5 Pro-Tips to Win The Solana Hackathon
Summary
TLDRThis podcast episode offers invaluable advice for aspiring participants in the Solana hackathon, GrizzlyThon, where over $5 million in prizes is up for grabs. The hosts share insights from analyzing 200+ past winners, interviews with judges, and a deep dive into what catches the attention of the crypto community. They cover crucial aspects such as identifying real problems, leveraging Solana's unique features, marketing strategies, UI/UX design, and crafting a compelling presentation. Additionally, they introduce resources like build.superteam.fun for project ideas and announce build stations for both remote and in-person support during the hackathon.
Takeaways
- 🎙️ The podcast discusses strategies for winning a Solana hackathon, despite the hosts not having won any themselves, by sharing insights from research and interviews with judges and winners.
- 🏆 The Grizzly Ton hackathon is highlighted as a prestigious event with substantial prizes, global exposure, and respect within the crypto community, emphasizing its significance for participants.
- 🔍 The hosts analyzed over 200 hackathon winners and spoke with 12 judges to identify patterns and tips for success, underlining the importance of thorough research in preparation.
- 🤔 The importance of identifying a real problem to solve is stressed, with advice from Nick Garfield that a strong problem statement can compensate for imperfect code during the hackathon.
- 💡 The script emphasizes that projects should focus on practical, current problems rather than theoretical or buzzword-driven ideas, which may not resonate with judges.
- 🌟 Uniqueness to Solana is key; projects that can only be built on Solana or that leverage its specific features like speed and composability are more likely to succeed.
- 📢 Marketing is crucial, and starting early to build a public presence, engage with communities, and network can significantly increase a project's visibility and credibility.
- 🛠️ A functional UI, even if not perfect, is essential for a pitch as it provides something tangible for judges to interact with and evaluate.
- 📹 The presentation of a project is almost as important as the project itself, with a strong emphasis on making a concise, clear demo video and a compelling pitch deck.
- 👥 The team behind the project matters, and demonstrating a fit with the project and the ability to continue developing it beyond the hackathon can lead to greater success.
- 💼 The hackathon is akin to a startup competition, so having a basic business model and presenting a project as a viable business can increase the chances of winning major prizes and VC interest.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the podcast episode described in the transcript?
-The main topic of the podcast episode is about how to win a Solana hackathon.
Why did the hosts decide to create content on winning a Solana hackathon despite not having won any themselves?
-The hosts decided to create the content because they have been building the town layer for Solana, talked to many talented people and judges, and conducted research on over 200 hackathon winners.
What is the Grizzly Thon and why is it significant in the context of the podcast?
-Grizzly Thon is a Solana hackathon with over 50 prizes worth 5 million US Dollars, offering global exposure and respect within the crypto community, making it a flagship event to win.
What is the submission date for the hackathon mentioned in the podcast?
-The submission date for the hackathon is the 15th of March.
What is the first and most obvious part of winning a hackathon according to the podcast?
-The first and most obvious part of winning a hackathon is to build something cool that solves a real problem.
What is the importance of a good problem statement in a hackathon project?
-A good problem statement is crucial because if the problem is significant and the team seems capable, even if the demo or code is not perfect, people will see the potential for it to work in the medium term.
What are some examples of real problems that can be addressed in a hackathon project?
-Examples of real problems include user onboarding, retail UX, governance of DAOs, and issues specifically related to Network States.
What is the significance of building something that is Solana specific?
-Building something Solana specific can give a project an edge because it leverages the unique features of Solana, such as speed and composability, which other blockchains cannot offer.
Why is marketing important for a hackathon project and what is the advice given in the podcast?
-Marketing is important to build buzz and get on the radar of judges early. The advice given is to be active in Solana communities, use social media, and network with other participants and judges.
What is the advice regarding the presentation of a hackathon project?
-The advice is to spend more than 20% of the time on the presentation, create a demo video, use a pitch deck, and ensure the GitHub submission shows the team's capability to continue developing the product.
What resources are available for those looking for ideas to build during a hackathon?
-Resources like build.superteam.fun provide a list of ideas organized into different categories, and a past winners list to inspire and inform hackathon participants.
What is a build station and how can it benefit hackathon participants?
-A build station is a physical location where participants can meet, interact with peers, get mentorship, and work on their hackathon projects, enhancing motivation and collaboration.
