers, that really builds the idea.

You get to see what customers really want, what they think and how to approach the problem.

It is a fascinatingly powerful life experience that I highly encourage everyone to try at least once in their life.

4. Network.

They say you net worth is how much you are worth in dollars.

Bullshit.

I say your network is your net worth.

Show me a person’s network and I will tell you how good they really are.

A players like to meet and know other A players.

It’s no secret.

If you are a great coder, builder, maker, doer or founder, chances are, you have a tremendously talented pool of A players surrounding you too.

Guess what?

Startup Weekend allows you to do just that.

To quickly meet and build your network with the best.

Sure, not all of them would be A players, but it’s a fast, fuss-free, simple and effective mechanism to help build up your network.

And that is why I still love running hackathons till today.

I get a chance to invite, impress and network with world-class entrepreneurs like Justin Kan, Marc Nager, Andre Haddad, Renaud Visage and so much more!

They are all part of the SW community and adds to the fun!

5. Value.

SW gives so much value.

I learnt how to manage large teams of volunteers across multiple time zones.

I learnt how to handle Ministers, top tier VCs, world-class founders and even 9-year-old participants!

I learnt how to adapt hackathons to design and operate innovation vehicles for large corporations and government bodies.

I learnt how to market a hackathon on a global scale.

I learnt how to manage participants, the curious ones, the nice ones, the appreciative ones and even the angry ones.

I learnt how to reach out to sponsors cold and pitch them.

I learnt how to design operations and processes for my teams to handle.

I learnt how to scale a global operation and still be lean, effective and agile.

I learnt how to be ultra-creative in my approach for the thesis and concept behind each Startup Weekend.

Those are the reasons why I do what I do.

Hackathons are proven mechanisms.

To kickstart entrepreneurial communities, to hack our ideas quickly, to allow top talents to find one another and to spur innovation forward.

The world is better off with hackathons.

Excited to join Startup Weekend Global?

Well, what are you waiting for?

If you want to participate and stand a chance to win up to $100k of prizes, join us now!

If you want to watch the finals on 4 March at 10pm (SGT), get your tickets here.

-

Startup Weekend is a volunteer-led initiative under Techstars. Since its inception in 2009, hackathons have been held in over 1,800 cities and ignited the fire of over 500,000+ startup enthusiasts across the globe. Notable alumni including Zapier, EasyTaxi, Rover and Carousell even went on to raise more than 7 billion dollars.

-

Will you ever join a hackathon?

-

#startups #business #startupx #growth #success #socialmedia #culture #entrepreneurship #strategy #eth #btc #crypto #polygon #partnerships #startupweekend #NFT #swglobal #unicorns #mentors #founders #judges #hacking #thewhy