1. The document provides tips for surviving a hackathon and beyond. It recommends focusing on minimum viable products with core features, using existing frameworks and libraries instead of reinventing the wheel, thinking in components, using version control, commenting code, getting feedback from potential users, continuously learning, being part of a community, and having fun. 2. The tips are organized into sections for before, during, and after a hackathon, as well as general practices to always follow, such as continuous learning and being part of a community. 3. The document emphasizes trimming ideas down to minimum viable products in order to deliver functional products quickly, and suggests spending time researching existing solutions before writing new code to avoid duplicating

1. Surviving a Hackathon and Beyond
Edmund Kwok, Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Think in
components
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Focus on MVP / core
features
Get out of the
building
Always learn /
experiment
Comment your
code
Use a VCS
Be part of the
community
Have Fun!
Before
During
After
Always

2. About me..
• Started off as Freelance Drupal Site Builder / Developer /
Themer in 2004
• Clients in US, UK, UAE, Singapore, India, Malaysia
• Studied Psychology for 2 years, dropped out after interning
at a Startup
• Full time as iMoney CTO, Employee #2 in January 2013
• Email: edmund@imoney.my
• Twitter: @edkwh

3. • #1 Financial comparison site in the region - Malaysia,
Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong
Kong
• Compare financial products and apply online, for
FREE!
About

8. • #1 Financial comparison site in the region - Malaysia,
Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong
• Compare financial products and apply online, for FREE!
• Product, Marketing, Operations / Call Ops, Admin and
Tech Team
• Tech Team - 4 developers (including me), 2 UI / UX, 1
iOS / Android
About

9. Think in
components
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Focus on MVP / core
features
Get out of the
building
Always learn /
experiment
Comment your
code
Use a VCS
Be part of the
community
Have Fun!
Before
During
After
Always
What should you do before,
during and after a hackathon?

10. Don’t reinvent the wheel
Focus on MVP / core
features
Before

11. 1. Core Features and MVP
• What problem are you trying to solve?

12. Ask ‘Why’ until
you get to the
core of your
idea

13. 1. Core Features and MVP
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• Focus on core features, must haves VS nice to haves

15. Pareto’s Principle
Small Problem
20%
Main Problem
80%MVP
20%
Product
80%

16. 1. Core Features and MVP
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• Focus on core features, must haves VS nice to haves
• Skip extra functions - user registrations, email
validation, animations, parallax, cron, machine
learning, world domination etc
• Trim, trim, trim, lean lean lean

18. 1. Core Features and MVP
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• Focus on core features, must haves VS nice to haves
• Skip extra functions - user registrations, email
validation, animations, parallax, cron, machine learning,
world domination etc
• Trim, trim, trim, lean lean lean
• Build UI later but still focus on UX - deliver a functional
product

19. Beautiful, but not too
practical?

22. Which was more functional?

23. 1. Minimum Viable Product
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• Focus on core features, must haves VS nice to haves
• Skip extra functions - user registrations, email validation, cron,
machine learning, world domination etc
• Trim, trim, trim, lean lean lean
• Build UI later but still focus on UX - deliver a functional product
• MVP = Minimum viable product, not minimum vegetable / value
product

26. 1. Spend some time to see what’s
out there before writing code
2. Don’t reinvent the wheel

27. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s a FRAMEWORK for that
Yo dawg!
We so need a real time framework that we
can build real time shizzles with.
Meteor.js
https://www.meteor.com/

28. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s a PLATFORM for that
Yo dawg!
What about our own Analytics tool to track
visitor behaviour?
Piwik
http://piwik.org/

29. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s a LIBRARY for that
Yo dawg!
Maybe a kick ass tool that creates
interactive data visualisations?
d3.js
http://d3js.org/

30. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s a SERVICE for that
Yo dawg!
Gah, we need to setup a backend
infrastructure to support our mobile app!
Parse
https://www.parse.com/

31. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s even a THEME for that!!
Fundify - The WordPress Crowdfunding Theme
http://themeforest.net/item/fundify-the-wordpress-crowdfunding-theme/4257622
Yo dawg!
Let’s build a crowd sourcing site for
Malaysia!

32. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s a MODULE for that
Yo dawg!
I just though of this cool XYZ idea!!

33. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s a PLUGIN for that
Yo dawg!
I just though of this cool XYZ idea!!

34. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There’s a COMPONENT for that
Yo dawg!
I just though of this cool XYZ idea!!

35. 2. Don’t reinvent the wheel
There is an APP for that
Yo dawg!
I’m sure this is not out there!! An app that
tells you when a watermelon is ripe to eat!!!
Melon Meter
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/melon-meter/
id450015952?mt=8

37. 1. Spend some time to see what’s
out there before writing code
3. More time to focus on your
solution and deliver a functional
app
2. Use and integrate what you
need (not everything you want)
2. Don’t reinvent the wheel

38. • PHP https://packagist.org/
• JS http://microjs.com/ | http://www.jsdb.io/
• Ruby https://rubygems.org/
• iOS http://cocoapods.org/
• Node.JS https://www.npmjs.org/
• Themes http://themeforest.net/
2. Don’t reinvent the wheel

39. Think in
components
Comment your
code
Use a VCSDuring

40. 3. Think in components
• Separate out components - modules / objects /
entities / sections / pages / screens
• Common & shared vocabulary when discussion with
team, reduce confusion of being vague or ambiguous
• Easier to track logic flow
Easier to reuse
Easier to extend
Easier to read code
Easier to collaborate

42. Insights CRM
Insights
DB
Publishers
Mobile
App
Call
Operators
Mortgage
Consultants
Webapp
Analytics
…
Mortgage
Admin
Management
Leads DB
Leads
Collector