Outlines
🎙️ Podcast Introduction and Theme
The script opens with a casual introduction to a podcast where the hosts, Cash and Akshay, humorously acknowledge their lack of hackathon-winning experience. They discuss the 'Dynamic Tour' they are embarking on, which is a series of discussions on winning a Solana hackathon. The hosts have been researching successful hackathon strategies by examining over 200 winners, talking to judges, and observing numerous submissions. They aim to share insights and tips to help others succeed in hackathons, starting with the Grizzly Ton, a significant event with substantial prizes and global exposure.
🏆 The Importance of Winning Hackathons and Focusing on Real Problems
The hosts emphasize the value of participating in and winning hackathons, particularly the Grizzly Ton, which offers significant prizes and prestige. They discuss the importance of addressing real problems rather than chasing buzzwords or creating solutions in search of problems. The script includes advice from Nick Garfield, co-founder of Clockwork, who stresses the importance of a solid problem statement, even if the initial demo or code is imperfect. The hosts also differentiate between 'real problems' like user onboarding and governance, and 'buzzwords' that lack substance, urging participants to focus on creating meaningful solutions.
💡 Building Uniquely Solana-Specific Projects
The paragraph delves into the importance of creating projects that are unique to Solana and leverage its specific features, such as speed and composability. The hosts share insights from various judges and founders, highlighting the value of building projects that can only thrive on Solana. They discuss examples of Solana-specific projects like Word Cell and Tensor Trade that have benefited from the platform's speed. The paragraph also touches on the importance of considering the current state of the crypto user base and focusing on solving immediate, practical problems rather than theoretical future ones.
📢 The Power of Early Marketing and Community Engagement
This section of the script stresses the importance of early marketing and community engagement for hackathon projects. The hosts advise participants to start promoting their projects as soon as possible, even before the project is complete. They share tips from successful participants and judges, encouraging the creation of social media presence, active participation in relevant Discord channels, and networking within the Solana community. The paragraph highlights how early visibility and engagement can lead to recognition and credibility among judges and the community.
🛠️ Crafting a Compelling Presentation and UI
The hosts discuss the critical role of presentation in hackathon submissions. They emphasize the need for a functional user interface (UI) that may not have to be perfect but should be presentable and operational. The paragraph includes advice from judges who prioritize projects with a working UI over those with just an API or a pitch deck. The hosts also stress the importance of spending time on the presentation, suggesting that participants should allocate at least 20% of their effort to crafting a compelling pitch and demo video, which are crucial for catching the judges' attention.
🌐 Utilizing Resources for Hackathon Success
The final paragraph provides resources and support for hackathon participants. The hosts introduce build.superteam.fun, a website with numerous project ideas categorized by problem areas, offering inspiration for hackathon projects. They also mention a resource that compiles past hackathon winners, providing a valuable research tool for understanding successful projects. Additionally, the hosts highlight the availability of build stations, both physical and remote, where participants can collaborate, receive mentorship, and enhance their chances of success in the hackathon.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Solana
💡Hackathon
💡Problem Statement
💡Crypto
💡Decentralization
💡Composability
💡UI (User Interface)
💡Marketing
💡GitHub
💡Presentation
💡Build Stations
Highlights
Introduction of the Dynamic tour podcast with Cash Danda discussing winning a Solana hackathon without prior hackathon wins.
Emphasis on the importance of the problem statement in hackathon submissions, as illustrated by Nick Garfield's advice on the significance of a good problem statement even if the demo or code is not perfect.
Analysis of over 200 hackathon winners and insights from 12 judges to identify themes and patterns for success in hackathons.
The Grizzly Thon hackathon as an example of a prestigious event with significant prizes and global exposure in the crypto space.
The importance of building something cool and five additional factors necessary for a successful hackathon submission.
Solving real problems versus chasing buzzwords, with examples of actual problems like user onboarding and governance.
Advice from Aditya Shetty on whether the solution is significantly better because of adding crypto, and the importance of not just rehashing existing ideas.
Focusing on the demand side of crypto and bringing in more users or liquidity as a key to winning hackathons.
The counter-intuitive approach of focusing on existing crypto natives rather than trying to bring in the next billion users.
The value of building something that is Solana-specific and leveraging the unique features of the Solana blockchain.
Tips on marketing and building in public, starting social media engagement and networking as early as possible.
