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Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

I found the commercialization of hackathons quite amazing and a bit scary as well. Something I don't know if it has been tried however is having a hackathon where every team pays $100 to attend, and then they vote on the best hack at the end, the winner gets 1/2 the total gate, second place 1/4, third place 1/8, and the organizers get 1/8 to offset costs.

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That could be interesting, but as a collegiate organizer I'm worried that a lot of students wouldn't have the means to participate. $100 is roughly double what's in my bank account right now :)

the $100 is only a place holder. You could have teams contribute $5 to be "in". The point is that everyone puts some "skin" in the game, and the winner gets a prize, and 3rd place gets probably more than their $5 back (everyone assumes they can at least make it to 3rd place :-)

Is having a "sizeable" prize pot really that important for a hackathon? And I have a hard time seeing how the hackathon could provide the value that I'd be willing to spend $100 on as a student using that model (obviously, since it would only use $12.50).

No it isn't about "sizable"ness, its about competing for something real. The psychology here is that everyone puts in a contribution, and 3 groups walk off with it. So that adds a bit of "pain" if you lose out, and a more positive affirmation when you "win". Per the original article, you want some competition to bring out the best in people, but you also want the system to naturally self limit so that it doesn't get crazy and bring out the sociopaths.

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