SXSW Sydney Hackathon × Build Club | Powered by NAIC

Overall Theme: Supercharging Work With AI

Executive Summary

The Supercharging Work AI Hackathon at SXSW Sydney is where builders, creators, and industry experts come together to reimagine the workplace of tomorrow, with AI at the core 🚀. Participants will have the opportunity to explore multiple challenge tracks, innovate within their domain, and compete for exciting prizes and perks.

While suggested tracks are provided, your project can also explore other ideas under the overarching thematic umbrellas. For example, projects under AI for Investment Analysts — “DealFlow AI” can also address other finance-related solutions. You can apply to more than one bounty/challenge track.

Key Challenge Themes

AI for Product Managers — “The Bigger Picture”
- Build AI tools that give context behind feature requests, align product goals, and automate spec briefs.
AI for HR — “First Day”
- Create AI onboarding companions that guide new hires, answer questions, and track sentiment.
AI Monitoring Platform — “Agent Ops”
- Design dashboards that monitor internal AI agents, track performance, and provide actionable insights.
AI for Customer Support — “Voice of the Customer”
- Build AI solutions that provide real-time, empathetic customer support aligned with company tone and policy.
AI for Investment Analysts — “DealFlow AI”
- Automate sourcing, vetting, and summarizing investment opportunities. Other finance-related projects are welcome under this umbrella.

(Full details and role-specific ideas for each challenge can be found in the challenge section)

Key Dates

Hackathon Kickoff: 9:00 AM 17th October
Hacking Sprint #1 & #2 + Mentoring: 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM 17th October
Lunch + Lightning Talks: 12:30 – 1:30 PM 17th October
Pre-Judging & Top 5 Team Announcement: 5:30 – 6:30 PM 17th October
Top 5 Team Presentation on Discovery Stage: Saturday, 18th October, 1–2 PM

Submission Format

Deadline: 5:30 PM 17th October
What to submit:
- Project link: GitHub or source repository
- Presentation: 3-minute max Loom video or slide deck presenting your project

Judging Criteria (Weighted Evenly)

Functionality: How well your project works, reliability, and technical execution
Presentation / UI: Clarity of explanation, usability, and design
Idea Quality & Theme Fit: Creativity, originality, and alignment with the chosen challenge or broader thematic umbrella

Perks

All participants will receive the following perks to build their projects, which can be accessed in the Perks section below:

Toolhouse: 1 month of Toolhouse Pro (free)
Relevance AI: Free Relevance AI Pro for 3 months
Firecrawl: 20,000 credits
Lovable: Upgrade with code BCSXSW25 for $25 off (100 credits for new users; discount off upgrade for existing users)
Manus: Free credits

More perks are available on the platform as well if you would like to use them.

Prizes

Hackathon Theme Prizes:

AI for Product Managers — “The Bigger Picture” — $100 for best project in this track
AI for HR — “First Day” — $100 for best project in this track
AI Monitoring Platform — “Agent Ops” — $100 for best project in this track
AI for Customer Support — “Voice of the Customer” — $100 for best project in this track
AI for Investment Analysts — “DealFlow AI” — $100 for best project in this track

Sponsor-Based Prizes per Track:

Toolhouse: $500 Best in Toolhouse Hack prize for best use of Toolhouse in the project
Firecrawl: Dedicated Firecrawl Track Prize of $1,000 for best use of Firecrawl in the project
Lovable: 1,000 credits for prize-winning project for best use of Lovable in the project
Manus: Free credits for best use of Manus

Antler: Best overall 3 projects

Mentoring sessions for the top 3 teams
Streamlined interview to partner stage for the top team

Participants can apply for more than 2 bounty/challenge track, with each prize awarded per track

Onboarding & Preparation

SXSW Day Pass: Sign up via the email from annie@buildclub.com.au, which contains a unique link for your pass.
Registration: Collect your physical day pass at the SXSW registration desk before coming to the ICC Sydney Gallery.
Lunch: Not catered — please bring your own.

This hackathon is powered by NAIC and SXSW Sydney and supported by our amazing sponsors: Groq, Nebius, Toolhouse, Relevance AI, Firecrawl, Lovable, Antler