On Deck Week 2: My first Hackathon
I just finished my second week of the On Deck fellowship and participated in my first Hackathon: On Deck’s Global Build Weekend. If you’re from the tech world, you’re probably quite familiar with hackathons but if you’re like me, it was like drinking from a firehose.
What is a Hackathon?
A hackathon is most commonly an event where developers come together to design a business or solve a problem in a set period of time. They compete against teams and the clock to build the best design. In my head, I always thought it was a group of talented programmers trying to break into government databases or solve crimes (thank you Mr. Robot) — boy, I was wrong.
Why is Global Build Weekend Different?
Global Build Weekend is a 4-day, fully-virtual event open to all On Deck fellows & alums. Unlike a traditional “hackathon,” they have a more broad sense of the word “build.” Whether you’re technical or non-technical, you are allowed to participate. The purpose of this is to allow fellows to collaborate and build a business in a short period of time. The weekend is also a testament to the importance of diversity of thought and background.
What my experience was like?
I worked on a team with 5 talented individuals based in 4 different time zones with an array of backgrounds — 2 no code developers, a writer, a health care founder, and a finance guru. Since I had never “hacked” before, I leaned on the team to strategize a plan. We decided on a product, key features, go to market strategy, and delegated tasks based on our abilities. Before build weekend, I assumed apps took months to build and could not wrap my head around where to begin. After the weekend, I realized the power of collaboration, coffee and no code (Zapier, Glide, and Airtable).
What did we build?
We went into the weekend with an idea to build a prediction market and finished the weekend building OnDeckBets, an app where you could make non-monetary wagers on future events related to On Deck Fellows & the community. In other words, a stock market to bet on who would win Build Weekend. We awarded all OD fellows who signed up $100 (well, fake $$) to buy stocks for Teams 1 -75 participating in the hackathon. The price of the stock went up as more people bought specific teams and went down as people sold. We also awarded dividends to the holders whose teams (stocks) actually won. Hundreds of individuals across On Deck participated in the marketplace and actively traded throughout the weekend.
What was the result?
To our surprise, we ended up winning 2 prizes — Best Community Build and Most Entertaining. However, my biggest takeaway was learning what it took to build something out of nothing. As a “learn by doing” person and first time founder, this event allowed me to experience what it takes to go from 0 to 1, which actually isn’t that hard if you just get started with an amazing group of individuals.
Special Thanks to my team: Matt Levine, Andrew Tsao, Madhuri Maram, Maggie Norris and Evan Armstrong.