The necessity of having a functional UI for hackathon submissions, even if it's not beautiful, to make a digestible pitch for judges.
Spending more than 20% of time on presentation to ensure a clear and concise message in the pitch deck and demo video.
The importance of a demo video that is concise, well-scripted, and showcases the actual product in action.
Being smart on GitHub by showing a business model and the team's capability to continue developing the product post-hackathon.
Introduction of build.superteam.fun as a resource for hackathon ideas and inspiration, organized by problem categories.
Availability of build stations, both physical and remote, to provide support, mentorship, and community for hackathon participants.
Transcripts
all right hello and welcome to a podcast
that I have no idea what we're talking
about and a tanma is not on this show
and we decided to record this about two
hours ago on a deck that cash has been
working on for two weeks with that
ladies and Gentlemen please welcome cash
danda thanks for having me actually this
is the uh Dynamic tour that no one ever
asked for they want you and tanmay me
and Tammy occasionally but no one ever
asked for cash in Akshay so we'll see
how this one
[Music]
so today what are we talking about we're
talking about how to win a Solana
hackathon uh if you're watching this
video you might be asking yourself like
why should you even listen to us right
like we have not won any hackathons and
that's very fair to say however super
team is building the town layer for
Solana and as a part of that we talk to
a lot of talented people and we just did
our research so over the last like week
or two uh me and trijini have been
looking at more than 200 winners of
previous hackathons we talked to 12 of
the judges uh and we saw way more than
100 Terrible submissions maybe like a
thousand terrible submissions and across
that we have some like themes and
patterns and tips that we want to share
that'll make your life a little bit
easier great before you proceed in 30
seconds what is the grizzly ton now you
might ask why would you even give a
about Solana hackathons at all Grizzly
Thon is a great example of why you
should care there are 50 plus prizes
worth 5 million US Dollars uh you get
Global exposure from everywhere in the
world and you're gonna get a lot of
respect the Solana hackathons in crypto
I think are broadly considered one of
the the flagship events are one of the
most impressive kind of things to win at
grizzlython is the one that's happening
right now there's I think five tracks
like or this 10 tracks five prizes per
track uh and a lot of good projects
gonna be competing great so Solara named
a global hackathon after an animal that
only exists in North America so that is
what Quizlet on is and we're gonna show
you a slice of uh I guess advice and pro
tips from various participants winners
and judges on how to best prepare
yourself for this uh the submission date
for the hackathon is coming up on the
15th of March so for those who have
signed up this is a great video for
those who have not signed up this is a
good time to sign up and then watch this
video to maybe ship something of value
before the 15th of March if you are
interested you might be a little bit
intrigued listening to this uh that you
want to win some of these prizes you
want some disrespect here's what you can
actually do to make it happen you got to
build something cool that's like the
first and like obvious part in addition
to building something cool you got to do
five other things and that's what we're
going to go through and talk about let's
start off with tip number one which is
all about the problem that you're trying
to solve and here we can look at some
great advice from Nick Garfield who's
co-founder of clockwork which won the
grand prize at hackathon recently when
we talked to him he said that if you
have a good problem statement the actual
demo the actual code that you're writing
does not have to be as good right
Clockwork itself he very humbly says
they won the hackathon but it was super
Buzzy buggy and barely worked and yet uh
people could see that this was an
important problem it was a good team
that had a good shot and a good kind of
design architecture for it so even if it
didn't work in the present they knew it
would work in the medium term what what
counts as like a real problem and what
does not the things on the left are like
actual problems right so like solving
for user onboarding or retail ux or how
Dows are governed there's a new track at
grizzlython for Network States in
particular those are real problems if
you are trying to solve like the
metaverse or some weird artificial
intelligence what's crypto stuff those
are mostly just buzzwords and the judges
are going to see you right through that
this is where I expected Thunderman to
say a bunch of funny little buzzwords
he's no longer here to say other
buzzwords you know
a few other like points on how to think
about problems Grim lore uh AKA Aditya
Shetty leader writer over at super team
had this advice should you do you want
to read out the quote and then I explain
it every time but that'd be like nice so
true okay uh we should keep all of this
this is great you know just yeah this is
hacking through this how much prep we
did how are we doing this for one and a
half years okay is the solutions so is
the solution significantly better
because of adding crypto or would it be
better off without it this is like a
classic hackathon problem if someone is
like oh we should do x with crypto or
the web 3 version of X without even
thinking does crypto actually improve it
at all no one wants the thousandth
