How to scale AI adoption with customer hackathons and Devpost for Teams

80% of participants started with mid to low experience with AI agents. 24 hours later, 26 working AI agents had been built.

Half had never touched the tools before.

These results came from one of our customers’ very first customer hackathons. That’s what happens when you bring the right people together in the right environment, with the right infrastructure supporting every step.

Customer hackathons are private, invite-only events where your customers and prospects build with your AI tools or other technologies. They’re designed for outcomes—faster adoption, stronger relationships, and real-world use cases.

While many companies struggle with AI adoption and long sales cycles, customer hackathons:

• Give customers hands-on experience with your AI
• Shorten evaluation timelines
• Spark real-world use cases that lead to adoption

And Devpost for Teams (DFT) makes running them seamless.

Why customer hackathons matter for AI adoption

Customer hackathons create a hands-on, controlled environment where your customers actually use your AI tools.

They let you:

• Curate the right mix of participants (developers, product managers, business operations, execs)
• Give customers access to experiment with your product
• Make AI adoption engaging, instead of theoretical

Whether you’re trying to promote new AI tools, drive adoption of specific features, or deepen customer relationships, customer hackathons create shared wins. 

Customers walk away with practical skills and working prototypes. You walk away with stronger champions and faster sales cycles.

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How Devpost for Teams makes customer hackathons successful

Successful customer hackathons require orchestrating multiple processes—registration, guest management, project tracking, judging, and long-term engagement. Devpost for Teams (DFT) streamlines every aspect, letting you focus on creating exceptional experiences that drive business outcomes.

#1 Easy participation leads to higher engagement

What do you think is the biggest barrier to getting people involved in hackathons? Onboarding friction. If joining your hackathon feels clunky, participation drops. 

DFT makes it simple for both participants and organizers:

• Dedicated landing page: All event details, judging criteria, updates, and deadlines in one place
• Smooth registration management: Track and manage signups without manual work
• Built-in team formation: Participants can easily connect with their peers according to their skills and create teams
• Streamlined project submissions: Projects are submitted on the hackathon page and automatically appear in the Project Gallery

The result: Less admin, less confusion, and higher engagement from start to finish.

#2 Smart guest management ensures the right people are in the (virtual) room

The key to managing a private event is staying in control of your guest list. Your participants will be at the heart of your hackathon, but you need to make sure the right people are there.

With DFT, you stay in control with:

• Flexible roles for guests: Organizer, Participant, and Judge‍
• Custom Guest Access Forms: Screen participants before they can join the hackathon. Tailor Forms with custom questions and T&Cs to ensure you admit your ideal participants.‍
• Streamlined approvals: No messy spreadsheets—manage all requests in one place.‍
• External participant voting: Invite a wider audience to weigh in on the results of the hackathon, even if they don’t have DFT accounts. More eyes = more engagement—here’s why that’s crucial in private hackathons.

The result: You decide who participates, and how, without the logistical headaches.

#3 Streamlined guest management frees you up to focus on strategy

Running a hackathon shouldn’t mean drowning in admin. DFT makes managing the overall guest experience straightforward so you can focus on business outcomes and ensuring participants have a great experience:

• Guest access request notifications: Organizers will receive timely email notifications when guests request access to a DFT hackathon. To avoid too many emails, we bundle requests into a summary email sent a maximum of twice per day.
• Guest reminders: Easily send reminders to guest users who haven’t registered yet.
• Streamlined bulk actions: Use bulk actions to approve all pending invites and to resend reminders to guest users to register.
• Real-time guest counts: The total count of registered guest users is prominently shown in the hackathon metrics overview banner.

The result: You spend less time chasing down details and more time driving adoption and building relationships.

#4 Lasting impact after the hackathon

The best hackathons don’t end when the prizes are handed out—they spark ongoing momentum. 

DFT helps you drive long-term impact:

• Intuitive judging features: This makes it easy to bring executives into judging—meaning they’ll see the impact of your AI tools firsthand and leave as champions.
• Project Gallery: A permanent showcase of everything built during the event. Your customers and internal teams can revisit what was built long after the hackathon wraps up.

The result: Your hackathon drives lasting impact that keeps delivering ROI.

What success looks like

Customer hackathons consistently deliver:

• Participants who leave with working prototypes and product know-how
• Customers who discover new use cases and expand adoption
• Users who feel confident implementing your products
• Participants who learn new skills by experimenting with new tools

AI adoption happens through experience—not explanation. DFT makes those experiences possible, at scale.

Ready to transform your AI distribution strategy?

Customer hackathons turn AI curiosity into real adoption. With Devpost for Teams, you can focus on creating those high-impact experiences—without worrying about the logistics. 

The result? More customers building with your tools, more champions inside their organizations, and faster paths to revenue.

‍Book a demo to see how Devpost for Teams can power your next customer hackathon.