How I Win Most Hackathons — Stories & Pro Tips from a Serial Hacker
1. Introduction
At 16, I nervously walked into my first hackathon with zero expectations and walked out hooked for life. Since then, I’ve participated in over a dozen hackathons, winning multiple top prizes and learning from every single one.
My Past Hackathon Achievements:
🥇 Champion — UM Datathon 2024 (Bitcoin Quant Algo Trading)
🥈 1st Runner Up — KitaHack 2025 (Medimate — Healthcare Management)
🥈 1st Runner Up — UMHackathon 2025 (AmanahBlock — Shariah AI Donation Platform)
🥉 2nd Runner Up — Alibaba Cloud AI Hackathon 2025 (FundSight AI for SME Grants)
🏅 Consolation — UKM Data Challenge 2025 (Water Stress in Malaysia)
🏅 Consolation — VHack 2025 (Medimate Project)
🏅 Top 10 — Deriv Hack 2024 (AI eKYC)
🏅 Top 15 — Setel Hack 2024 (Retail AI Chatbot)
After years of doors slammed shut and medals on my wall, I’ve distilled what really works and what doesn’t into the tips below. Whether you’re a hackathon newbie or a veteran, you’ll find practical strategies and hard-won lessons you can use right away.
2. Building the Right Mindset
People often ask me, “How do you keep winning hackathons?”
My answer: you lose first, then you learn.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I win a lot but I also lose, and I’m not ashamed of it. If you scroll through my GitHub, you’ll see every project, every result because every ‘L’ (loss) is a future ‘W’ (win) in disguise. Don’t let a losing streak discourage you. Every attempt moves you forward.
3. Winning Hacks That Actually Work
Tip 1: Vibe Coding Tools
In this case, I actually subscribed to Cursor Pro $20 per month for 3 months. The investment quickly paid off, as I won back the subscription fee through hackathon prizes.
There are more vibe coding tools which you should start exploring now, such as GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI and Claude Code which have gained their popularity these days.
Tip 2: Explore GitHub Trending Repos Often
I’m a self-confessed addict when it comes to browsing GitHub’s trending repos.
In my free time, I browse the README.md files of trending repositories. This helps me learn what real-world problems others are tackling, and which tools are gaining popularity and the star counts can be a useful indicator of their real-world value.
Stay curious, and keep building your own toolkit of resources.
Tip 3: Follow Medium Blogs & AI News
Medium is my go-to platform for frameworks, tool reviews, in-depth AI tutorials, and expert comparisons.
As an AI enthusiasts, I am using Medium to read blogs on the most popular framework and also the comparison among them. Sometimes, you have explored too many tools but don’t know which one is the best due to lack of metric, then medium is the place for you to gain information about these.
Tip 4: Keep Ideation Simple & Clear
People often ask, “How many features should we include in our hackathon project?”
My answer: focus on one strong idea, and limit yourself to at most three well-executed features. Simplicity wins.
The key is to clearly define the problem, articulate the solution, and communicate the impact. Use a shared Google Doc to brainstorm and align the whole team early.
4. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
The first thing you need to do before registration or participating a hackathon is to get yourself a team! Hackathons are a team sport.
What Make a Good Coder Teammate
Even if someone is new to hackathons, each coder should have certain essential skills to contribute effectively:
- Proficient in GitHub
This is crucial. Your teammate should understand how to use pull requests, branching, commits, and merging safely. For example, using --force without the team’s consent can cause serious problems (and I’ve experienced this first-hand). Protect your branches to avoid such mishaps.
- Is not a vibe coder completely
While AI coding tools are helpful, don’t depend entirely on them. During hackathons, everyone uses these tools, but what sets great teams apart is their ability to debug and fix issues, especially when auto-generated code doesn’t work as expected.
These are the recommended team distribution over variety size of a team (my personal opinion):
Duo (A team of 2):
- 1 coder (solution)
- 1 pitcher (slide + presentation)
Trio (A team of 3):
- 2 coder (solution)
- 1 pitcher (slide + presentation)
or
- 1 coder (solution)
- 1 pitcher (slide + presentation)
- 1 domain expert or UI/UX designer
Quadruplet (A team of 4):
- 3 coder (solution)
- 1 pitcher (slide + presentation)
or
- 2 coder (solution)
- 1 pitcher (slide + presentation)
- 1 domain expert or UI/UX designer
Penta (A team of 5):
- 3 coder (solution)
- 1 pitcher (slide + presentation)
- 1 domain expert or UI/UX designer
5. Time Management Hacks
Sprint planning
GitHub Issues is an amazing tool for task management. It helps the team stay motivated as everyone can see tasks getting checked off.