version of you know like
um arranged marriages with crypto that's
like not interesting to anybody it's not
a thing that you should actually be
doing try to solve real problems right
or the first version of arranged
marriage with crypto what does that mean
well you said nobody wants a thousandth
version of a range oh yeah no one wants
even the first version yeah that's right
yeah you know all this is really
important because often it'll be like
hey I'm building like the web 3 version
of like a I don't know like a power
plant or something and you're like why
are you doing that well because it's uh
decentralized yeah but like why why does
it need to be decentralized well because
it's good and so then everything ends in
sort of like an ideological bias in
favor of decentralization most of
decentralization on crypto within crypto
artists on crypto Twitter is also LARP
and so you're you just end up with teams
building projects for
um for a long time except they can
continue building these projects because
there's like a subsidy available in the
form of Grant programs from various
foundations of blockchains that want
them to build there then there are demo
days then there are hackathons and so
you can continue winning prize you can
just do this for two years with no users
but just build you know demoing Concepts
to MVPs to stuff on test net and devnet
and by the time you ultimately launch
you can I guess it's a bull market and
then you launch your token
that's like the grifter's path to
success if you're watching this don't do
that like do something that's actually
valuable in the world that makes sense
because of crypto here's another great
quote from from check all right most
judges evaluate projects really From
perspective of is it net positive to the
ecosystem will it bring more users or
liquidity this means that like the core
problem that all of crypto has like
let's just call this made a spade is
that there are not enough like users and
liquidity here
here so the things that are going to be
really valuable the things that the
judges are going to want to reward are
all around bringing those kind of
in-demand things right here's another
quote from Armani focus on the demand
side of crypto there's a tiny amount of
crypto users right now okay this sounds
like an obvious thing surely this was
said in the context of something that
had Nuance yeah the Nuance is this
people are building things assuming that
there are already tens of millions of
crypto users which is the wrong thing to
do right you want to build things that
are going to be important right in the
here and now things that are not uh just
like theoretically nice to have in 10
years once everyone gets here right so
the focus here on all this advice is
solve practical problems that are there
right now and here's one more quote from
mango Max that I think is like useful to
think about yeah does it solve an issue
that existing blockchain users have all
six of them all six of them yeah those
are really good projects to actually
start to win things right because you're
solving existing problems so either
bring in more users by solving a real
problem with for them using crypto or
solve problems that existing blockchain
users have a lot of people just ship
over this entirely and are looking for
the biggest philosophical ideas out
there so like here's Okay so
oh sorry good
oh Jesus Christ
so yeah so one point here is sort of
like the intuitive thing to do seems to
be for people to bring in the next
billion users that's sort of like the
meme right or the next are the first
billion users in crypto's case
um and so bring it to Everyday users
that's sort of the mission statement of
most of the crypto companies you know
counter-intuitively most of the crypto
companies that have succeeded and the
projects that have succeeded have done
so by focusing on existing crypto
natives they've turned inward right
because they just attracted a pool of
capital that already existed after say
the ethereum Ico and brought that over
into D5 right and those were like the D5
whales that bootstrapped the liquidity
uh in the ethereum ecosystem similarly
like Ledger uh Fanta Ledger the hardware
wallet or Phantom the you know software
wallet are all unicorns in their own
right by selling products to
um you know crypto native consumers
there may be much more uh you know
Runway to build stuff for crypto native
folks than most people think 100 I think
that people get so obsessed
the flashiest biggest idea rather than
focusing on the actual problem that
needs to be solved seahorse is a great
example of this right this was a project
that one surprises uh in 2022 at summer
camp seahorse is like a developer tool
right it allows you to write anchor
compatible programs just using python
this is great because it brings more
developers to the ecosystem right
because now it's suddenly easier to
build on uh Solana and it solves a real
problem that hey like rust and anchor
they're difficult to learn like it's uh
you need to actually make it easier in
order for more developers to come to
create more valuable things that bring
in more valuable users so you're solving
for people who are already interested in
blockchain Tech but maybe aren't able to
access it in the same way that they
might ideally need to this is a great
type of problem to solve maybe not be
the sexiest problem but it is a great
problem to solve because it's an actual
problem we're going to go on to tip
number two here which is to think about
the idea and when you're having ideas in
response to problems the more Solana
specific they can be the better and
again this is seems obvious but it is
