[AI Hackathon] AI features for drop-in sports apps (LIVE NOW)

​🧠⚽ [AI Hackathon] AI Features for Drop-In Sports Apps

​​A focused, fully online hackathon for builders shipping useful AI-powered applications.
Participants will design and prototype AI features aimed at improving real user workflows in consumer drop-in sports apps.

​​You can start from scratch or continue an existing project, but submissions must clearly show progress made during the event window.

​​🔍 What you’ll work on

​​Build an AI-powered feature or small application that meaningfully improves how people discover, join, manage, or engage with drop-in sports activities.

​​Examples include (not limited to):

• ​​Matching players to games or groups

• ​​Improving discovery, scheduling, or attendance

• ​​Reducing friction for organizers or players

• ​​Making participation easier, faster, or more reliable

​​The emphasis is on usefulness and real-world applicability, not polished demos.

​​✅ Requirements

• ​​You must show before and after progress made during the event window

​​👥 Who should participate

• ​​Founders and builders shipping AI products

• ​​Software engineers, ML engineers, PMs, and designers who can prototype quickly

• ​​Anyone with an AI app, prototype, or workflow they want to push into a usable MVP

• ​​Anyone who likes sports and knows how to code

​​Open globally.

​​🛠 How it works

• ​​Submit a “before” snapshot of your starting point

• ​​Build during the event window

• ​​Submit your final “after” results by the deadline

• ​​Judges review submissions and select a winner

​​📤 Submission format

• ​​Before submission:
  Screenshots of your starting point + 2 sentences on what you plan to build

• ​​Final submission:
  Screenshots of what you shipped + 2 sentences on what changed and why it matters

• ​​Optional: repo link or short (<2min) demo video

​​⏰ Schedule (PT, Los Angeles)

​​Sunday, Feb 1st:

• ​​8:00 AM – Before submission window opens

• ​​12:00 PM – Before submission window closes (starting work screenshots)

• ​​7:00 PM – Final submission deadline (end results screenshots)

• ​​8:00 PM – Winner announced

​​🧑‍⚖️ Judges

​​Rodrigo Valladares (/rodrigo-valladares)
Cofounder of Industrial AI, a venture-backed AI software company focused on real-world deployment. Experience evaluating AI products with an emphasis on usability and adoption.

​​Leela Gowtham (/leelagowtham)
Founder and software engineer who builds and ships end-to-end products. Experience prototyping and evaluating LLM-based features with a focus on fast iteration and clarity.

​​Pavlo Pechenyi (/pavlo-pechenyi)
Software engineer and product builder with early-stage startup experience, including helping scale a company that raised over $5M. Focused on product readiness, execution quality, and practical engineering tradeoffs.

​​🧪 Judging criteria

​​Projects will be formally scored on:

• ​​Usefulness: solves a real problem with clear value

• ​​Shipped progress: meaningful progress within the event window

• ​​Usability: simplicity and ease of use

• ​​Creativity: thoughtful or novel application of AI

​​⭐ Bonus points

​​Extra points for showing evidence of real users, such as:

• ​​Screenshots of actual usage

• ​​Short user quotes or feedback

• ​​Basic usage metrics

• ​​A quick recording of someone using the app

​​🏆 Prize

• ​​$100 Amazon gift card for the winning project