Thursday, December 6, 2012
At AngelHack Santa Monica, Teams Battle Sleep Deprivation, Nerves
AngelHack, the self-proclaimed leader in hackathon competitions, completed its Fall 2012 season this past weekend with contests held simultaneously in five cities: Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Toronto and Paris.
In Santa Monica, Hackathon first-timers and veterans all gathered at CrossCampus to hack almost 30 products within 24 hours.
On Sunday, fighting frayed nerves and sleep deprivation, the courageous developers, designers and business folk prepped for their demos. The room buzzed with anticipation and enthusiasm as the teams struggled through the requisite technical difficulties to present their ideas.
The panel of judges, comprised of LA startup VIPs like Jeff Lapin, based their decisions on the hack's completeness and creativity while taking into account the quality and fullness of the team. Presentations ranged from from a Dropbox-based podcast solution to a marketplace where you can sell your stuff to fund nonprofits.
The three finalists qualify for AngelHack's Global Demo Day to be held on January 24th, 2013 in Silicon Valley. The three finalists from the LA AngelHack were BossCaster, Birdsai, and Unclutter.io. Winning teams from the eleven worldwide competitions will receive six weeks of mentorship before being flown to Silicon Valley to showcase their work to investors and media, visit top tech companies, and go to VIP dinners and parties with the creme-de-la creme of Silicon Valley.
(Angelhack LA photo via Kin Lane @ Flickr).