Learnings: Winning prizes isn’t everything. Projects that rely on third party data and APIs are harder to continue after hackathons. Hackathons are great for exercising product development and prototyping but not so much for getting a new company off the ground. Be careful about mentioning the use of open source or readily available tools to older business people. (Read full story)
Learnings: Make sure you understand your team’s motivations, and who is ready to commit if things do pick up. Some people are participating on hackathons just for the pizza, and no matter how good a project or prospect is, they want to go back to their lives, work, studies. Manage your expectations, or clarify things early on. If you find lack of commitment, act fast and early. (Read full story)
