Judges & Criteria

We've lined up a panel of top-notch judges, including:

• Albert Wenger, managing partner at Union Square Ventures

• Nikhil Kalghatgi, principal at Softbank Capital

• Sarah Kessler, writer at Fast Company

• John Bunting, API Lead at Tumblr

• Michael Geer, founder at CauseCart

Hacks will be judged on viability, creativity, technical skill and design.

• Creativity: The degree by which The Hack, and its approach, is original and innovative. A great creative hack illustrates a deviation from traditional thinking.

• Technical: The degree by which The Hack is intelligently scoped and coded. A great technical hack indicates a firm understanding of the project's needs as it's rolled out, integrated, and scaled.

• Design: The degree by which The Hack successfully marries the back-end system with a compelling front-end experience. A great design hack embeds itself into every corner of the project.

• Viability: The degree by which The Hack is likely to succeed in garnering adoption or long-term usage. A great viable hack demonstrates a mastery of the original problem.