Thanks for the input. We're going to keep it in CA this time but will start thinking about remote hackathons for future events!

It's not based on revenue.

Yeah, projects that win often resemble early startups. That being said, you're totally welcome to build whatever you find interesting.

Glad you enjoyed it!

This is correct. We do it to keep things fair.

I'm curious, is this actually enforced? If so, how? It seems like it would be trivial to attend with a pre-built project if one were so inclined.

Anyone interested in helping build something to check this? That would be a pretty meta hackathon project. Probably not the most promising business idea though...

There was a project I started a few years ago but abandoned. Is it fair to do that project again if I’m starting with a new codebase?

You start from scratch. At least that's what I've been following for the numerous hackathons I've attended/won/lost.

Of course no one's going to check if you worked on it last night or whatnot (I know friends who've taken previous hackathon submissions and submit it to hackathons like it's new and actually won) but for the hackathon spirit you shouldn't.

That's the officiallyunofficial rule at all the hackathons I've been to, but also at every hackathon I've been to, the biggest prize winners were teams that were coming in with something they'd obviously been planning and working on for at least a couple weeks ramping up to the hackathon.

I imagine with a ycombinator interview on the line that sort of behavior will only be more prevalent.

I can imagine a startup which applied to YC W20 coming waiting for pre-seed XD.

Solo applicants are welcome :)

So we can apply solo with the intent of forming a team at the hackathon?

Hey. Craig here. I organize the hackathons at YC. We're not doing travel grants for this event.

Any chance of a mirror event in NYC? I'm sure a lot of people would be interested but travelling to SF for one night would most likely be very inconvenient.

I'd be more than happy to help organize/host it.

Hey Craig. I am an Indian citizen and would like to attend. I get it that there are no travel grants. Would there be some kind of visa assistance? Should I apply for B1?

Is this in SF or Mountain View?

> [we're] hosting it in Mountain View from 11/22-11/23 (evening to evening)

Thanks for checking it out!

Walker also covered many of the ideas in the book on Joe Rogan's podcast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig

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