Question for the hackathon organizers: Do you want attendees to come in with a completely new concept that they haven't worked on before? And, if it's okay to have worked on it previously, how far along is "too far along" for this hackathon? Thanks!

I've never really done a hackathon before. What's the gist of it? Do you just show up and work on whatever you want for the duration, then present it at the end? Or is there a theme revealed at the beginning?

There's no theme for YC Hacks. We're leaving it open. You can build whatever you want.

Should we have teams in mind, or just plan to form one when we get there?

You can do it either way. We'll make it possible for attendees to get in touch with one another beforehand if they'd like to try forming a team in advance.

It depends on the hackathon. This one is open ended but a lot of them have themes. Basically you show up and start working and then at the end there's usually a judging/demo process. Sometimes you'll want to join a team which can be prearranged or you just hover around until you find a like-minded group.

Aw man, is there any way to still apply? I had the form filled out in my browser, and I was waiting for a friend to fill out his application, but I ended up forgetting to submit the form before 12:00am PST.

Can someone explain the appeal of an invite-only hackathon? I don't understand what makes it "better" to one that anyone can apply to go to.

Basic things: are there enough chairs, are they compliant with maximum occupancy restrictions of the building, are there enough snacks.

Less basic things: No on said YC Hacks way of getting people in the door is better. It's just the way they're choosing to handle it. YC seems to want to expand the community and this looks like a pretty good way to do it.

Despite the very high bar of getting accepted into the YC program, I don't think YC is trying to be "exclusive" based on excluding people. 90% or more of what pg, sama, and the YC partners tell YC companies can be found online.

I don't think anyone is saying this is better because it's invite-only. I think it's invite-only so they can keep the total # manageable and make sure all the participants are going to be actual builders instead of wasting others time.

Thanks for the reminder! I was planning to apply, but other things got in the way and I would have forgotten.

I like how it says "tonight" but there is no day either on the post or on the thread. Looks like people are posting more than 24hrs ago though, which makes me think the day has already past...

So stoked for this. It's a great community to be involved in. Looking forward to seeing everyone there (conditional on my acceptance, that is)

I want to join, but I don't have a group.

If anyone wants to be in a group with me, you can add me with eli0s"at"live.com.

If I were you, I'd add a little bit about why someone should want to be in a group with you, maybe what skills you have.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am a full-stack web application developer.

Here are the technologies I have experience with.

Python Django, Flask, Bottle Ruby Sinatra, Rails JavaScript Node.js, jQuery, Backbone, Express PHP Jade/sass/less/CoffeeScript

That kind of snark is best suited for other sites. We try to support one another here, where possible.

I just applied and put your email :)

You can find me at ghobrial.andrew at gmail.

cool

What will the hacks be judged on?

The idea and how well it's executed (functionality and design of end product)

Everything?

;)

Thanks for the reminder. I threw in an application just to see what happens.

Any idea of what tools, platforms and services will be available?

I can't wait for this! I hope I'm accepted.

We're currently in PDT not PST.