| name | find-hackathons |
| description | Enumerate hackathons relevant to a domain. Per spec, hackathons are often a direct line to founders — surface ones that double as outreach surface, not just coding events. Writes to <WORKING_FOLDER>/domain-notes/<domain-slug>/hackathons.md. |
| disable-model-invocation | false |
| allowed-tools | Read, Write, WebSearch, WebFetch, Bash(mkdir *), Bash(test *), Bash(date *) |
Find Hackathons
Hackathons as outreach surface, not just coding contests. A 48-hour event with the founders of 5 companies you want to talk to is often a higher-leverage week than 5 cold emails.
Inputs
$ARGUMENTS:
- Required:
<domain>.
- Optional:
--geography=<region> — defaults to USER_LOCATION + virtual events.
- Optional:
--horizon=<3mo|6mo|12mo> (default 6mo).
- Optional:
--prize-floor=<USD> — filter out tiny / vanity events.
- Optional:
--virtual-only / --in-person-only.
Examples
/career:ecosystem hackathons "ai agents"
/career:ecosystem hackathons "devtools" --geography="EMEA" --horizon=3mo
/career:ecosystem hackathons "policy tech" --virtual-only
Procedure
1. Paths
Output: ${WORKING_FOLDER}/domain-notes/${domain-slug}/hackathons.md.
2. Enumerate
Sources: Devpost, MLH, lablab.ai, ETHGlobal (for crypto/web3-adjacent), AngelHack, vendor-sponsored hackathons (OpenAI / Anthropic / Pinecone / etc), local meetup hackathons.
For each event, capture:
- Name + dates.
- Format: virtual / in-person / hybrid.
- Theme alignment to domain.
- Sponsors / judges / mentors — this is the high-signal field. Founders, VCs, eng leaders attending in a mentor capacity = direct line.
- Prize structure.
- Team size + solo allowed?
- Submission requirements (so user can size the build).
- Outreach value (low / med / high) — based on who's attending.
3. Write the note
# Hackathons — {{domain}}
> Domain: {{domain}}
> Geography: {{geography}}
> Horizon: {{horizon}}
> Surveyed: {{date}}
## High outreach value
| event | dates | format | sponsors / judges (the surface) | theme | prize | source |
## Worth doing for the build (low outreach value)
(same columns)
## Skip
| event | reason |
## Sources
1. ...
4. Print summary
note: domain-notes/<domain-slug>/hackathons.md
high outreach value: <n>
build-only: <n>
next:
high outreach → /career:plan week (block hackathon dates)
follow-up → /career:outreach draft <judge-or-sponsor> --template=warm-followup post-event
Guardrails
- "High outreach value" requires named sponsors/judges that match the user's target list. Don't grade up on hype.
- Submission requirements must be honest about scope — hackathon hand-waves ("build something cool with X") rarely produce shippable artifacts.
- Don't recommend events you can't verify dates for. "TBA 2026" is not a recommendation.
Failure modes
- No upcoming events → write empty file with
## Status: nothing in horizon and recommend re-running quarterly.
