Codie Sanchez runs a hackathon to teach AI in a single afternoon. Teams use ChatGPT, Claude, and Replit to build working prototypes in real time. Her team built five functional projects in three hours, proving that speed and iteration matter more than polish.
Chapters
I just learned how to use AI in one weekend, and all my team learned it too. Let me show you how to host a hackathon like I had one of our smartest guys do. So basically, you host this short, intense sprint where small teams build real tools in real time. No slides, no meetings. You actually bring a problem and then you fix it the same day. Here's a quick schedule. All you have to bring an open mind, some crazy ideas, your laptop charged, important ChatGPT or Claude and replit. So what do you learn from this? 4. First, this compresses weeks of potential ideas for coding into hours. Second, signal over talk. You immediately see who can turn ideas into reality. So you find three hidden talent, you figure out who's really good at this, and you figure out what you actually want to code. And then, most importantly, instead of guessing what tools you need to build, you actually build them in real time, like we did. We built five of them. Now, the goal isn't perfect. They're not totally ready, all the things we built. But in three hours on a weekend, we've built more than people build in their entire lives. Because companies and people who build faster, they make more money, and they went.
