Hackathons have been determining our roadmap for years, and they can guide you too [Pt1]

How Hackathons power innovation at TechWolf, and how they can work for you

At TechWolf, our annual hackathon is more than just an event, it’s an intensive, innovation-packed get-away where our team pushes the boundaries of what’s possible, and realises new product breakthroughs. For us, it's not just a weekend, it's how we keep our competitive edge sharp.

In this post, we’ll dive deeper into why hackathons have been essential to our innovative culture, and why you should do them too!

[TL;DR]

At TechWolf, hackathons aren’t side projects. They’re a core part of how we innovate, build better products, and shape our roadmap. In this blog post, we explain why hackathons matter more than you think, how they’ve helped us go from idea to impact, and how you can run one that drives real results.

Why hackathons are more than just pizza and code

Let’s clear something up: hackathons aren’t just caffeine-fueled chaos or an excuse to skip meetings for two days. For us at TechWolf, they’re a proven way to fast-track innovation, break down silos, and discover new product directions.

We’ve been running internal hackathons since before TechWolf existed. A first proof of concept was built by our founding team at a hackathon.Every year since, we’ve made it a tradition to step away from daily routines and build something new, together.

“Before we founded TechWolf, a hackathon showed us the potential of what became our founding team. It’s still where some of our best ideas begin.
Jeroen Van Hautte, CTO, TechWolf

Here’s what hackathons taught us.

1. They turn engineers into builders

When the clock’s ticking and the deadline is tight, there’s no time to overthink. You just dive in. Inspired by Facebook’s “move fast and break things” philosophy, we focus on quick iterations and maximum impact.

Backend experts design UIs. Researchers debug TypeScript. People try things they normally wouldn’t, and learn fast. This bias-to-action mindset is exactly what we need to move fast and stay ahead. Hackathons train it, every time.

2. They break silos and strengthen teams

Forget titles. During a hackathon, everyone’s in build mode.  If our VP of engineering can resurface his rusty coding skills to resolve a bunch of merge conflicts, yours can too. Those shared moments, some painful, many hilarious, build a strong culture.

Solving one longstanding problem after the other, is incredibly motivating and reminds you of the sheer brainpower within the team. Whilst the hackathon itself can mess with your sleeping schedule, a few breakthroughs fuel your energy levels for months to come.

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3. They ditch processes for creativity

In our day-to-day, we rely on solid development processes to build secure, maintainable code. But during hackathons, we shift gears. 

To push the boundaries of what’s possible, you need speed, innovation, and a willingness to experiment. Writing unit tests? No time for that. Pushing to main 5 minutes before the demo? Hell yeah.

4. They help explore real product opportunities

Not every hackathon project survives the weekend, and that’s perfectly fine. But the ones that do? Game-changing.

Take Task Intelligence—a concept born in one of our hackathons. It quickly led to strategic conversations with our biggest customers and sparked new excitement in the market.

That’s the magic of hackathons: you get to test bold ideas fast, and some of them stick.

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What you can do next

Hackathons are one of the most powerful tools to drive innovation, energise your teams, and surface real product opportunities—if you do them right.

In our next post, we break down the four key ingredients that turn a hackathon into a value driver:

• Building momentum with an Idea Marketplace
  
  
• Forming high-energy, focused teams
  
  
• Creating an environment that fuels creativity
  
  
• And following through after the prototypes