While hackathons and grant programs work well to initiate attention and raise awareness of an ecosystem, the perpetual question is how do we keep builders engaged in the same ecosystem and being dedicated to it? A program like a Buildathon that can engage builders in a way that they are not only long term, but also dedicated to an ecosystem, would be the ideal to complement the traditional hackathons and grant programs.

Hackathons come with a certain kind of expectation that doesn't usually produce lasting results. It tends to attract bounty hunters and not serious founders. There's a time and a place for a Hackathon, but we think it's important to make a distinction when we're looking to incubate businesses.

Too many hackathons reward short-term code over long-term impact. Projects often win without ever solving real problems or reaching real users. Writing code should be the easy part, the hard part is building something that fits the ecosystem and serves a community. Akindo rewrites the playbook by making hackathons about product-building, not just coding. It helps teams go beyond demos and into real adoption. That’s how to turn builders into founders.

The missing component from hackathons is a formal path to getting long term support for an idea after the main event ends. The risk/reward of spending time and effort on a project after a hackthon makes it hard for even passionate teams to continue development. I love the idea of a buildathon and look forward to seeing the projects that come out of this format.

Hackathons spark ideas. Buildathons turn them into reality with the long-term support that builders need.