Builder Guide

SpeedHacks — Rules & Eligibility

Sunday, October 11, 2026 · San Francisco · All times Pacific (PDT)
Draft prepared October 10, 2026

The challenge

Give people their time back. Build a working prototype that removes a meaningful bottleneck in how people work, learn, or access services. Explain who your project helps, what their current workflow looks like, and how your solution saves time.

Participation and original work

• Every team member attending must be registered and approved for the event. Joining a registered team does not grant an unregistered person entry.
• Complete your Envoy registration before arriving. Bring photo ID and have your Partiful approval and Envoy QR code ready. Entry is subject to venue capacity.
• Projects must be brand new and built during hackathon hours on October 11. Existing projects, prior project work, and extensions of projects started before the event are not eligible.
• Keep your team member list accurate in HackerSquad.
• Clearly identify mocked components and remaining limitations in your demo. Explain or support any claims about time saved; transparent estimates are acceptable.

Partner tools and prize eligibility

You may build with Alike, Darwin, Dial, Keewano, and Sparta. Find documentation, quickstarts, and access instructions in the SpeedHacks resources.

• Partner tools are optional for the overall prize. A project can earn the full overall score without using them.
• Each partner offers a separate award for the best use of its technology, assessed against that partner's criteria.
• Explain which partner tools you used and demonstrate their contribution to your project.
• Meaningful use of multiple partner tools can qualify a project for multiple partner awards.

Submission requirements

Both your project details and demo video must be submitted by 5:00 PM PDT on October 11. Late submissions are not eligible for judge review.

Submit through the SpeedHacks event in HackerSquad. Include:

1. Your project name and description: the problem, target user, how the solution works, and the time it saves.
2. Your team members and technologies used.
3. A GitHub repository link containing your project's source code is required for every submission. Judges must have access to the code for prize eligibility. If the repository is private, arrange access with the HackerSquad organizers before the deadline.
4. A demo video of five minutes or less showing your project working.

Save your project details, record your demo, and select Submit after stopping the recording. Saving the form or stopping the recording alone does not complete your submission. Check your links and submission status before the deadline.

Start preparing your submission at 4:00 PM so you have time to record, submit, and resolve technical issues. See the submission instructions.