[Michie]

@exelius, i think what @joshstrange wants to say is that a hackathon is a place where people want to build things whether it make sense or no sense at all.

Adding the business stuff is not appealing to hackers. It definitely is good to earn money out of it, but the fun goes away.

@joshstrange, a lot of developers felt the same way as you do. Startup Weekend should have emphasized that it is not a hackathon, but a business learning event. Or if you are dev, and you want to build your own startup, it's a good event to exercise a startup like environment. I have nothing against Startup Weekend. I believe it is helping a lot of people to become entrepreneurs but some of the organizers who are not well-trained might have misinformed the participants the real intention of the event resulting to this confusion.

@exelius, you've mentioned this part: "Now have some business nerd spend an hour making a few slides and you're done. You have articulated the problem, the size of the market and the product you're creating. You don't actually have to make the product beyond the prototype stage, you just have to pitch it like you could."

--->>> That does not define a hackathon. That is a business pitching competition... Remember in a hackathon, you were able to build things, build something. There is a product after the event which you are proud to show & tell whether the audience like it or not... Based on your statement, what you're implying is that a hackathon can be just a pitch deck with an awesome pitch from the presenter, which is totally not what a hackathon is about.

[joshstrange]

> @exelius, i think what @joshstrange wants to say is that a hackathon is a place where people want to build things whether it make sense or no sense at all.

Agreed, I get that SW is not that but I wish there was something around me that was like that.

> @joshstrange, a lot of developers felt the same way as you do. Startup Weekend should have emphasized that it is not a hackathon, but a business learning event. Or if you are dev, and you want to build your own startup, it's a good event to exercise a startup like environment. I have nothing against Startup Weekend. I believe it is helping a lot of people to become entrepreneurs but some of the organizers who are not well-trained might have misinformed the participants the real intention of the event resulting to this confusion.

Again, I agree 100%. I think that they may do a decent job of telling people that but I missed it. It's a cool thing don't get me wrong, just not what I'm looking for.

[exelius]

No; I agree a hackathon isn't just a business pitch. You should also have to build a prototype that does most of what you claim it to. But most hackathons also make you justify that product's existence.

If you want to build something cool, you don't need a hackathon for that. Just build it. But if you enter a competition where people are judging your creation, then you have to be able to pitch it based on the judgment criteria.

[Michie]

A hackathon is a place where you can build your own thing, a place where you learn new things from others. For info, a hackathon doesn't necessarily mean a competition. It's an event where people come together and build things. People just added the competition factor.

@exelius, you see things only in the perspective of an entrepreneur or business dev. But what you are reading right now are the frustrations of the developers -- the pain points that most developers/engineers feel on how they are being violated with what's happening in these kind of events.

So in a hackathon, for you what should be the judging criteria? 90% can be a viable product based on a presention & 10% execution? Is that what you are saying? If yes, then it should be an idea-thon (not a hackathon), where people present their ideas and whoever has the best idea (which you, as a judge, think is the most viable product based on potential market size and potential usability) wins.