Hackathons are a staple of many startup cultures, but we put our own spin on them at Eventbrite.

Inclusiveness is paramount in Eventbrite culture, so an engineering-only Hackathon felt improper. I insisted we include everyone, and broaden the definition of "hacking" to simply refer to doing something interesting and somehow related to Eventbrite that you wouldn't otherwise spend work hours on.

Even the awards were geared towards cross-functional participation -- fewer than half the awards were likely to require some technical input, and instead we focused on things like the "Spirit Award" (whomever's hack was most in line with Briteling Culture) and the "Diversity Award" (team with the most functional teams represented).

The result was massive participation, a great deal of innovation, and a lot of new friends made across teams.


Back | Next: Empathetic Design