A Halloween Hack Party

Code until the sun rises. Drink whiskey. Eat waffles.

Part Halloween party, part coding contest, we're celebrating the night in true startup fashion: working with our fellow hackers and designers to create something awesome.... before the sun rises!

It's like a mini Startup Weekend compressed into a single night. With an open bar. And weird costumes. Ok, it's like doing Startup Weekend while slightly tipsy and working on crazy, outlandish ideas - that's part of the competition! Can you defeat the Ballmer Peak?

Prizes & Swag

• Free Vacation! The grand prize winner earns a free spot in the next Startup Workaway!  16 hackers. 10 days. 1 awesome villa in Buenos Aires. (Or, replace with an iPad, if you can't travel.)
• Free Office Space at CIC! Finalists are awarded one free month of co-working at the Cambridge Innovation Center.


• T-Shirts! Show up - and manage to last until sunrise - and get your official Vampire Hacker t-shirt. It'll be a swank piece of swag!

Free Food & Drinks!

We're a strong believer in the health benefits of caffeine and cookies.

We'll have plenty of coffee, Mountain Dew, Red Bull, and various energy drinks to keep you properly caffeinated. We'll also have an assortment of organic junk food, ice creams, and chocolate espresso beans!

Plus, our master waffle chef - Pardees - is going to treat us to some of the finest waffles on the planet. Eat breakfast all night long!

And let's not forget Brian Wang - of Venture Cafe fame - who will be mixing up his Kendall-Square-Famous cocktails.

Dress Code: Vampire Casual

Costumes highly encouraged! Come as your favorite symbol of the night. If you dislike costumes, that's ok - you can dress up like an MBA for Halloween (I'm talking about you, Mike Norman!)

Schedule

• 5pm: Doors Open. Come early if you'd like to get a head start on coding when things are quiet and low key.


• 7pm: Rapid-Fire Pitches. Pitch your idea... But if it's over 30 seconds, Dan Sullivan shoots a nerf gun at you. Seriously!


• 8pm-10pm: Party. Open bar, Nazi-Zombie Killin' contest, free foods, and great company!


• 10pm-Sunrise:  Hacking. Hopefully you didn't get too drunk. Think you'll be able to make it to sunrise?

Team Formation / Connectors

If you are looking to join a team, or could use some help, come early (5pm) and do some mingling before things get crazy. You also can line up to do a 30 second pitch at 7pm.

At the event, we'll also have a huge writeable wall to post ideas and projects on.

Finally, David Bisceglia and Jeremy Levine are attending the hackathon as "connectors". Please talk to them! Their job will be to help introduce people with complementary skillsets / interests.

The Rules

If you want to just show up and have fun, that's fine - no rules then! However, to be eligible for the competition and prizes:

• A prototype must be developed from scratch. Wireframes can be created beforehand, but code should not be started.  (Working on a self-contained project within your existing start-up is also ok.)


• Team sizes can range from 1 to 4 people.


• All work must stop when the sun rises.  5 finalists will be chosen.


• The 5 finalists may work on their app for an extra week, and record a one minute video pitch, before the judges determine the winner. (This is likely your only opportunity to credibly pitch an investor in a Halloween outfit.)

Thanks to our sponsors!