Hackathon Highlights from TechCrunch Disrupt

This past weekend in San Francisco, one of the most popular hackathons took place to kick off TechCrunch Disrupt SF. Over 200 developers came together from all over the world to hack a product in under 24 hours. The prizes were big and the opportunities endless. In fact, GroupMe, a ubiquitous group text messaging app, was born at the Disrupt Hackathon in 2010.

(Photo from the SAP Blog)

It not only tests the brightest minds, but the ability to work fast and (most importantly) stay awake. Geoff McQueen, CEO of Accelo, took to hosting the hackathon for a second time this year. 

Here are some of the highlights from the energy drink fueled event:

(Photo from the Evernote Blog)

The winner’s trophy went to Spruce. Described as a “dictation service for online reading”, it estimates how long it will take to read content (using both Pearson and Evernote API). Behind Spruce are high-school students Ajay Jain, Michael Mattheakis, Zuhayeer Musa, and Jimmy Liu. Its purpose is to improve reading comprehension and make students better readers.

Along with the hackathon, the Disrupt conference itself showcased some of the most influential leaders in the industry. Marissa Mayer spoke to Michael Arrington about her experience at Yahoo, and making decisions to move the company in the direction they want. Mark Zuckerberg followed with his blunt thoughts on the NSA scandal.