ATDC Weekend Hack | Real Problems + Talent = Tangible Solutions

Most hackathons are a blip on the radar. Hackers come, new ideas are chased, beer is drunk, and at the end of a 72 hour building binge everyone goes back to their normal lives and the project collects dust.

The First Annual Weekend HACK (Aug 28 – Sept 1) presented at ATDC was an entirely different kind of hackathon. Nine ATDC companies on the cusp of greatness teamed up with local techies to solve a specific stumbling block they’ve been experiencing (customer-facing and not platform specific). All of companies that participated retained their IP and the IP generated as a result of the hackathon.

What made this event especially notable:

  1. The projects were tangible. The companies presented real problems and top talent created real solutions that those companies can use to scale their business. Nothing will be left on the cutting room floor and the techies can tack thriving projects on to their resume.
  2. The final presentations/judging demos we’re a full day after the hackathon. Unlike most hackathons (which usually close with presentations at the end of the final hacking day), the ATDC weekend hack demos were a day and a half after the hackathon. This allowed the hackers to have 3 days of building without the burden of putting together a presentation at the same time. It had a positive effect on the quality of the presentations and the projects.

Here are the results:

1st Place: Team Florence Healthcare. $500 cash prize for developing a mobile app that helps capture hospital paper documents via image to feed into trial-sponsoring pharmaceutical firms.

2nd Place: Team Groundfloor. $300 cash prize for creating a better mobile communications tool with more transparency for investors.

3rd Place: Team Rescour. $150 cash prize for building a SHIRML app for Rescour that is designed to help renters find accurate apartment data.

Check out these beautiful photos from Jason Seagle. He’s a startup founder and a professional photographer. Jason offers startups very fair rates on head shots, event coverage, marketing campaigns, etc. studio@jasonseagle.com

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More from Jason Seagle– Photography has been central to my life for over 20 years. I’m technically trained in fine art photography and have a background in photojournalism.

I’ve been working overseas in the humanitarian sector for most of the last decade, always with camera in tow. My images from these travels have been published in National Geographic Explorer, Reuters, the Chicago Tribune, the Financial Times, and by a number of international aid agencies. My work from South Sudan has been featured in fundraising and awareness initiatives in the US, UK and Ireland. One image was selected to broadcast every hour for three months on the giant CBS screen in Times Square in New York.

I’m also a co-founder of Vayando, an Atlanta based social enterprise that connects curious travelers with micro-entrepreneurs in emerging economies around the world. We’re live in Rwanda and Costa Rica with a 100 country goal.