AngelHack Kuala Lumpur (or AngelHack KL for short) was recently concluded with 370 participants and numerous teams competing for the grand prize of a 12-weeks invite to the AngelHack HACKcelerator program and the chance to be in Silicon Valley for AngelHack’s global demo day.
Read on after the break on why you should join AngelHack
Why You Should Join AngelHack : An Introduction
Having re-started my coding due to MaGiC’s 9 weeks coding bootcamp in Rails, I went from hating to code, to being excited everytime I build something. After all, with the internet, some determination and a dream, anyone can build apps and software.
So then when my batchmates mentioned they were joining AngelHack but their team quota was already full, I thought, perhaps next year. Until I received a media invite to help cover the event.
But unlike traditional newspapers that would give you a timeline of what happened, perhaps we would help you by telling you the benefits of joining the next AngelHack hackathon.
Why You Should Join AngelHack : Simulates Real Life Scenario
If you ever been a coder for sometime or perhaps aspire to be the next Jan Koum (of WhatsApp fame), Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page, coding at home or at work might not expose you to the world of startup coding.
AngelHack does that by forcing you to form teams and to build something fast under pressure. Hearing stories from friends in GoGet and MindValley, I find that coding in startups is indeed fast, but you learn a lot when you’re under pressure.
Hackathons like AngelHack also encourages you to build a minimum viable product, based off the Lean Startup Model by Eric Ries. And then to test the viability of the model before deciding to either continue or to scrap the project.
Why You Should Join AngelHack : Find Potential Co-Founders And Team Mates
When you work in such a fast pace, tiring and pressurizing environment (and have loud music blasting at 1 am when you’re dead tired), Â emotions might flare as people’s true personality gets exposed under pressure.
At these moments, you might find your best friend that you were considering to start a startup with, as someone you won’t like working with. Or perhaps you might find the glib speaker in your group as the glib slacker who won’t do much work but keeps finding excuses on what he/she does.
Or perhaps you might find you work well with someone you haven’t previously considered. And so good were you guys together that you basically complimented each other.
In the book, The Founder’s Dilemmas by Mikkel Svane, Svane found that startups with a bad combination of co-founders usually fail. Especially those whose founder chose their fiancee, best friends or relatives due to their relationship, rather than finding out if they could work together.
Having said that, Svane recommended that finding a co-founder is as crucial as finding a spouse, where you need to consider if you could compliment each other and if you could work well together in small projects. That’s where hackathons like AngelHack comes in play.
Why You Should Join AngelHack : Experience A Hackathon
When I interviewed some of the participants of AngelHack Kuala Lumpur, I found that 60% of them were participating in the 2016 edition of AngelHack KL for the first time. Many were there to gain experience even though they were still improving their coding skills.
While they might not have won, a hackathon would make a change in their lives or gain them invaluable experience that could help them start something later.
Why You Should Join AngelHack : To Validate Your Idea
So your friends like your idea and your demo made their jaws drop. But would your idea be translatable to a successful startup? In AngelHack, you would be judged by some industry experts who would be able to give you constructive feedback on areas of weaknesses that you’ve not seen before.
Why You Should Join AngelHack : Note From The Organizers and Participants
If you’re still unconvinced on why you should join AngelHack, here’s some feedback from our organizers and participants of the 2016 AngelHack Kuala Lumpur.
It is a stiff competition with an interesting theme. But it is interesting working with mobile developers
Rudzaini (Tom), Ruby on Rails developer
I don’t think I’ll win but I come here for the experience-lah
Wei Wei, Electronics Engineer with some Robotics projects
It’s different from Singapore. Over here, its a deeper level and there are some strong competitors. Am having good fun with the Silicon Valley concept that AngelHack KL portrays.
Muhammad Ibnur, 2nd Runner up, AngelHack Singapore 2016 and eventual Smart Living and Audience Favorite Winner with BillWise, AngelHack Kuala Lumpur 2016
We care a lot about corporate-community collaborative involvements and it is in our DNA to drive open innovations in most diversed way possible.
It’s rewarding to witness project continuity post-hackathon and we’ve seen startups coming out of our hackathon since 2013, they’re still around and revenue generating today.
Heislyc Loh, AngelHack Kuala Lumpur Ambassador
Conclusion :
Joining hackathons like AngelHack is such an invaluable experience, that we would recommend coders, designers and people who aspire to have their startup, to join.