From Coding Marathons to Corporate Strategy: The Evolution of Hackathons

In 2007, a group of Facebook engineers gathered for an overnight hackathon - an intense coding marathon where ideas take shape in real time. By morning, they had prototyped one of the “most successful pieces of code ever shipped”: the Like button. This seemingly simple yet transformative feature reshaped online interaction, setting new standards for user engagement across all social media platforms.

In other words? What started as an experimental hackathon project became one of the internet’s most recognizable features. The Like button’s origin story, openly shared by Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, perfectly illustrates the power of hackathons: they foster innovation through pressure, collaboration, and goal-driven effort.

But hackathons aren’t just a Silicon Valley tradition. Their roots run deep in open-source communities and problem-solving culture. Many business leaders are unaware that hackathons are among today’s most effective innovation tools, extending far beyond tech startups into corporate strategy.

How did they begin? Where are they headed? And how can businesses use them to drive innovation? Let’s dive in.

1. Early Hackathons: Origins & Events

The first hackathon took place in Calgary in 1999, when the OpenBSD project organized an intensive coding session to improve encryption software - partly to bypass U.S. export restrictions. The event was so successful that it spread globally, transforming hackathons into a widely adopted innovation model.

By the mid-2000s, hackathons were already attracting developers, universities, and entrepreneurs from beyond the IT sector. Why?

From the start, hackathons weren’t just about idea-sharing, an important but often unstructured process. Instead, they focused on solving specific problems in a short time frame. This key feature has driven their exponential growth in both scale and impact.

Some have evolved into recurring events, producing groundbreaking results:

• iPhoneDevCamp (2007-present): one of the most iconic hackathons ever, the first edition took place just a week after the first iPhone’s release and managed to defy skepticism about the device’s limitations. In the next year, it led to the creation of the official Obama ‘08 campaign app;
• TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon (2010–present): Hosted by the tech media giant, this event saw the birth of GroupMe—a messaging app created to solve a travel-planning issue. Just 370 days later, Skype acquired it for $80 million;
• NASA International Space Apps Challenge (2012–present): The world’s largest annual hackathon, drawing over 370,000 participants from 185+ countries. The 2024 winners, a Spanish team, simplified real-time access to Landsat satellite data (source: Huffington Post).

These examples highlight how hackathons have evolved: from small, developer-driven gatherings to large-scale, industry-shaping events. However, don’t be intimidated by the big names. Hackathons can be tailored for universities, SMEs, and even individuals. Let’s explore how.

2. Hackathons’ identikit: what makes them so versatile and useful

At their core, hackathons require just three elements: a problem to solve, multiple participants (individuals or teams), and a short, uninterrupted timeframe to develop solutions.

This simple structure has made hackathons highly adaptable, allowing organizations to customize them for specific goals and challenges. Over time, new formats have emerged:

• In-person hackathons: the traditional format, often hosted by companies or universities. These events emphasize collaboration and networking, creating immersive experiences beyond just coding;

• Hybrid models: hackathons have evolved to include both in-person and remote participations. Some relevant examples include:

  • Distributed Hackathons - like Global Game Jam, where simultaneous events occur worldwide under the same rules.
  • Remote Participation - seen in ETHGlobal’s events, offering accessibility for those unable to attend in person.

Hybrid formats have expanded hackathons’ reach, connecting talent across borders and increasing the chances of discovering impactful solutions.

While not strictly hackathons, some extended development challenges - like DARPA’s Robotics Challenges for self-driving vehicles - apply similar principles. These longer marathons trade time pressure for deeper exploration of complex problems.

3. Business e Hackathon: un amore destinato a durare

Let’s start with a fact: “Over 80% of Fortune 100 companies conduct hackathons to drive innovation. More than 50% of the hackathons are recurring events, indicating that they are a reliable tool for sustained innovation” (source: HackerEarth). Today, it is a given: crowdsource solutions are precious resources for businesses that want to empower their innovation with fresh ideas.

The abstract potential of hackathons can in fact simply be put into action by companies of all sizes for four key purposes:

• Problem-solving: hackathons accelerate brainstorming, knowledge-sharing, and solution development in a structured, time-efficient way. This is how the typical process of "exchanging knowledge and creating new ideas" comes into life to empower decision-making, towards the minimization of losses and multiplication of profits;

• Boosting innovation: by bringing together diverse skill sets, hackathons drive breakthroughs also beyond IT. Bringing together people with different backgrounds guarantees a broad array of solutions through creative thinking. For example, a hackathon could involve graphic designers and marketers alongside developers to tackle a business challenge;

• Talent scouting: many companies now use hackathons to recruit top talent. By observing participants in action, employers can assess technical skills, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities firsthand. Remote hackathons offer a cost-effective approach, but in-person events allow deeper evaluation;

• Marketing & brand awareness: the expansion of hackathons as a tool of growth has also been seconded by their overall economic value. According to a report by Stats and Research, their global market was estimated as USD 1.523 billion in 2023 (with a possible revised size of USD 5.143 million) - and it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 15.1% until 2031. Moreover, hackathons (and especially themed ones) naturally attract highly skilled and engaged participants, making it easier to estimate how well the target audience aligns with the campaign.

Whether fostering internal innovation, identifying top talent, or building brand engagement, hackathons have become indispensable. Their flexible nature ensures that companies of all sizes - and not just tech giants - can tap into their potential.

4. Some lessons from the trenches: tips on organizing hackathons

DataHub.io’s analyses always aim to inform, but also to make knowledge actionable and meaningful for everyday challenges. This is why we decided to scour the web to gather as many real-life examples as possible and offer you a consistent and clear recap that could guide you in managing your first hackathon.

Here are the five golden rules that we have crafted from our research amongst several narratives of people who have first-hand organized hackathons:

• Establish your purpose and target: every other aspect of your hackathon will have to resonate with them in order to create an appealing event for participants and a useful event for you. In this phase, try to be as specific as possible to avoid wasting time and resources later on - whether explaining yourself better, readjusting plans, or dealing with many irrelevant applications;

• Define the theme: this will make your hackathon recognizable and, therefore, a potential resource for any interested individual. It needs to show a good degree of relevance, even if the event is being organized to solve a specific problem within your business. Even when highly specific, hackathons can still represent a great opportunity to foster networking and innovation within a particular niche of research or business innovation;

• Eyes on the prize: hackathons always feature some sort of reward for the best idea, project, or group. However, prizes don’t necessarily have to be extravagant or extremely costly, as exemplified by NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge. They can range from a job opportunity to the chance to present the project to a board of investors: the important thing is that it represents an attractive opportunity for your target;

• Evaluate co-hosting the hackathon: networking doesn’t have to take place only among participants. On the contrary, many institutions choose to co-host these events to both amplify their reach and foster more long-lasting partnerships. This choice will obviously require excellent coordination and communication skills but will also provide benefits such as more prestigious prizes and shared costs;

• Invest in efficient communication: it can make a difference in the reach of your event and the legacy it creates for both participants and other institutions in the sector. Well-planned marketing campaigns can be the best way to maximize this, but if your budget doesn’t allow for them, you can also rely on networking and word of mouth. In any case, the communication should be clear and highlight all the positive aspects of your initiative. Whether it’s bringing innovation to a widely recognized common problem or simply connecting individuals with the same niche interests.

Generally speaking, organizing hackathons is an exercise in fine balancing, aiming to create the most purposeful and cohesive event possible. Clarity and consistency can be the key not only to making a good impression on participants and stakeholders but also to avoiding the failure of the event as a whole.