Want to Get Into an Accelerator? Start With a Hackathon
Web2 Founders, let’s talk.
When I first got into tech, I thought hackathons were just for developers who wanted to improve their skills and also an opportunity to get their ideas out there. I never imagined a senior dev (or even a founder), in one. Hackathons just didn’t seem like the space for experienced builders.
Sound familiar?
What if I told you that a hackathon could be the difference between your product scaling globally or being another great idea that never took off? Hear me out, this is nothing like your usual hackathon. It’s about everything: the product, marketing, community, and funding.
Let me introduce you to the Colosseum Hackathon.
A bit about the Colosseum Hackathon
Colosseum launched last year and is now fully responsible for Solana’s hackathons. In 2024, we had two: Renaissance and Radar. There are a lot of perks to participating aside from winning prizes (though the $250k+ prize pool was incredible).
From those hackathons:
Projects landed accelerator spots.
Founders secured funding.
Startups built communities with the most supportive ecosystems out there: Solana.
Hackathons on Solana are different, so much more than just codes. And for Nigerian founders? We’ve already seen winners in the last two Colosseum hackathons, Ribh Finance, and Narrative(formerly Nomad), not to mention several shortlisted projects.
The opportunity is there, you just need to seize it.
Why Should a Web2 Founder Care?
I know what you’re thinking: “How does a Web3 hackathon help me when I’m already scaling a Web2 product?”
Here’s the thing: Web2 and Web3 aren’t as separate as they seem. In fact, your product might already align with Web3 in ways you haven’t considered.
Imagine this:
Adding Solana payment integration to give your users faster and cheaper transaction options globally accessible.
Building a token-based loyalty program to increase customer retention.
There are several other examples.
The best part? You don’t need to completely change your Web2 product to experiment. Hackathons are a low-risk way to test these ideas and see what works, without the pressure to start from scratch.
Why Now?
The next Colosseum Hackathon is still a few months away, but there’s no better time to start getting ready. Start by asking yourself: What could integrating Solana do for my product?
Not sure where to begin? DM me or the X accounts I’ll tag below. Let’s talk about your product and brainstorm the best way to build on the Solana Blockchain.
Build with SuperteamNG, where the cool kids build on Solana