AngelHack is a worldwide hackathon event for web developers and entrepreneurs. A member of our team, Robert Love, was among those judging the competition held recently in Sydney.
Technopedia defines a hackathon as “a gathering of programmers to collaboratively code in an extreme manner over a short period of time”. In the case of AngelHack, teams of developers compete over 24 hours to create their ideas.
Robert shared his reflections on what it’s like to be a judge, how hard it really is to pick a winner, and why three minutes is an infinity when it comes to presenting a digital idea – even when it is created over a nonstop, 24-hour period.
Can you take us through the judging process?
“There were five judges that broke off into two groups to judge a total of 12 demos each. The teams had three minutes to demo their hacks to the judges in the privacy of the closed room and to answer any questions from the judges. After all the teams had presented, the judges shortlisted three teams (each) and they were given the opportunity to pitch their hacks to the entire AngelHack audience. The final pitches happened on-stage and followed a more business oriented approach – as though they were pitching an angel investor for funding.”
What were you looking out for in the presentations?
“I was looking for a working app. I was looking for something to be coded over the 24 hours that had some utility. I was looking for the wheel to not be reinvented – if there’s a gem for it, use it. Use all the frameworks, libraries, plugins, components and APIs at your disposal to hack something that’s fun, interesting and useful.”
Three minutes isn’t a long time to present an idea, so competitors and judges would have been under a lot of pressure on the day. What are the elements you think make up a ‘perfect’ presentation?
“For the record, I was a judge, so I felt no pressure whatsoever. Also, I think three minutes is an eternity. If you can’t get someone excited about your idea in less than three minutes, you don’t understand what it entails (problem/solution/customers/revenue/etc.).
“Regarding the ‘perfect’ presentation, I think be aware of the context. This was a ‘hackathon’- not a startup weekend. A startup weekend is business-oriented. At the end of a startup weekend, if you’ve validated the problem, solution and customer hypotheses on your Lean Canvas – you’ve done well. A hackathon is code-oriented – you need to ‘<code>’ something! The best presentations pitched the idea in conjunction with demonstrating the solution – showing how what they had built solved a problem and provided value and utility.
“We believed the Hate You Cards (HYC) team - Andy Longworth, David Boulton and Jethro Batts - embodied the spirit of AngelHack as they had come together for a weekend and made something entirely from nothing. Their hack had humour, the potential to go viral, and they looked the part. And this is exactly how we want Australia to be represented overseas.”
For having the winning pitch, the HYC team are now off to San Francisco to take part in the AngelHack Accelerator program as well as attend TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013.
The post Q&A: Why three minutes is plenty for a digital pitch – A judge’s perspective on AngelHack Sydney appeared first on Digital Pulse - Disruption, Innovation and Industry Change.
