10X Your Brand Hackathon — Istanbul Ignited by Slush'D, supported by Manus AI
10X Your Brand Hackathon — Istanbul Ignited by Slush’D, supported by Manus AI
What could you build for your brand in a single day?
📅 Monday, October 12, 2026
🕙 9:00 AM–5:30 PM
📍 DotsHub, Istanbul
🎟️ Limited capacity — application required
❗️This event is now at Max Capacity- no longer accepting applications ❗️
Join us at Istanbul Ignited by Slush’D for a hands-on hackathon.
This independently organized Istanbul Ignited by Slush’D event is supported by Manus AI, Apify and fal.ai. Manus is providing cash support, product access, prizes and merchandise for participants.
In this one-day hackathon, founders, marketers, designers, and creatives will use Manus—the general AI agent—to launch a new brand, transform an existing one, or automate a real marketing workflow.
Manus can research your market, analyse competitors, develop campaign concepts, generate creative assets, build landing pages, and connect the tools behind your brand.
You set the direction. Manus helps you ship.
The Challenge
Launch a new brand, transform an existing one, or make a real business or marketing workflow dramatically more effective with Manus. Use Apify for market research and fal.ai for campaign visuals if helpful. Show a real result—a campaign, landing page, brand system, content engine, or automated workflow—and explain the before-and-after.
Every team will have the opportunity to present what they created. The strongest projects will pitch on stage, with prizes awarded to the top teams.
Research with Apify
If helpful, use Apify to explore market trends, analyse competitors, understand audiences and turn real-world data into brand insights.
Create with fal.ai
If helpful, use fal.ai to create campaign visuals, cinematic videos, product ads, storyboards and social content.
Each participant receives $50 in fal.ai credits. Credit claim instructions will be shared after check-in.
Agenda
08:30–09:00 | Doors Open & Check-in & Breakfast — Arrivals, coffee, bites, check-in and getting settled.
09:00–09:10 | Welcome + Challenge & Judging Criteria — About the hackathon challenge and how projects will be judged.
09:10–09:30 | From Brand to Output: Manus Demonstration — Kaan Taşkent and Ceren İnce demonstrate Manus, Apify and fal.ai.
09:30 | Hacking Begins — Judges and mentors will circulate to help you develop ideas.
12:30 | Lunch Available — Building Continues — Grab food and take a break when it suits you.
15:00 | Building Stops & Submissions Lock
15:00–15:15 | Judging Preparation — Teams receive their judging station and presentation order.
15:15–16:00 | Preliminary Judging — Each team gets a two-minute pitch and demonstration, followed by one minute of Q&A.
16:00–16:30 | Top 6 Finals — On Stage
16:30–16:45 | Jury Deliberation — The judges rank all six finalists together.
16:45–17:00 | Awards & Closing — Winners announced, prizes presented and closing remarks.
17:00–17:30 | Networking
How Judging Works
Each team presents to one assigned judge: 2 minutes for the pitch and demo, followed by 1 minute of Q&A. Judges then have 1 minute for scoring and changeover.
There are six judges and six independent stations across four rooms: Feriye Room 1 — stations 1 & 2; Feriye Room 2 — stations 3 & 4; DotsHub Room 3 — station 5; DotsHub Room 4 — station 6. Each judge sees about 7–8 teams and selects one finalist and one reserve.
The six finalists present on stage to all six judges: 3 minutes for the pitch and demo + 1 minute of Q&A per team.
Finals are scored afresh using the same criteria. The judges agree the final ranking together.
Paper score sheets will be provided to judges.
Wait in your track’s main room until your team is called. A volunteer will guide you to the correct building, room and station.
Judging Criteria
Five equally weighted criteria — 20% each:
Problem and value — 20%: Does the project make a meaningful improvement to a brand or marketing workflow? Is the before-and-after clear?
Execution and quality — 20%: How much did the team build and ship during the hackathon? Does the demo show a working result?
Use of Manus and tools — 20%: How effectively did Manus coordinate the work across tools, context and workflows?
Potential and impact — 20%: Could the campaign, brand assets or workflow go live tomorrow and create measurable value?
Pitch quality — 20%: Does the team clearly explain what they built, demonstrate its value and answer questions within the time limit?
Judges score each criterion 1–5. The total score is the sum multiplied by four, out of 100.
Prizes
🥇 1st Place: 3-month Manus Pro membership(600$ in value)
🥈 2nd Place: 2-month Manus Pro membership(400$ in value)
🥉 3rd Place: 1-month Manus Pro membership(200$ in value)
👕 Merchandise will be provided for teams placing 4-6th place!
Who Is This For?
This hackathon is for people who want to build, launch, and ship
Founders looking to launch a new idea, sharpen their positioning, or build a stronger brand
Marketers and growth teams who want to create campaigns, content systems, and automated workflows faster
Designers and creatives ready to turn ideas into brand assets, landing pages, and visual campaigns
Operators and builders who want to connect tools, remove repetitive work, and create useful AI powered systems
Early-stage teams with a product or brand that needs momentum
Curious beginners with a strong idea—even without technical experience
Bring your laptop, your idea and your willingness to build something real.