not most of the time a lot of the ideas
that we see are just hey here's the
thing that worked on ethereum let's just
build it on on that as well because it
doesn't exist here this is like classic
advice for basically all the judges said
something
here's one from our guy co-founder at
helias uh you get instant points if
you're if you've built something that
only can be built on Solana
um especially stuff that other chains
couldn't handle okay that's a great uh
point we should talk about this so the
question to ask yourself is as you're
like building what is Solana specific
and what are the types of things that
are Salon is specific right uh here's
another quote from Mary uh gunarate the
co-founder of bridge slit uh who has a
very similar point I'd rather see a
uniquely successful mechanism or
interface versus a smoother version of
an existing Solana read project what is
unique to Solana and here's one more
from our guy Tristan over at backpack as
well a new creative idea that has a
route to pmf over hashing rehashing the
same over and over all of these
quotes have the same exact point right
these are all judges telling you to your
face build something that is a lot of
specific well what is Solana specific
here are a few things that are like
specific to Sana the first one is that
it is very fast you might have heard
about that before right so building
products that are or building protocols
that benefit from speed is really useful
word cell is a great example here right
like on social uh word sales like was a
publishing platform a decentralized
publishing platform and when they won
the web 3 track at a one of the previous
hackathons it was because their product
took advantage of the speed right you
could post things you could follow
people you could like things Etc all
very quickly at a speed that felt
roughly natural compared to web 2 things
tensor trade is another Award winner
right which is just the fastest most
performant nft Marketplace in the world
if you use it it feels like lightning as
you go about it and it's something that
can only it's an experience you can only
have on Solana and Order books
well order books I think is on the
composability side right like what are
the things that are a part of Solana
that aren't a part of other chains well
one is obviously like order books they
don't really exist anywhere else uh in
the same way that they do here there was
syrup now we have open books we will
have Ellipsis Labs as well
um so benefiting from shared liquidity
across the entire ecosystem is a really
powerful thing to do if you're a D5
founder but there are other examples as
well right like dialect is taking
advantage of the inherent composability
of Solana because everything's on a
single shared State it's not fragmented
across different layer twos or whatever
else so all the different apps can
create smart messages within the dialect
messaging protocol to do all sorts of
fun things and then finally the last
thing that's like specific to Salon
that's useful to think about is what
works well in the ascending markets
right there's another clear strength of
Solana because it is fast and cheap it
feels easier to use the ux of it with
more of a mobile Focus coming think
about the types of things that would
work at some of these ascending markets
also called Emerging Markets right so
like tip link is an awesome idea it's
basically anybody can have a wallet with
just a link you don't actually need to
create a wallet so it solves this kind
of user onboarding problem that you have
in places which maybe are not as
sophisticated with crypto Stellar Soul a
super team project or super team member
project allowed people to use their usdc
that they were earning globally at
Flipkart which is the the largest
e-commerce site in India so you could
actually use it in your day-to-day life
right these are like things that solve
real problems that create real value
they can really only be done uh with
Salon yeah I mean I think uh the
uh
never mind okay
good so you know when I was in Turkey
for the Istanbul Hacker House uh we went
to the bazaar right and there are like
all these uh you know like shops where
you can buy jewelry and clothes and
shoes and it's truly about it's like
walking into a you know there's narrow
streets with uh shops on both sides and
it's it's like what going back in time
except as you walk through next to like
a shoe store is a massive
um
Bitcoin OTC desk right and there's like
a big screen where you have real-time
prices which is basically the binance
price feed on those uh on on that screen
and you can walk in with like a million
dollars in crypto and exchange that for
US dollars in cash uh and walk out right
now that's a really unsafe way to hold
dollars right in markets outside of the
US like often the way people hold
dollars is physical dollars
but the good news is today you can
download a browser extension and hold
dollars in that browser extension
subject to local laws and jurisdiction
Etc right but you know where it's it is
legal and regularized in theory you
could do that so that's sort of like
just access to Capital assets and
dollars is is already a massive use case
you know smooth onboarding and
off-boarding which I don't think is a
solved even today so the basic Point
here is if your idea is more specific to
Solana it's going to have a much better
chance of working the judges by and
large are VCS who invest in a lot of
projects and founders of Solana projects
so they know what is specific to slana
and what it's not we'll talk more about
ideas to build later on but keep this in
mind if you want a chance at winning tip
number three you gotta think about
