AI Hackathon

Two to five days to find out what your team can actually build.

A time-boxed, cross-functional building event scoped against real challenges from your business. Coaching in the room throughout, working prototypes at the end, and a written readout naming which are worth productionising, and which to stop.

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Overview

High energy on purpose. Real outputs, not just morale.

AI Hackathon is the most high-energy shape in the Learn family. The right fit when a team needs to shake itself into actually using the tools, when leadership wants to see what is cheaply buildable, or when a wider group of people across the organisation needs an honest look at the state of AI capability in-house.

The energy is deliberate. So is the discipline around it: the challenges are real, the prototypes are honest attempts at them, and the written readout that follows is candid about which ones the engineering team should pick up and which to stop. The team comes out using the tools, and the organisation comes out knowing what is worth building.

What you get

Three deliverables, only one of which is the prototype.

The prototype is the visible output. The other two are what translate the energy of the room into something the organisation can act on next quarter.

Working prototypes

One per team, three to five total, each addressing a real business challenge agreed in advance. Rough by definition, but real enough to demo, to critique, and to decide whether to take further.

A written triage readout

A document within five business days naming each prototype as worth productionising, worth a second look, or worth stopping, with the reasoning. The readout is what makes the hackathon translate into a roadmap decision.

A team that has shipped

Everyone in the room walks out having built something with AI tooling against a real problem, in a small team, under a time-box. That experience is hard to manufacture any other way and is half the point of the event.

When this fits

Four signs Hackathon is the right shape.

The team needs to start shipping

A Hackathon is right when the talking-about-AI phase has gone on long enough and the organisation needs people who have actually built something. Forcing a time-box and a working demo at the end produces that experience in a way no amount of training or planning will.

You have real business challenges to put up

The challenges need to map to actual business problems, not invented exercises. If your team has three to five questions where “could AI help here?” is genuinely open and the answer would change the roadmap, the hackathon has real material. If the challenges are contrived, the readout will say so.

Leadership will act on the readout

The hackathon is most valuable when an executive sponsor sees the demos in person and is willing to translate the readout into actual roadmap decisions in the weeks that follow. Without that, the prototypes get praised, photographed, and forgotten. We will check for that on the intake call.

You can run it in person

The format depends on people walking between teams, asking each other questions, and feeding off the energy in the room. Remote hackathons produce worse prototypes and weaker readouts. If you cannot get the participants in one place for the time-box, a Workshop or Training is usually a better fit.

Why us

Three things specific to how we run a Hackathon.

Coaches who build for a living

The people coaching teams in the room also run our Create engagements. When a team gets stuck on a real technical problem, they get a real answer, not a generic one from a facilitator who has not shipped AI work themselves.

Challenges framed against your business

We do not bring a library of generic challenges. Every brief is shaped against real problems agreed with your sponsor in advance. The prototypes that come out are aimed at decisions you actually need to make.

An honest readout, including stops

The written readout names prototypes to stop, not just ones to celebrate. The point of running the event cheaply is to find out what is worth building, and what is not. We will tell you both, in writing.

How it runs

Four steps from challenge framing to written readout.

The two-to-five days in the room get the attention. The framing and the readout that bookend them are what make the event translate into action.

Challenge framing

A free first call with the executive sponsor and a small framing group. We agree on three to five concrete challenges that map to real business problems, not invented exercises, and confirm the time-box, location, and team composition.

Team formation

Two to three weeks before the event, we form teams of three to five people, mixed deliberately by function and seniority. Everyone receives the challenge briefs in advance so they can come ready, but not so far in advance that they over-prepare.

Two to five days, in the room

Teams build. Our coaches are in the room throughout, answering questions, unblocking, pairing on tricky bits, without taking the keyboard. Energy is intentional; we run regular checkpoints so no team disappears into a corner with the wrong idea for a day.

Readout and triage

Final demos to a panel that includes your sponsor. Within five business days you receive a written readout naming which prototypes are worth productionising, which are worth a second look, and which to stop, with the reasoning for each call.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions about AI Hackathon.

Are the prototypes actually going to be useful, or is this theatre?

Both, deliberately. The energy of a hackathon is part of why it works as a capability event. The prototypes that come out are usually rough, but the written readout that follows is honest about which ones the engineering team should pick up and which to leave. We have been on both sides of that call; we will not pretend a doomed prototype is ready to ship.

Can it run remotely?

We strongly recommend in person. Hackathons run on energy and on people walking between teams asking each other questions; that does not translate well over video. If remote is the only option we will run it, but we will tell you on the intake call that the output will be materially weaker than the in-person equivalent.

Who should be on a team?

Three to five people, mixed across function and seniority. A useful default mix: one or two engineers, someone from the business domain the challenge is in, and a junior or new joiner. Teams of homogeneous senior engineers tend to over-engineer and miss the business signal. Mixed teams produce better readouts.

What if a team builds something that should not exist?

We say so in the readout. Part of the value of running a hackathon is finding out cheaply that an idea your team has been talking about for months is the wrong idea. A “stop” recommendation in the readout, with reasoning, is a useful outcome, not a failed one.

Do we need a panel of senior judges for the readout?

We need at least one person with executive authority over the budget that would productionise winning prototypes. That person being in the demo room and seeing the work directly is half the reason the hackathon translates into action. If they cannot be there, we will say so before booking and may suggest a Workshop instead.

Ready to find out what your team can actually build in a week?

Tell us the business problems you would put up as challenges and who would be in the room. We will tell you whether a Hackathon fits, how it would run, and what it would cost.

Book an intake call

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