One of the traits of large companies is "big thinking". By this, I mean they plan on a grand scale, measuring their progress in months, quarters, and years. This can be a dangerous habit for a startup founder, since they should be thinking and acting on a daily, weekly basis. So how can one learn to unlearn this?
Hackathons have been a great help to me. First we attended external ones, but eventually we started organizing internal ones. A hackathon is a 24-hour marathon of programming aimed at building a basic version of a product that solves a real problem. Thanks to hackathons, I learned how to code in Python and NodeJS. I also made lifelong connections with some of the best people I've ever worked with. It even led to my brother dancing with a drip counter in a hospital ;-)
Why do they work?
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Constraints: Constraints help to spur creativity. Strict time limits taught us to find simple solutions that worked.
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Focus: The whole team focuses on one product and there are no "what if" scenarios or "nice to have" features.
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Competition: competition between the teams can really boost energy and enthusiasm
Advice to my younger self
Use hackathons to start working on new products and big features, hire great people, and sometimes even earn prizes to start a new business - like we did with RuBeacon, which was founded using my share of the $100K PayPal hackathon award.