marketing and the tip here is to start
telling people ASAP this is super
counterintuitive and very few people
actually do it you know who does it the
goddamn winners here's a tip from Mitch
the co-founder at switchboard and other
uh big prize winner at a previous
hackathon okay being generally active in
Solana communities and Discord will help
bring early attention to you and your
project key idea here is you got to
build in public you have to be telling
people before the thing is done which
can feel really uncomfortable for most
Builders and a lot of developers in
particular it can feel like oh why am I
talking about it I haven't actually
built it I don't know if it's going to
work I don't really have confidence that
it's cool what if people make fun of the
idea et cetera et cetera you just got to
get over that so literally right now as
you're watching this go create a Twitter
page come up with any name for your
project it does not matter just come up
with the name create a Twitter page and
start posting updates and responding to
others right you just want to get your
name out into the world familiarize with
other people go into other discords it's
another like great tip from some of the
judges go into the discourse of relevant
protocols and communities right you're
building something in D5 go to the major
D5 discords so I'll learn Zeta et cetera
ask questions ask for feedback try to
meet people right it's another way to
start to build some Buzz about your
project and finally make sure that
you're actually networking again this
can feel uncomfortable to a lot of
people that's why I'm trying to like
really hit this point that it is the
difference between winning and not
winning oftentimes right here's an
example from Port Finance they included
this in their actual submission they
again won uh some major prizes at Solana
season and you can see the social media
engagement they have people paying
attention and that automatically brings
some credibility to the judges but in
addition and just as importantly as our
guy Chase Barker said the benefit is
that it could be seen early by one of
the judges and it get flagged to others
to make sure they review it closely the
judges are they're social people they're
normal people They talk with their
friends they talk with other judges
about what are the projects that they're
excited about or think that are cool so
just getting on their radar early
starting to build up some mind share is
an easy way to make sure that when the
judging starts and they see your
submission they're like oh I I've heard
of this before or I recognize this or
this was the thing that you know Ben was
telling me about Etc and they'll give it
a little bit of extra thought a little
bit of extra treatment so marketing is
important in addition to the building in
this yeah I think uh uh you know it's uh
it's sort of a careful balance between
the sizzle and the stake you know all
Sizzle and no stake makes Jack a web 3
clown and all stake and no Sizzle mix
Jack a crypto nerd and you don't want to
be either of those things and if
especially if you're looking to build
something and raise money and find users
so let's go to tip number four which is
the look and this is another one that is
I think oftentimes overlooked it might
sound kind of obvious but having looked
at a lot of submissions it is not the
case the tip here is make a functional
UI it does not have to be beautiful it
does not have to be incredible but you
should make something here's a quote
from Armani our guy from backpack again
it doesn't have to be perfect or
complete but a working UI is much more
digestible pitchable for judges than
just an API or often just a dick
or just a deck exactly having something
that they can look at feel maybe play
around with makes a gigantic difference
all the judges were talking about this
right if you don't have much of a design
sense that's fine if you just have like
a little bit just use a landing page
template go buy some template off of
envato or wherever else colors.co for a
logo mid Journey can design your
graphics or logo it's really simple
right and if you have no design sense
whatsoever the good news is then you can
either sponsor a bounty on super team if
you have some funds or use the free find
a team feature on the grizzlython
website uh which will be right here JD
will show it to you right here you just
say hey here are my skills here's what
I'm looking to do whatever else and then
you can request intros to other people
and they can come talk to you as well so
it's a great way to like find other
teams but if you don't have a functional
UI your life is going to be much harder
here's another example from switchboard
this was their UI all due respect to uh
to mention the Gang not the most
beautiful thing right and that's
completely fine it just has something
there that you can see because going
back to our guys check having something
people can see is very important and we
just had a lot to show versus telling
Edward tell when they won right so make
sure that you do something I would say a
solid 50 of projects that we saw did not
do this and so it just made it nearly
impossible for them to win last tip here
is around the story the advice I would
give is spend more than 20 of your time
on your presentation there's another
thing that most people do not like to do
right it feels at least talking to a lot
of people who've submitted in the past
and looking a lot of submissions it is
clear that people leave the submission
for the last day that's the first time
that they think about it and they put it
all together inside of like two or three
hours right at the end that is a
