STORY TIME
The last 48 hours I spent at a hackathon called Code Her Future, and honestly it turned out to be one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had.
It started on Friday. To be honest, I almost abandoned it like I usually do. I’m not really someone who participates in hackathons that often. But when I saw the concept — 48 hours staying together with your team and building something — it sounded interesting. So instead of attending my full day of classes, I decided to go.
The funny thing is I wasn’t even prepared. I didn’t pack clothes for the night. I just went with my hoodie and my laptop.
When I arrived, I made a decision to step out of my comfort zone. I tried to connect with people, talk with everyone, and honestly I left my introvert personality behind for those two days. I vibed with people and enjoyed the activities.
At the hackathon I was randomly assigned to teammates I had never met before. At the beginning it was difficult to collaborate because we didn’t know each other. But after about an hour of talking, it felt like we had known each other for months. We joked about everything, teased each other, and even though we stayed up the whole night, somehow we still looked like we had eight hours of sleep.
On day two we had to finalize our MVP and do a mock presentation. Honestly, I was freaking out because we hadn’t even finished the frontend yet. But within six hours we somehow managed to finish everything and complete the mock pitch.
The feedback we received completely changed our direction. So from Saturday night to Sunday morning we rebuilt parts of the project from scratch. During that time we were thinking like both developers and market insiders at the same time.
In the end we delivered our final pitch. We didn’t win, but the lessons from those 48 hours were worth much more.
Here are the biggest things I learned:
1. Feasibility matters before building your MVP.
2. You must clearly understand your target customers and their real problems.
3. In hackathons, a clean UI matters more than complex functionality.
4. Your pitch deck and customer explanation matter a lot.
5. Solving a problem isn’t enough — the business side is extremely important.
6. Start your pitch with a strong hook and be ready for every question.
7. Confidence, clarity, and a strong business model matter — but even then you may not win because judging is subjective.
But building these skills is the real reward.
If I learned one final thing, it’s this: treat your pitch like a short elevator conversation with an investor.