The document discusses the history of hackathons, from early events focused on open source software development to modern hackathons that are competitive, sponsored by brands, or focused on non-technical fields. It notes that while early hackathons were small communal events, their popularity has grown significantly in recent years. The document also categorizes different types of modern hackathons such as startup hackathons and competitive community hackathons, and discusses the motivations for both hackers and sponsors of hackathon events.

1. HISTORY | GREP ‘HACKATHON’
BY JON GOTTFRIED
FOR OPEN TECH NYC 2013

2. HI. I’M JON GOTTFRIED
Developer Evangelist at twilio
Conductor of the StartupBus
Co-Founder of the Hacker Union
@JonMarkGo

4. HACKATHONS ARE A BIG DEAL

5. HACKATHONS PER MONTH ON HACKERLEAGUE

6. PARTY LIKE IT’S 1999

7. OPENBSD
• June 4-6, 1999
• Focus on IPSEC
• Calgary, Alberta
• 10 developers
• communal

8. SUN MICROSYSTEMS
• June 15-19, 1999
• Palm V
• John Gage challenge
• competitive

9. HACKATHONS != STARTUPS

10. 2005 - SUPER HAPPY DEV HOUSE

11. FACEBOOK

12. 2005 - BARCAMP

13. 2006 - YAHOO!

14. 2007 - STARTUP WEEKEND

15. 2009 - MUSIC HACK DAY

16. 2010 - HACKNY

17. 2010 - TECHCRUNCH DISRUPT

18. 2011 - ANGELHACK

19. HACKATHONS PER MONTH ON HACKERLEAGUE

20. HACKATHON MOTHER SAUCES
• Startup Hackathon
• Open Source Hackathon
• Competitive Community Hackathon
• Brand Hackathon
• Non-technical Hackathon

21. STARTUP HACKATHON
• Not purely technical
• More practical concepts
• Mix between slides and demo
• Pre-pre-incubator

22. OPEN SOURCE HACKATHON
• Pure community event
• No financial incentive
• No pitches, just demos
• Focus on a particular technology

23. COMPETITIVE COMMUNITY HACKATHON
• Prizes galore
• Pitch is important
• Practicality is secondary

24. BRAND HACKATHON
• Prize is the incentive
• Brands want developer mindshare
• Brands want demo apps
• Not community focused

25. NON-TECHNICAL HACKATHONS
• “Ideathon”
• Business plan iteration
• Concept pitching
• Slide decks galore!

26. DOLLA DOLLA BILL Y’ALL
• Developer Mindshare
• Proof of Concepts
• Press
• Lead Generation
• Community Support
• Recruiting
• Free Labor

27. WHY DO WE HACK?
• Love
• Press
• Money
• Education
• Community

28. WHAT IS NEXT?

29. HACKING IS ART

30. THANK YOU!
Jon Gottfried
Developer Evangelist at twilio
@JonMarkGo
jon@twilio.com