The term “Hackathon” suffers from remarkably poor marketing. Unless you want to work in tech, or are studying computer science, you would not know that a hackathon is really an ideation competition. When you read hackathon, you might immediately think: “hack into what?” But these competitions are nothing like Hollywood's “hacking into the mainframe” on black and green monitors. Instead, hackathons often have a prompt that asks its participants to identify a problem and provide a digital solution using software or hardware.

Earlier this month, NYU Abu Dhabi’s student-run venture initiative Violet Ventures organized an overnight hackathon in San Francisco, California, an event I assisted in organizing. We held the event at the Y Combinator office — a renowned startup incubator based in the same location — alongside Metorial, a startup founded by NYUAD’25 alum Karim Rahme.

I went with inaccurate assumptions about how technical a hackathon would be, and it left me feeling out of place. But after 25 hours spent running the event, I wish I had participated instead.

We kicked off the Hackathon at 7:30 pm on Nov. 1, and the turnout was very impressive. There were middle-schoolers building AI automation tools to compete with engineers constructing intelligent robots. Some of our event sponsors were university juniors, while some of their advisors were well into their 40s. It seemed there was really nothing stopping anyone with a great idea from entering the hackathon. The barrier for entry was simply to have a good idea, as well as the ability to execute it – no one cared about how old you were, or where you were from.

However, as I walked around, I could not help but notice the technical ability of our participants. Everybody had their hands full: whether they were working on a computer, writing code, coordinating with sponsors, or even building robots. I could not help but question if technical ability was a must to win this hackathon. My answer was revealed towards the end of the event, where I watched a part of the live judging process for the finalists. This was interesting because we got to see firsthand what makes a startup idea attract investors. Spoiler alert: it was not technical ability.

Some candidates built highly complex and nuanced interfaces for their programs, which ultimately left the judges feeling confused. Moreover, in the discussions following the participants' presentation, it became clear that the judges prioritised the clarity and viability of an idea. Additionally, they also considered the relevance of the problem they attempted to solve, and the effectiveness of the solution they had built in the past 25 hours.

This was further emphasized by some conversations I had with the founder of Metorial, the company running the event. Out of curiosity, I asked them what it took to get into the Y Combinator program. Specifically, I wanted to know whether industry experience is truly one of the most important factors contributing to success. They informed me that if the problems you plan to solve are ones you encountered yourself, then you will have a guaranteed market. So in short, while technical ability does matter at the end of the day, idea quality and clarity matter much more.

In the end, we had three winners, along with several track winners (company-specific sub-categories). Yet I would venture to say that even those who did not win benefitted greatly from the event (and that's not just because we organized it!). One of the most valuable features of a hackathon is the networking that takes place at these events. For us, the dining hall was where all the connections were made. Founders came together with sponsors, events were planned, and friends were made. These connections are often what lead to people securing investment for their ideas. After all what they say is true; your network is your net-worth.

Overall, the notion that hackathons are exclusively for tech-enthusiasts is a misconception. Granted, while there is a bare minimum requirement of tech knowledge required, I would still urge everyone who has a startup idea to consider joining one. Hackathons are passion incubators that bring people from different backgrounds, and demographics together to connect.

As Violet Ventures, we have already worked to bring Cursor’s first hackathon in the UAE to campus, and we will continue to do more in the spring.