What I Didn't Expect When I Signed Up to Organize a Hackathon
Reflections from the World Model Hackathon, Fort Mason SF
I've been to a lot of hackathons. I've hacked at them, competed, shipped, stayed up too late, eaten questionable food, and felt that particular mix of exhaustion and pride that only comes from building something from nothing in 48 hours.
But this was my first time on the other side of one. And honestly? I had no idea what I was walking into.
The World Model Hackathon at Fort Mason was built around a single radical constraint: ship something with world models. No chat UI. No familiar scaffolding. Just the question — what does AI interaction feel like when it lives in space? Over 50 teams showed up to answer that. And someone had to make sure all of them could actually do it.
That someone — that team — taught me more about community, people, and the invisible architecture of creative events than I expected.
The Things Nobody Sees
When you hack, you're in a tunnel. Your world shrinks to your team, your idea, your deadline. You're vaguely aware that there's food somewhere and that someone set up the WiFi, but mostly you're just building.
When you organize, you see everything.
You see the person who showed up alone, laptop under their arm, not quite sure where to go or whether they'd find a team. You see the organizers moving through the room like air traffic controllers — quietly, constantly, making sure no one gets lost. There were dedicated moments built just for this: team formation sessions, connection opportunities, people actively pulling solo hackers into conversations and circles. It sounds simple. It is not simple. Finding your people in a room of strangers, under time pressure, with an idea still half-formed in your head — that takes facilitation. Real facilitation.
I watched organizers troubleshoot the unsexy stuff — logistics, space, timing, the hundred small things that go wrong at any live event — while simultaneously holding the energy of the room. Keeping it warm. Keeping it moving. Making 50+ teams feel seen and supported across three days.
It is, genuinely, a different skill set than building. And I have a new level of respect for anyone who does it well.
The Mentors Changed My Reference Point
Every hackathon has mentors. But I have never seen mentors like this.
They were present from Day 1 — not hovering at the edges waiting to be summoned, but in it. Moving through teams, asking questions, pushing not just for working tech but for narrative. Why does this matter? Who is this for? What's the human story inside this build?
In a room full of some of the most cutting-edge technology most of the world hasn't encountered yet — and let's be real, what was built here may be five or ten years ahead of mainstream adoption — the mentors kept bringing it back to people. To meaning. To story.
There were design leaders in the room. Women leading in a heavily male-dominated space. That doesn't go unnoticed and it shouldn't. We are the narrators of these experiences. It was good to see that taken seriously.
To name every mentor and judge would take another post entirely — so I'll drop the Luma link at the end where you can find all the masterminds behind this event and connect with some genuinely outstanding humans.
The Projects That Got Me Personally
I'd love to tell you about all 50+ teams. I really would. But this would become a book, not a blog post — so I'll just tell you about the ones that landed in my chest and stayed there.
One team built a VR experience where you could interact with a pet that had passed away. Their presence. Their world. Recreated. I lost a pet this past year. I didn't expect to cry at a hackathon. I did. That project is a signal of where spatial AI is actually heading — not dashboards, not productivity tools, but presence. The closing of a distance we thought was permanent.
Another team built a music-to-world generator — the mood of a song translated into a living visual environment in real time. I immediately thought of synesthesia, that rare phenomenon where senses cross-wire and sound has color. What if an interface responded to feeling rather than instruction? That team asked it.
A spatial explorer of the Nevada Desert came with a Navajo cultural mascot woven in — layered information, cultural context, a quiet nod to the Indigenous significance of that land. Design with heart. That doesn't happen by accident.
And then there was Zach, who I met on Day 1. He was building hardware that reads foot movement through shoe soles. My first instinct: orthopedic, medical, posture correction. By Sunday his team had strapped those soles into a snowboard binding, handed someone a VR headset, and created a snowboarding experience. In San Francisco. Without snow. I did not see that coming. And that gap — between what I imagined the technology could be and what a team of humans actually made it — is maybe the most important thing I witnessed all weekend.
One team I'd quietly underestimated won. I was genuinely, completely thrilled for them.
What I'm Taking With Me
The seed ideas I heard on Friday sounded like engineering experiments. By Sunday they were stories. Watching that transformation — from technical possibility to human experience — across 50+ teams simultaneously is something I won't forget.
I'm already sketching an XR logistics dashboard inspired by what I saw, because spatial UI might be the answer to an industry where screens are never big enough. And I keep thinking about my own game, Affections of Vissan, currently a 2D HTML experience — and what it would feel like to actually walk inside it.
Organizing gave me a joy that hacking doesn't — and hacking gives me something organizing never will. I'll be back on both sides of the table.
A huge shoutout to Founders Inc for hosting, and to Rahel and Ferhan for bringing this hackathon to San Francisco. They're taking these experiences to universities and tech hubs around the world, and doing it with real care and vision. This is what it looks like when innovation meets community.
Want to explore all 50+ demos?
Want to connect with the judges, mentors and industry leaders?
If you're curious about the experience or want to talk spatial AI and design — DM me on LinkedIn, always happy to chat.
And if we met this weekend — it was a pure delight. Let's stay in touch and keep building great things together.
