Best practices, tips, and tricks for hackathon participants. Use when someone asks how to prepare for, compete in, or make the most of a hackathon as an attendee — covering preparation, ideation, building, presenting, and networking.
Everything you need to know to prepare for, compete in, and get the most out of a hackathon.
references/building-and-strategy.md — Technical strategy, MVP approach, tech stack choices, time managementreferences/presenting-and-networking.md — Demo tips, what judges look for, networking, and post-hackathon follow-uphackathon-organizerhackathon-cli or hackathon-api)For a 24-hour hackathon:
| Phase | Hours | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | 0-1 | Idea, MVP scope, task division |
| Build core | 1-8 | Get the main feature working end-to-end |
| Integrate | 8-14 | Connect frontend to backend, add sponsor APIs |
| Polish | 14-20 | UI cleanup, demo flow, bug fixes |
| Prepare demo | 20-22 | Write script, practice presentation, screenshots |
| Submit | 22-24 | Submit early, record demo video as backup |
Golden rule: Have a working demo by the halfway point. If your core feature doesn't work at hour 12, simplify it.