Participating In Hackathons Is the Best Way To Become Pitch Perfect For VCs

The proliferation of organized “hackathons” has been a big story over the past few years. Quite a few developers that I’m friends with see them as a way to keep themselves sharp on their own products and ideas, especially when a different company is the one putting the event on. I recently attended, and judged, a Foursquare hackathon in San Francisco, and saw about 20 presentations from some pros and beginners alike. Usually the participants hack away on an idea, or series of ideas, over a 24-hour period. During the hacking, teams are built, careers can be made, and new features and companies can be found if people are paying close enough attention. At the Foursquare hackathon, where the participants hacked away on Foursquare’s API, as well as some other sponsors’, I found the things you’d expect at a hackathon – stickers, beer, pizza and geeks. After attending quite a few of these hackathons in San Francisco, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Mexico and Israel, I’ve found that this is a great testing ground to get ready for pitching VCs for the product you want to spend all of your time working on. Most of the projects aren’t ready for prime time, but facing judges and an audience with a five-minute presentation is a great way to sharpen your pitch skills. Some of these things might seem obvious, but they can serve as a reminder for you. Have something finished There are only so many hours in a day – and in a hackathon. Sometimes, you don’t get your project finished, and you go ahead and present anyway. That’s pretty cool, but it’s a good idea to focus on having something finished. Even if you have to divert from your original idea, showing something that works is putting your best foot forward. If there are recruiters at the hackathon, they want to see nimble teams that can move and shake in any situation. Simply “running out of time” isn’t an excuse, it’s a hackathon after all, so hack your way through the stumbling blocks. Even if you don’t win, you’ll show your peers that you can get shit done. At the Foursquare hackathon, there were a few teams that said that they didn’t realize how hard their idea was until the first few hours of hacking on it. When you say that to yourself, it’s time to start on something

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