43. 4. Use Version Control
Systems
• Maybe ‘no time’ to use a VCS, but small investment
that goes a long way
• What if you need to revert back to a code that was
working perfectly 45 minutes ago?
• Undo undo undo undo undo undo undo undo, copy,
redo redo redo redo redo redo redo redo paste
or
Undo undo undo undo undo undo undo undo, copy,
accidentally hit ‘z’ = GAME OVER, redo history gone

44. 4. Use Version Control
Systems
• Very useful for solo developers:
MyAwesomeCode-old.php
MyAwesomeCode-new.php
MyAwesomeCode-newer.php
MyAwesomeCode-newest.php
MyAwesomeCode-even-newest.php (?!!)
• Vital when working in teams - merge code safely with
different developers working concurrently
• Quicker & cleaner deployment - only changes are
brought in with git pull or git-ftp

45. • GitHub Flow - branches are cheap and easy
• Every new stuff is branched off master
• Everything merged to master
• git co -b NeedToShower
git add ..
git commit -m “Awesome code that solved water crisis”
git co master
git merge NeedToShower
4. Use Version Control
Systems

48. 5. Comment your code
• Helps you remember what you were doing, clarify your
intentions
• Makes it easier for team members to pick up where
you left off
• But avoid unnecessary comments. As much as
possible, let the code speak for itself

53. When you’re a zombie, your code will eat your
brains!!!
(But your code comments will stop the rot and save you! :D)

55. See more comments!
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-
the-best-comment-in-source-code-you-have-ever-
encountered
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/143429/whats-
the-least-useful-comment-youve-ever-seen

57. Get out of the
building
Always learn /
experiment
Be part of the
community
After

58. 6. Get out of the building
• Get feedback from people who would use your
product - especially those who would pay for it
• Start with your mum, dad, brother, sister, cousins.

60. 6. Get out of the building
• Get feedback from people who would use your
product - especially those who would pay for it
• Start with your mum, dad, brother, sister, cousins.
• Then move to neighbours, colleagues, trusted friends
who will be honest, critical, opinionated, but above all,
supportive

62. 6. Get out of the building
• Get feedback from people who would use your
product - especially those who would pay for it
• Start with your mum, dad, brother, sister, cousins,
• Then move to neighbours, colleagues, trusted friends
who will be honest, critical, opinionated, but above all,
supportive

65. 6. Get out of the building
• Get feedback from people who would use your
product - especially those who would pay for it
• Start with your mum, dad, brother, sister, cousins.
• Then move to neighbours, colleagues, trusted friends
who will be honest, critical, opinionated, but above all,
supportive
• Are you Running a Business or an Expensive Hobby?

67. 7. Always be learning / experimenting
High rate of learning = exponential gains
https://medium.com/@KyleTibbitts/56dddc17fa42

68. • Get off the Island - explore other languages,
technologies, expand your mind, challenge yourself,
go beyond your comfort zone
• Examples:
Meteor.JS - Real Time framework
Puppet / Chef - Provisioning servers
Vagrant / Docker - VM for consistent development
Leaflets - Open source mapping library
Google Prediction API - Machine learning API
7. Always be learning / experimenting

70. Technologies we use

71. 8. Be part of a community

72. 8. Be part of a community
• Get questions answered & know better ways of solving
a problem - Stack Overflow, Quora, etc
• The more you share, the more you gain
• Earn community-cred - build portfolio of open source
code, get noticed, gain customers!

74. 8. Be part of a community
• Get questions answered & know better ways of solving
a problem - Stack Overflow, Quora, etc
• The more you share, the more you gain
• Earn community-cred - build portfolio of open source
code, get noticed, gain customers!
• Part of a bigger global community / movement
• Come for the code, stay for the community

75. > 3,000 at DrupalCon Portland 2013

76. Have Fun!Always

77. 9. Have Fun!
• It’s not always about winning and losing
• Make sure you learn, meet new people, make
connections
• Start conversations, joke, laugh, keep the spirits high
• Not the end, but the beginning of greater things

79. Think in
components
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Focus on MVP / core
features
Get out of the
building
Always learn /
experiment
Comment your
code
Use a VCS
Be part of the
community
Have Fun!
Before
During
After
Always
1. 2 weeks to build an idea. If good,
expand idea, if not, move on
2.Use modules, plugins, frameworks
3.Shared vocabulary with Tech,
Product, Marketing, Management
4.Git - Bitbucket with 20+ repos
5.Always Be Code Commenting
6.a. CEO gets feedback from mum.
Friends comment on Facebook
6.b. Call existing customers to ask
them about service, experience,
what they like / don't like
7.Learn and use new languages,
framework, platforms
8.Join community events,
contribute open source code
9.Have team events - Laser Tag,
Durian buffet, laughter
We run mini Hackathons at
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8
9

80. Btw, we’re hiring :D
Senior Web Developer
(Drupal preferred)
• Engineer solutions for pain
points, build cool stuff
• Continuous learning and growth -
AngularJS, Symfony2, Node.JS,
Python?
• Work on Development, UX, CRM,
Architecture, Infrastructure,
Scaling, Mobile Integration,
Machine Learning, Big Data
• Make the world a better place

83. http://im.my/hiremelah

84. 1/6 of our team

86. –Steve Jobs
“A lot of times, people
don’t know what they
want until you show it
to them.”

87. Good stuff!
• Sh*t Entrepreneurs Say
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alZqXA4R2dI
• Epic 80's Entrepreneur Training Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcYwtEToZfQ
• Entrepreneurs can change the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MhAwQ64c0

88. Email: edmund@imoney.my
Thank you! Questions? All the best! :)
http://im.my/hiremelah