The questions judges ask in hackathon Q&A, and how to answer them

At an Integral Startup Foundation hackathon
At an Integral Startup Foundation hackathon

Originally published at https://pranjulrathour.scult.in/blog/questions-judges-ask-in-hackathon-qa. That copy is the canonical version and gets updates first.

Q&A is where I learn the most as an evaluator, because a team's answers reveal what the demo hid. Teams that prepare for these questions look like engineers; teams that improvise look like they got lucky. Prepare all fifteen; you will be asked five.

About the demo

  1. Which part of what we just saw is real, and which is mocked? Answer precisely. Judges reward honesty and punish discovered mocks.
  2. Can you try it with this input? Say yes. If it fails, explain why technically.
  3. What happens when the external API is down or slow? Strong: a fallback or a clear error. Weak: "it wouldn't be".

About the technology

  1. Why this model, database or framework? Strong answers mention the constraint that drove the choice, not the popularity.
  2. How did you evaluate the AI part? Even five test cases with expected outputs is a strong answer; "it seemed good" is not.
  3. Where does user data go, and who can see it? Every team using AI APIs should be able to answer this.
  4. What was the hardest bug, and how did you find it? This is the question that identifies who built what.

About the user and the problem

  1. Who did you talk to? Names or roles, and one thing they said that changed the design.
  2. How does the user do this today, without you? If you cannot answer, you have not understood the problem.
  3. Why would they switch? The honest answer is usually about time or money saved, stated in numbers.

About the team and what is next

  1. What did you cut, and why? The best question on the sheet. Have a proud answer.
  2. Who built which part? Match your answer to who answers the technical questions.
  3. What would you do with another week? Specific and small beats grand and vague.
  4. What did you learn that you did not expect? Judges are teachers; they love this one.
  5. Would you keep working on this? Only say yes if it is true; they can tell.

Rehearse these with your mentor before the freeze. When I run a mock pitch for a team, this is the list I use.

In a packed college auditorium
In a packed college auditorium
Pranjul Rathour at a campus event
Pranjul Rathour at a campus event
From my carousels
Three First Prizes, One Loss
Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 1Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 2
Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 3Three First Prizes, One Loss, slide 4
Full carousel on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Pranjul Rathour
Pranjul Rathour
GenAI engineer, Kanpur · 3x first-prize hackathon winner · campus mentor
I ship production RAG pipelines, fine-tune LLMs and build agentic AI products end to end. I lead engineering at SCULT INDIA for a 14-member team and have mentored 200+ students through TechVerse Enclave.
Open to: GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks at colleges.
On stage, at hackathons and on campus
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur
Trophy and certificate of merit at Vividhotsava 2025
Trophy and certificate of merit at Vividhotsava 2025
Walking a room through evaluation criteria
Walking a room through evaluation criteria

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