terrible idea do not do that here's
another thing from our guy based sharker
if you don't get best presentation
judging pit stage no one will ever even
see or code wow that's really sad it is
it is a sad thing but it's an important
thing to understand about how these
hackathons work here's the alpha right
people do not look at your code first
the judges look at all the presentations
they shortlist the best presentations
and then on the back of that they then
go look at your code and see does it
actually deliver what you're saying it
delivers right so if you only have a
good presentation you're not going to
win because they are going to look at
your code in depth right it's not it's
not only about how good is your
PowerPoint deck but if you don't have
that good piece you're never going to
get to the more important piece second
they use that as a filtering mechanism
because they have to right there are
hundreds and hundreds of submissions
they can't look at all of the code in
depth to start so here's the advice as
you're packaging your submission make a
demo video very clearly it should be two
to four minutes absolutely nothing
longer than five minutes we saw like 10
15 20 minute demo videos that's
outrageous don't do that less than five
minutes write a script do not freestyle
it in the way that me and actually are
freestyling this video right now make
sure that you have actually like put it
down use chat GPT for help this is a new
thing right you can just tell it about
your project ask it to write a script
you'll have something pretty good that
you can work on and edit that sounds
like a terrible idea
it's actually is that how you're doing
this pitch
here's the bigger point right is if you
watch these videos and again we have
watched the videos they are worse than
you could expect because people are
clearly just making it up as they go
along
um you know kind of whole minutes of
silence or they'd have to go backtrack
and stuff it's just don't do that right
basic hygiene is going to be taking you
a long way here well isn't it ideal if
they just made like a Sizzle video like
that's not even like uh hey here's how
this thing works under the hood and
here's all the things it can do versus
just like a 60 second hype video of all
the features like a product launch
actually no so you want to see people
going through and actually seeing the
real product if you can do both though
then you're in a really good spot so let
me actually show you this example uh
check this out this is Zeta markets uh
which is a very popular D5 this is their
submission video right
that looks like Z news from India do you
see what they did there right it's you
just go on Fiverr you get a little I
assume they went on five or something
get a nice little Motion Graphics
animation intro made but the rest of the
time should be spent going through your
projects because the people want to hear
it in your voice see if you believe it
see if it is uh believable right because
again a lot of grifters and web3 do you
sound confident do you understand what
you're talking about in the video also
going to be important so production
value helps but I would say do not go
all the way overboard on production
value you still have to show what you're
doing uh is a real thing the second big
tip here uh for use a pitch deck to make
your life easier we have a pitch deck
for you surprise bonus Alpha you can
just customize our template as a base
and then start to add in your own
content and then the link will be in the
description down below as well it'll
take you like 20 minutes or 30 minutes
to do the first draft of it and then you
can start to edit it over time but just
use it it's a bit easier that way what's
so funny do you like the little here
yeah if you really trying to be a
YouTuber do you see that it's going to
be somewhere are here you'll just love
doing saying that because it makes you
feel like you have superpowers
I like to make JD work as well you know
so that that's the other like nice part
JD Lily put it on the far end of the
screen like put it away from wherever
he's saying yeah put it like up here
that's funny because it's going to make
JD look down inside of me anyway keep
this part
and then lastly be smart on your GitHub
obviously uh here's another tip from uh
okay Maddie head of growth at Salon
Foundation okay one thing we look at why
are you and your team well suited to
continue developing the product
fundamentally unlike some other
hackathons the Solana Global hackathons
are closer to Startup competitions right
so it's not just about the thing that
you've made it's also How likely are you
to continue this into the future it's a
business competition of sorts as you are
packaging your submission really
important to keep this in mind right the
more kind of founder problem fit that
you have or that you're able to convey
in your pitch perhaps in your demo video
or in your pitch deck the more likely
you are to go further in the competition
uh here's another quote from uh from our
guy chunker uh since a global hackathon
is essentially a startup competition
having a business model will massively
increase your chances for VC investment
you don't have to go all the way right
like you don't need to have like Tam Sam
sat like slides you don't need all of
that you don't need like five year
Revenue projections the point is the
more you can think of it like a business
and present it like a functional
business the more likely you are to win
some of the major prizes and get that VC
funding here's an example of a really
good deck from a few years ago you can
see the design is not like anything
special but the The Narrative of it is
