May 9–10, 2026·Two days. Four sessions. Virtual.

ZEROHACK

Build for a person. Not a demo.

“What am I signing up for?”

This is not your startup weekend.

Zero Hack is a two-day virtual hackathon where teams build real products for real users. No toy demos. No pitch decks. You start with a person and their problem. You scaffold with the Zero Vector methodology. You build, you test with actual humans, and you present a working product.

Methodology matters as much as code.

“What does the weekend look like?”

Four sessions. One through-line.

01
Day 1Morning — 4 hours

Problem & People

Define your user. Frame their problem. Populate your VECTOR.md with real research. No code yet — you’re earning the right to build.

02
Day 1Evening — 4 hours

Stack & Scaffold

Pick your stack. Wire your environment. Lay the architecture. By the end of tonight, you have a repo with intent behind it.

03
Day 2Morning — 4 hours

Build & Validate

Code. Ship. Then recruit 3–5 real users and put it in their hands. Their feedback is your compass for the final session.

04
Day 2Evening — 4 hours

Polish & Present

Sharpen what the users told you matters. Then demo it — not as a pitch, but as proof that you listened.

“How do I win?”

The rubric is the curriculum.

0%
Problem Definition
Is the user real?

Can you name them? Describe their day? Explain what’s broken in their workflow without hand-waving? Start there or don’t start.

0%
Methodology
Did you follow the process?

VECTOR.md populated. Research documented. Architecture decisions recorded. The discipline is the differentiator.

0%
Technical Execution
Does it actually work?

Running code. Real architecture. Something a user can touch. Not a mockup. Not a pitch deck.

0%
Customer Validation
Did real humans use it?

You put it in front of 3–5 actual people. They gave you feedback. You changed something because of it. That’s the whole game.

Published before the event starts. No secrets, no surprises. You know exactly how to win before you write a line of code.

“Who’s running this?”

Your Hackathon Hosts

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TBD
JUDGE

Announcement coming soon.

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TBD
JUDGE

Announcement coming soon.

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TBD
JUDGE

Announcement coming soon.

“What do I take home?”

We’re not giving away gift cards.

We’re giving away capability.

1st
Mac mini M4 home-lab kit
+ 1 hour of dedicated setup time
2nd
Mac mini M4 home-lab kit
+ 1 hour of dedicated setup time
3rd
Mac mini M4 home-lab kit
+ 1 hour of dedicated setup time

Why a Mac mini?

Because agents don’t sleep when you do. A Mac mini is an always-on home lab — your agents keep running when you close your laptop. Part of the prize is the setup: Tailscale for remote access from anywhere, tmux for persistent sessions, and the configuration to talk to your agents from your phone, your tablet, or a beach. Close the lid on your MacBook and your agents go dark. The mini stays awake.

EVERY PARTICIPANT WALKS AWAY WITH
  • Full Zero Vector methodology docs
  • Lifetime community access
  • Completion credential