# The Hackathon Playbook

> Battle-tested hackathon strategy from 36+ wins and $100K+ in prizes, by Bill Zhang. Team formation, ideation, execution, pitching, and submission.

Canonical: https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/

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## Hackathon Playbook

Guides, templates, and strategies from 36+ hackathon wins.

[Open Playbook →](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook)[For Non-Coders →](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders)[Read the Blog →](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog)

In a hackathon right now?[Cheat Sheet: copy-paste prompts →](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/cheat-sheet)

bill@hackathons ~ % whoami

## Bill Zhang [@IdkwhatImD0ing](https://github.com/IdkwhatImD0ing)

One of the most decorated hackathon competitors in the US college scene.

36+

Wins

$100K+

Prizes

50+

Hackathons

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1st place at HackUTD 2024, UC Berkeley AI Hackathon 2024, LA Hacks 2024 — 1,000+ person events, plus 33 other hackathon wins

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Google Developer Student Challenge — Top 10 Global (only US team in 3 years)

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Hackathon judge at LA Hacks 2026 — returning for the LA Hacks AI Hackathon

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Co-founder of WeCracked — 4,000+ member hackathon community

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Software Engineer 2 at Pinterest — ex-Applied AI Engineer at Scale AI

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Co-founder of Dispatch AI — $1M valuation, Berkeley SkyDeck funded

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USC MS in Computer Science (AI) — UCSC undergrad

Teams I have coached to first place.

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Wenqing Li at UC Berkeley AI Hackathon 2026 — Grand Prize + SkyDeck Grand Prize [TheraCat](https://devpost.com/software/theracat)

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Kevin Wu & Jay Wu at LA Hacks 2026 — 1st Overall + Cognition Challenge [Codebreaker](https://devpost.com/software/codebreaker-la)

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Wenqing Li at HackMerced XI — 1st Place in Track [TheraCaIl](https://devpost.com/software/theracail)

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Aurelisa Juan & Aurelia Sindhu at AthenaHacks 2025 — 1st Place Overall [ETA+](https://devpost.com/software/eta-1ubyla)

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Jasmine Wu at AthenaHacks 2024 (USC) — Best Overall [DriveMate](https://devpost.com/software/drivemate)

[HackUTD 2024

TalkTuahBank](https://devpost.com/software/talktuahbank)[UC Berkeley AI

Dispatch AI](https://devpost.com/software/dispatch-ai)[LA Hacks 2024

AdaptED](https://devpost.com/software/teachme-3p7bw1)[Google DSC

SlugLoop](https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-santa-cruz-students-behind-bus-tracking-app-selected-only-us-team-google-solution)[VTHacks 12

Linguify](https://devpost.com/software/linguify-katunw)[+31more winsView on Devpost](https://devpost.com/IdkwhatImD0ing)

[Portfolio](https://v2.art3m1s.me/)[GitHub](https://github.com/IdkwhatImD0ing)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-zhang1/)[Devpost](https://devpost.com/IdkwhatImD0ing)[For AI & Agents](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/ai)

© 2026 Hackathon Playbook

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