//October 3–4 · Innovation Park, Notre Dame
SprintHack@ND.
A reverse-pitch hackathon: companies bring real problems, you build the answer in a weekend and demo it to judges from venture and industry. Open attendance, any major, meals covered; bring a team or form one on site.
$2,000+prize pool · and growing
Special guest: live Q&A with legendary hacker Joe Grand
Want to judge or mentor instead? How individuals plug in
Sponsored by 
//This year's judges
Already at the judges' table.
Confirmed so far, with more being added weekly. Among them: Tim Connors, founder of PivotNorth Capital and formerly a partner at Sequoia Capital.
PivotNorth Capital
ClickUp
Replit- Salco Advisors
- + more coming
//Special guest
Ask Joe Grand anything.
Mid-hackathon, you get an open mic with probably the most famous hardware hacker in the world. Live talk, then Q&A: Sunday evening, while the judges deliberate.
Sunday · 6:45 PM · live talk + open Q&A
Joe Grand, aka “Kingpin”
Hacking hardware since 1982. If you have ever watched a chip give up its secrets on YouTube, you already know his work.
- 1998Testifies before the US Senate with L0pht, the hacker collective that could take down the internet in thirty minutes.
- 2006Starts designing DEF CON's electronic badges; they become collector's items.
- 2008Co-hosts Discovery Channel's Prototype This!, building the impossible on national TV.
- 2022Cracks a locked hardware wallet on camera and rescues $2 million in crypto.
The mic is open, the judges are deliberating, and the question is yours.
Count me in//The weekend plan
Two days, one shipped demo.
Saturday · October 3
- 11:00 AMDoors and kickoffWho is in the room, how the weekend works.
- 11:30 AMReverse pitchesPartner companies present the real problems they brought.
- 12:30 PMTeam formationPick a problem. Come with teammates or find them on the spot; both work.
- 1:00 PMBuildMentors circulate all afternoon.
- 1:30 PMLunchFuel while you build.
- 3:00 PMOffice hours with judgesBook a slot, walk a judge through your build, and get direction before you go too far.
- 6:30 PMDinner
- 9:00 PMBuilding closesInnovation Park closes for the night. Keep building from wherever you like, or sleep; both are valid strategies.
Sunday · October 4
- 11:00 AMBack to buildingDoors reopen. Pick up where you left off.
- 12:30 PMLunch
- 1:00 PMOffice hours with judgesLast pass of judge feedback before the freeze.
- 4:00 PMCode freezeWhatever runs at 4:00 is what you demo.
- 4:30 PMDemosEvery team presents to the judging panel, 4:30 to 6:30.
- 6:30 PMJudge deliberationDinner served while the judges argue.
- 6:45 PMJoe Grand, live talk + Q&A45 minutes with an absolute legend of hacking. Ask him anything while the judges deliberate.
- 7:45 PMAwardsWinners announced. The Sprint Lab has its own application; your weekend counts toward it.
- 8:00 PMClose
//Last November, on the record
This already works.
SprintHack ran November 16, 2025 at the Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub: a one-day AI hackathon on reimagining workflows. This year it doubles to a full weekend.
The winners
- 1st · $2,000Nexus AICaden Chuang, Gabriel da Silva Marques, José Lima
- 2nd · $1,200Pantry FinderDevotion Chikutuva, Kaza-Zack Kazirukanyo, Anne Voll, Grace Babirye
- 3rd · $800GogogoBrian Joseph, Nnanna John
- Best Technical · $250Pantry IQDavid Kavanagh, Michael Takami, Mark Kelly
- Best Ethical AI · $250Praxis 12Gabriela Sierocka, Joseph Whelpley
- Best Business Case · $250MovieToonsDavid Carr
- Hackers' Choice · $250DonoGadi Montiel, Matthew Cornelius, Diego Rodrigez, Tiarnan O'Rourke
Judges and mentors came from
- Replit
- PivotNorth Capital
Graham Allen Partners
Critical Data Solutions
Co-organized with Swindar Zhou. Hosted by the Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub. Read the recap post.
//For companies
Four ways in. They stack.
The talent pool: engineers from the school ranked #7 in the country for career outcomes. You do not have to bring a problem: sponsoring just to put your product in front of the room is a complete way in. The lanes are separable, they stack rather than compete, and picking a shallow one now closes nothing later. Hackathon output, prototypes plus a shortlist of students, is exactly what a three-month program team starts from.
T1 See it run first
Observer
Come to SprintHack as guests, for an afternoon or the whole weekend. Watch companies pitch real problems and student teams attack them. A short talk to the room puts your company in front of every builder there.
You bring
- As much of the weekend as you want
- Optional: ten minutes speaking to the room
You get
- A direct read on the student talent
- Your product and brand in front of the room: 60+ builders last year, more this year
- The room itself: mentors, judges, and the South Bend industry people around the program
No deadline. Show up in October.
T2 No problem needed
Sponsor
Fund the weekend with cash or credits. Your brand on the site and the stage, your product in students' hands. You do not need a problem to solve; awareness is a complete reason to be here.
You bring
- Cash toward prizes and food, or credits students can build with
- Optional: ten minutes on stage
You get
- Your logo on the site and in the room all weekend
- Your product in the builders' hands: 60+ last year, more this year
- First access to the talent shortlist
September; sponsor slots are capped.
T3 The cheap test
Hackathon Partner
You are listed as a SprintHack partner and your problem runs as its own category. Teams work it for two days and pitch back approaches and prototypes.
You bring
- A real problem, scoped with us in one call
- Someone to present it for ten minutes, ideally with a face in the room for the pitch-backs
You get
- Several independent takes on your problem in one weekend, with prototypes
- A shortlist of the students you would want on it for three months
- Cheap validation before anything deeper
Get listed in September.
T4 The lab · Oct–Dec
Program Partner
This one is the Sprint Lab, not just the weekend: scoping in September, your hackathon category in October, then a selected team working your problem October to December in weekly sprints, landing at the Innovation Sprint Lab Showcase on December 5.
You bring
- One hour a week from a stakeholder
- The data or codebase access the problem needs
You get
- A working deliverable by December, with progress visible every week
- Not a reveal at the end: weekly sprints you can steer
- First look at hiring the people who built it
September, when the fall partner list locks.
ALREADY IN Fall 2026
Goodwill Michiana
A regional institution scaling from $50M toward $100M. The first sprint kills a weekly vendor report that eats a full staff day, with weekly mentorship from an ex-Amazon engineer who designed Amazon's first one-hour delivery systems. That is what a Program Partner engagement looks like in practice.
//The interest form
Tell us you're coming.
Registration closes Tuesday, September 29, so we can plan food and space. Check the hackathon, the lab, or both; reminders and the room details come to your inbox. Students, alumni, and companies all use this form.
Aiming for the lab itself? Apply to the Fall 2026 Sprint Lab