Thank you for the positive feedback, @Axia. Glad the format resonated.
You’re right that this functions closer to a short-term incubator than a traditional hackathon. During the event, @Kaf_Anode and I should be available, interacting with builders, providing ongoing guidance and mentoring to teams building on Rootstock, not just judging at the end hoping for the best.
On post-event follow-through, the most promising projects that aren’t ready to go on their own can be invited into the grants program, adopting a focused and structured product vision, go-to-market strategy, and a milestone-based approach with clear deliverables and KPIs. And twenty days of building gives these teams a real head start.
On a more active role for delegates beyond grant reviews, this connects well to the discussion we had recently. I think audit facilitation programs like you mentioned are a great idea worth exploring, and this kind of event could be a good testing ground for that kind of expanded support. I think those are two discussions to keep building on.
If executed well, I agree this could serve as a template for how the Collective approaches event sponsorship going forward. Low cost, high builder engagement, and a clear pipeline back into the ecosystem.