Competition CLO-battlehack MHD AU Photo by Andrew Uluza/For The Herald
And they're off!
More than 125 South Florida developers, some toting sleeping bags, packed the LAB Miami for PayPal's Battle Hack, a 24-hour hackathon to come up with an app for the social good. The winning team will compete in Silicon Valley against nine other teams from around the world, including Berlin, Tel Aviv and Moscow. The goal: to find the world's best developers. The global prize for one winning team: $100,000.
Unlike other hackathons I have been to, this one didn't kick off with people pitching ideas to the crowd, seeking team members. Instead each participants or team made a short video telling about their idea. Each participant also registered his or her coding skills. Everyone had access to the idea videos and skills information so matchmaking could begin. Taylor Nguyen, senior manager of Global Operations & Communications for PayPal, said the videos idea came out of feedback from previous hackathons as some people are timid about pitching ideas as soon as they get there.
There were ideas floated for making it easier to make small donations, help pet shelters, drive more business to small businesses, ease access to libraries, bring garage sales into the digital age and promote nonprofit projects. Some teams formed before the hackathon and others came looking for partners. A few teams pitched pretty much the same idea and began combining. "Being a developer truly is a social sport," said Jonathan LeBlanc, PayPal's developer head of "developer evangelism" for North America. After 24 hours of hacking -- and chair massages to help the weary -- each team will give a two-minute presentation and take one minute of questioning. Then the judges will decide who represents Miami at the 10-city hackathon's World Finals.
"It's a 24-hour opportunity to see some amazing innovation," said LeBlanc, who lived in South Florida five years ago and will be returning to the area later this year. Of the startup scene he said: "I've been noticing the amazing growth. Miami is at the cusp."
Follow the action on Twitter with #BattleHack and stay tuned to Starting Gate to read about the winners tomorrow.