MEGATHON Startup Track
The headline track — and the one everyone is really competing for.
The challenge
Open to any domain. Bring an idea, an MVP, or something already in market: the Startup Track crowns the most commercially viable product of the weekend, decided live at the main-stage finals.
Most hackathons still score like it's 2018 — innovation, technical complexity, design polish. In 2026, anyone can build something cool in 48 hours. Technical complexity isn't the bottleneck anymore — whether you can build a company is. Most hackathons measure features. The Startup Track measures founders.
You don't have to be in fintech. You don't have to integrate a sponsor. You have to build something real — and prove you're the team to take it all the way.
How you win
The Friday-to-Sunday delta — what you actually built, shipped, and validated in 48 hours. A solo dev who shipped from zero beats a funded team that just polished a landing page.
Does it work? Is it well-built and genuinely AI-native — or a wrapper around an API call? Craft, design, and the quality of the idea.
Real market, real wedge, real path to revenue. Is this a business or a feature?
Your unfair advantage. Why this, why now, why you — and where it goes if it works.
Do you know how this actually reaches people? The go-to-market reflex that separates builders from founders.
How to stand out
- Ship between Friday night and Sunday. A solo dev who shipped from zero beats a funded team that just polished a landing page — Execution Power is the heaviest-weighted score.
- Be genuinely AI-native, not a wrapper around an API call. Craft, design and the quality of the underlying idea all fold into Product.
- Know your wedge: real market, real path to revenue, and a go-to-market reflex. Be ready to answer "why this, why now, why you?" — vision gets interrogated, not taken from slides.
How we keep it honest
Shipped gate
No deploy, no main prize. A live URL or working demo by the Sunday deadline — no exceptions. This single rule separates pitch artists from real builders.
Friday baseline
Friday night, every team posts a 60-second video, repo link, and current metrics — public on the site. Sunday you show what changed. Execution Power is scored on the delta, not vibes.
Open demos → shortlist → finals
Every team gets open demos against the rubric; the top 10–15 advance to a shortlist; finalists pitch live with judge Q&A. Real vision survives the questions. Pitch theater doesn't.
To qualify
Create a Mollie account — that's it.
You win
The biggest payout of the weekend — cash and Codex credits, plus mentorship and startup-programme intros.