Coding
Record the context and key progress notes in a shared Google Doc. If you switch between LLM chats or lose context, you can quickly recover your progress and avoid repetitive prompts.
Pitching
While coding is happening, always keep refining your pitch. Record draft presentations, gather feedback from your teammates, and practice the timing.
6. Standing Out: Pitching and Presentation
The pitch can make or break your chances.
After all the hacking, debugging, and sleepless nights, what truly sets winning teams apart is how well they tell their story to the judges. Here’s how my team (and many winning teams I’ve observed) pitch smart, not just hard:
1. Understand the Judges
Before anything else, learn who your judges are.
- Are they technical or non-technical?
- Are they product people, engineers, or sponsors?
- This helps you tailor your language and emphasize different parts of your solution.
2. Build a Story Persona
Frame your pitch through a human lens:
- Create a relatable persona who faces the exact problem you’re solving.
- Show how your product improves their life and this helps judges emotionally connect with your solution.
3. Nail the Opening
The first 15 seconds of your pitch matter most.
- Avoid jumping straight into tech jargon or architecture.
- Start with a personal story, statistic, or even a provocative question.
- Hook them early before their attention drifts.
4. Don’t Rush Your Pitch
A common mistake: cramming too much into too little time.
- I’ve seen national finalists present too many features, too quickly, and leave the judges confused.
- Clarity beats complexity. A simple, well-explained solution leaves a stronger impression.
5. Always Show Your Demo
No one wants to see a 100-slide deck as they want to see it work.
- Do a live demo of your core features.
- Emphasize user flow and real use cases.
- Always have a backup video, just in case.
6. Design Clean, Impactful Slides
Your slides are not your script, they’re your visual storytelling companion.
- Focus on core sections: Problem → Solution → Demo → Impact
- Keep slides clean, fonts readable, and visuals meaningful.
7. Avoid Jargon or Bombastic Language
Use layman-friendly terms , especially if your audience includes non-tech judges.
- Explain your AI/ML/data magic like you’re talking to a friend.
- Impress through clarity, not complexity.
8. Rehearse with a Timer (and Passion)
Practice your pitch with a timer until it fits comfortably.
- Smile. Show passion. Energy sells.
- You’re not just selling your code, you’re selling your “why” behind the solution.
9. Prepare for Q&A Like It’s Part of the Pitch
Never underestimate the power of a solid Q&A.
- Anticipate tough questions based on the judging panel’s expertise.
- Have one teammate do ongoing Q&A research while others practice.
- Bonus: bring backup slides in your appendix.
10. Highlight Teamwork & Roles
Don’t forget: hackathons value collaboration.
- Briefly mention what each member contributed (e.g., “Daniel built the AI model, Ruth designed the UX…”).
- Judges often allocate points specifically for teamwork.
🧠 11. End With a Memorable Quote or Takeaway
People forget tech details, but they remember how you made them feel.
- End with a strong quote, a visionary line, or an emotional closer that ties everything together.
- Leave them thinking about why this solution matters, even after your pitch ends.
7. Continuous Learning
Losing a hackathon is very normal. You are competing with hundreds of developers from all around in a match. But whether you win or lose, don’t forget to do the following after every hackathon (Networking are Golden):
- Approach the winning teams and congrats to them
- Gain connections to people around there, they could be your future teammates
- Gain connections with the sponsors of the hackathons, this will help you secure an internship or jobs in the future
- Deploy your app or Record a demo of your app, this is to showcase to other people when you don’t have your laptop around you
8. Favorite Tools & Resources
I’ve curated my favorite resources and organized them in my GitHub stars. You can follow me on GitHub. I regularly update my starred repositories as I discover new tools.
9. Final Thoughts & Encouragement
Winning is part hard work, part fortune, but consistent participation is what truly builds mastery.
Winning involves both hard work and a bit of luck, but consistent participation is what leads to true mastery. I strongly encourage you to join as many hackathons as possible while you’re in university as these unique, high-growth experiences become harder to fit in as your responsibilities increase.
Feel free to comment below and share your hackathon journey with me!
As I continue my own coding journey, I’ll be sharing more insights, tutorials, and personal experiences. If you found this guide helpful, I’d truly appreciate your support!
Stay Connected!
🔔 Follow me on Medium for more updates on my coding journey and in-depth technical blogs.
💻 Check out my projects on GitHub: github.com/szeyu
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/szeyusim
Thanks for reading, and happy coding!
