The Amazing Hack – Summer 2011

Written on June 22, 2011 at 2:52 pm, by Andy Denmark

We recently hosted our first two day hackathon, “The Amazing Hack” at TripIt HQ. Fourteen teams made up with folks who came from every department of the company competed to build what ended up being some pretty amazing hacks – and clever ways of presenting them – spotlighting innovation across the organization.

As this was our first TripIt internal hackathon, I was a bit nervous as to what the results might be and how much people would get into it, and now that it’s over I must say that the TripIt team far surpassed any expectations I could have reasonably had!

When the judges assembled (including guest judge John Lilly – pictured above) for presentations at the end of the 36-hour rush, we were bombarded with creativity: guitar serenades, animations, illustrations – and there was even a human taxi with built-in GPS…

There were hacks that solved longstanding problems in the existing product. There were hacks that made bold suggestions about how to rip up and reinvent existing functionality. There were even hacks that suggested entirely new business models and revenue streams that TripIt could pursue.

I’m so absolutely proud of the teams that participated as they clearly poured their heart and soul into the competition.

The next challenge for TripIt is to find out how to ship as much of this work as we can before we have our next hackathon. We’re definitely having another one as I don’t get as much time to code as I used to and this is a very convenient excuse. More about my hack in a future post (sneak peek below)!