very clear this is from stolen which is
the largest viral land product on our
protocol on Solana with soland you can
one two three four these are the
benefits what Solan unlocks all of these
additional benefits right these are like
the functional use cases that you can do
here's what it unlocks one slide two
side super easy for anyone to understand
and I'm showing this because they won
the D5 track entirely this is not like a
deck that they paid somebody thousands
of dollars to make right this is just
like a basic template adding some text
but it helps make things clear we
already looked at the Zeta markets like
example video this is a great demo video
you can go and find this as well in a
resource I'll tell you about in a second
four minutes long they're just going
through it uh pretty basic and here by
the way you can see another UI that is
not great but a good enough to help them
win the award uh the grand prize yeah by
the way we're a good link to build.super
team hold on
we got some slides for that coming up
it's like literally the next thing yeah
this is the thing and then actually do
you want to intro the next thing you
want to say that but more as a question
what you want me to set you up for your
next slide I thought you were going to
make an organic just do your hard
job bro
coast of the year I don't get paid
enough for this yeah
all right anyway so you're looking at
this you're like wow these tips are so
great gosh thank you so much actually
you guys are geniuses you've made my
life so much better but I still don't
know what to build you might be saying
you're new to crypto whatever else don't
worry we got you covered right there's a
website called super team build that
contains just tons of ideas I think it's
like 85 ideas of things to build during
one of these hackathons right now it's
just
build.superteam.fun it's entirely free
it's organized into a bunch of these
different categories you can see here
are the problems to solve here's a
possible solution right a lot of the
problems are where you're going to want
to focus your time on as opposed to the
exact solution you could build it of
course but you can use it as inspiration
to come up with your own creative
solution as well if that's not enough
you're greedy you want even more uh
don't worry we got you covered with a
past winners list as I said we did a
bunch of research for this video looked
at more than 200 Prize winners we put
all that together in a super easy to
digest resource for everyone watching
this is entirely free just go to
build.super team.fun you'll find it on
the website or you can go directly to
this URL it's all the different
categories broken down with all of the
winners across all of the hackathons of
the last I think three years are in here
you can click on them you can find links
to their presentations to their githubs
to their active websites if they're
still there you can see what tracks they
won you wouldn't start a real business
without doing some competitive research
you should probably not start a
hackathon project without doing the same
so take 15 20 minutes look through here
to see what others have done in the past
yeah this is an awesome resource
especially because you know this goes
back what three years of hackathons and
so the there's it's an invaluable
Treasure Trove of like past
presentations demo videos things like
this you can look at every winner of the
previous hackathon and see what they did
well and what they didn't and you know
big props to srijini and you for sort of
like uh putting this together yeah put
it on his face right here JD or put it
right here here all right let's go uh so
after all this you have the ideas ready
you're feeling pretty hopeful you think
you're ready to get started here's some
even better news for you we got you
covered in many countries around the
world not all of them we have build
stations live actually do you want to
explain what the build stations are yeah
build stations are physical locations
where you can find uh and meet other
people who are also participating in the
hackathon so you can be motivated uh and
have some peer-to-peer interactions get
meet mentors who may resolve doubts and
things like this that you may have while
you're building so you can
um you can successfully submit your
project before uh the submission date
which is March 14th
get there in on more March 14th very
nice very nicely there's that is me
doing cash danda
that's your cash impression here's my
action impression allegedly allegedly
allegedly what a stupid idea bro all
right
all right super team's even doing a
remote uh build station so if you don't
live in any of these countries and
you're not close to them hit up our
Discord that link will be somewhere down
below uh and you can come hang out get
remote sessions from mentors get advice
get feedback we will personally help you
on all of your different work here um so
the only question left is like what are
you waiting for go get started there's
five million dollars in prizes available
right now at chrisleython there's gonna
be more at Future hackathons get
involved can't believe you wasted one
slide on a rhetorical question
is that it are we ready to end the video
we are ready to end the video at long
last all right uh links to
participate in the hackathon are in or
in description links to uh find the
inspiration for your hackathon idea are
also in the description go check out the
past hackathon winners uh and uh I hope
we never have to do a video with cash
only with that ladies
come back best of luck and have a
wonderful week
thank you
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