Bug Smashing Whackathon

​Helping Local Startups in a Meaningful Way

​Startups that rely on a good UX experience can have a hard time getting enough employees, beta users and friends to really put their website and/or software through its paces.

​At these Whackathons, users are invited to go from table to table, finding bugs and providing invaluable UX feedback to founders. Recognition is awarded to the "best bugs found" and "best UX recommendations made" by the testing squads.

​These events are held periodically around the Puget Sound region, where up to a max of 8 startups will each have their table of up to 6 testers at a time. Before the testing begins, each company will get up on stage and give a short presentation (~5 mins) about what their website does and where they need the most user feedback, so that testers will have some idea of what personas they'll be simulating when they get to the table.

​Testers are asked to please bring their own laptops. We're looking for all types, from relatively non-technical "typical" users to experienced UI/UX testers.

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This event is free for participating testers. Parking is free. Lunch and refreshments provided.
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​Schedule:

​10:00am-10:30am Check-in and setup

​10:30am-10:45am Tatyana will describe testing procedures

​10:45am-11:15am Startups will present their functionality, personas, areas that need the most testing, etc.

​11:15am-2:15pm Formal testing

​2:15pm-3:00pm Startups each report on "Best Bug Found" and "Best UX Recommendation" by the testers

​About the Testing Squads:‍

​We draw from two communities that care about fostering great software startups in the Pacific Northwest. Our partner, Innovate QA, is a professional association for career QA testers. Typically about half of our testing squad members come from this group. The rest come from the thousands of founders and mentors in Venture Mechanics' community. All are volunteering their time on a Saturday to help startups in our region go from good to great in user experience!

​‍How to Apply:

​Get a table for your startup ($199) Apply here.