How a customer hackathon works: Inside a high-impact AI event

You’ve likely already realized that a customer hackathon is one of the most effective ways to move the needle on product adoption. You know the high stakes: in the AI world, "shelfware" is the silent killer of renewals. If customers aren't embedding your tools into their daily workflows, your platform is at risk of being seen as a luxury rather than a necessity.

This post will show you how to bring that vision to life—turning "just testing it out" into "can't live without it" through a structured event that proves your AI’s value in real-time.

The blueprint for a successful AI customer hackathon

While every hackathon is different, most run between 1-2 days or up to a week. Thoughtful planning before the hackathon kicks off helps the (relatively short) build phase run smoothly. 

The secrets to maximizing these short windows are:

• Bringing your product experts in to help participants build using your AI tools.
• Using a hackathon platform to help you save time on logistics, create a streamlined process for participants, and ensure the entire event runs smoothly.

Read the case study: Discover how SAP uses customer hackathons to uncover and implement new use cases for its platforms.

When your technical teams are available to guide participants on using your tools, the output shifts from "rough ideas" to "implementation-ready projects." 

In fact, during one of our customers’ first hackathons, the median project was 65% ready for implementation after just 24 hours of building.

A step-by-step organizer’s timeline

Every hackathon is unique, but these four general phases will help you structure your planning to ensure a high-impact event.

Phase 1: Pre-event planning

To ensure a seamless experience on the day of the event, most of the strategic work happens early. Devpost for Teams (DFT) streamlines this preparation:

• Set the strategy: Define your hackathon topic and write a compelling description that resonates with your customers' needs.
• Custom registration: Capture insights on product understanding and current usage before the build even begins by adding specific registration questions.
• Logistics: Select your judges, set up optional prizes, and open early registration to build momentum.
• Built-in teambuilding: When participants create their projects in DFT, they can choose to allow others to join their team and can indicate which skills they need. This lets customers find partners and start brainstorming well before the clock starts.

Phase 2: The Kick-off

Start with a welcome announcement to set the tone and ensure teams have the resources they need. In DFT, you can link all technical documentation, API keys, and tutorials directly on the hackathon page so participants have everything they need in one place.

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Phase 3: The build phase

As building begins, your technical team stays on hand to offer support. This guidance ensures customers use your AI tools correctly and to their full capacity.

To keep participants focused on building rather than formatting, you can set up customized project templates. These templates ensure submissions are consistent and focused on the key project details, making it significantly easier for your judges to evaluate.

Deep Dive: Read our guide on how to scale AI adoption with customer hackathons and Devpost for Teams

Phase 4: Judging and reporting

Once the timer stops, judges score the projects directly within the platform. DFT also supports voting if you’d like to allow a wider audience to have a say in the hackathon results. After announcing the winners, you can trigger an automated post-hackathon survey to collect feedback that your sales teams need to plan their next expansion play.

Inspiration: Prompts for your AI customer hackathon

Choosing a hackathon topic is a delicate balance: you want it to be open-ended enough to spark creativity, but specific enough to provide helpful guardrails. Here are two effective ways to frame your prompts:

• “Solve your biggest pain point with [Your Product]”: This approach highlights common use cases for your AI tools while giving participants the flexibility to apply them to their own unique business challenges. By focusing on real-world utility, you surface high-value applications and demonstrate exactly where your tools can solve deep-seated frustrations.
• “Experiment with [Your Product]”: This prompt is designed for pure discovery. It encourages broader teams—including those who might not use the platform daily—to get hands-on with your tools. It’s an excellent way to lower the barrier to entry, allowing more users to experiment freely and uncover "hidden" use cases you might not have considered.

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Hackathon tips to drive adoption

• Solve for utility over cool: Encourage projects that solve daily frustrations. A tool that saves two hours a week is more valuable for renewal than a flashy demo that is never used again.
• Lean on your engineers and product teams: Your technical staff are your best salespeople during a hackathon. Their support demonstrates a level of partnership that builds long-term loyalty.
• Data is your prize: Some of the most valuable hackathon outcomes are the survey data and the project gallery. These reveal exactly which features your customers value most, giving your sales team a roadmap for the next renewal conversation.

Ready to bring your customer hackathon to life?

By providing a dedicated space to build, learn, and win, you’re turning your product from an experiment into a core business process.

Want to see how Devpost for Teams can power your next event? Book a demo today and let’s get your customers building.