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Judging Criteria

What are the judging criteria?
Here’s what our judges are looking for. Each section is weighted equally. Be sure to review and discuss with your team before you start hacking.

Business Model
How does the team plan on making this a successful business? Have they thought about (either solved or identified problems) competition, how to scale, acquiring customers, their revenue model etc?

Customer Validation
Are teams building something that people actually want? How well does the team understand their customer and their customer’s needs. Did the team get out and talk to customers? What is the value proposition to customers?

Execution & Design
Have they established a “Minimal Viable Product” for the weekend (software, hardware, landing page, storyboard etc.)? *Note: an MVP is the minimum set of features to be able to start collecting data. Does it deliver a compelling and captivating user experience? Were they able to demo something functional?

What is HackLBS?

HackLBS is London Business School's annual hackathon. HackLBS brings together the brightest business minds, genius hackers, and design gurus from across the world to indulge in three days of product design madness and to come up with solutions to tomorrow's most pressing issues. Teams will be mentored by the experts and leaders in London's entrepreneurial ecosystem, pitch in front of notable venture capital and angel investors, and create lasting partnerships.

One of the most intense and exhilarating experiences of my time in London!
– Alex J., HackLBS 2016 participant

A business focused hackathon, #designingthefuture and building real businesses to solve real issues:
HackLBS teams will be judged on Business Model (can it make money?), Customer Validation (do people want it?) and Execution & Design (does it lead to a minimum viable product?)

The challenge

HackLBS is where ideas become businesses. Bring your ideas and skills and join with leading business minds to create an MVP with the potential to become the next UK unicorn.

LBS alumni such as Renaud Laplanche (Lending Club), Ayan Mitra (CrowdBnk), and Ismail Ahmed (WorldRemit) demonstrate the possibilities that are created when the practical business know how of LBS combines with the UK's top tech talent.

This year’s Hackathon builds on this momentum by combining the business masterminds of LBS with the city’s top technical and design talent. Together, we can create the world of tomorrow.

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The prize

A guaranteed place on LBS's Launchpad program (basically an extended hackathon/ incubator), and prizes worth over £3000.

2016-2017 Highlights

Schedule

Day 1

Team Formation

Day 2

Hack on & Mentorship

Day 3

Pitch and Roll!

Hackathon Day 1 - Feb 9th
6:00pm Registration & Pizza
6:30pm Welcome & Overview
7:30 pm Pitch your ideas
8:45pm Teams form, register and discuss plan of attack
(Teams will be sent mentor booking forms that night)

Hackathon Day 2 - Feb 10th
9:00am Arrive, breakfast & coffee
9:30am Morning briefing
10:30 Meet the mentors
11.00 Mentor sign-up sheet available
12:30pm to 2:00pm Lunch available @ The Bite
1:00pm Mentor office hour starts
6:00pm Dinner in the Dining Room

Hackathon Day 3 - Feb 11th
9:00am Arrive, breakfast & coffee
1:00pm Lunch
2:45pm Submit presentations & stop working!
3:00pm FINAL PRESENTATIONS
4:30pm to 5:00pm Judging & awards

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Judges and Mentors

Raju Sarma | Partner & Managing Director, BCG Digital Ventures - Judge

Raju is a long-term growth strategist and digital innovator whose deep expertise in tackling mobility challenges extends across the entire transportation sector — from connected cars and consumer experiences to travel and tourism. Most recently, Raju was the executing partner for Shell’s first innovation sprint , Meteor, which led to the incubation of OneBill and DailyProphet.

Jeff Skinner - Judge

Jeff is the Executive Director of the Deloitte Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. He teaches on several entrepreneurship courses at the School and leads many of the co-curricular activities supported by the Institute, including the London Entrepreneurship Review and the TELL Series.
Full Profile

Marko Srsan | Program Manager at Techstars - Judge

After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and spending an Erasmus semester abroad at ICHEC in Brussels, Marko obtained a Master's degree in Business at the University of Zagreb.
Marko is founder of TimePrep, an iOS time management app for CFA candidates. He joined Techstars as an Associate in the London Winter 2014 program and became a Program Manager and successfully led Techstars London 2015, 2016 and 2017 cohorts.

Nick Stocks | Principal at White Star Capital - Judge

Nick is a Principal at White Star Capital based in their London office, identifying opportunities and supporting their portfolio companies across Europe.
In his previous role as Principal at Global Founders Capital, a $850m stage-agnostic global fund, Nick led and participated in over 30 transactions across four continents.
Full Profile

Raphael Ani | Head of Intelligent Mobility at Wayra UK - Judge

Raphael leads the Intelligent Mobility Acceleration Programme at Wayra UK. Wayra UK is a leading digital accelerator that is part of Telefónica Open Future_, the open innovation programme that integrates the different initiatives of the whole Telefónica Group related to entrepreneurship and innovation.

Andrew Tollington | Persuasion Consultant - Judge

Andrew is a software entrepreneur, persuasion consultant and pitch-master. Since 2006, he has pitched deals ranging in value from £300 to £30,000,000 in various contexts - across a coffee table, across a board table, to a room of thirty people and to one individual, as part of a team or alone. He is a chartered accountant, chartered marketer and alumnus of London Business School. He is also a guest lecturer on behavioral economics at University of the Arts London and teaches pitching at University College London. Recently he helped people pitch artificial intelligence, coffee plantations and investment on the BBC’s Dragons Den.

Rania Svoronou | Senior Visual Designer at IBM Interactive Experience - Mentor

Rania is the Lead Visual Designer for a major client at IBM UK Interactive Experience in the London Design Studio. She mentors junior designers and at a number of design colleges in London and she focuses on empowering the next generation of women in design. IBMiX nominated her for the ‘Women in IT Awards - Rising Star’ for 2018 and she has been shortlisted for the ‘Greek International Women Awards’ on the ‘Arts & Design’ Section.
Full Profile

Farid Haque | Co-Founder of AssetVault - Mentor

Farid is the Co-founder of the Techstars London winning startup AssetVault. Also a finalist at SXSW 2017 Fintech stream and part of the MunichRe Accelerator 2017 batch. AssetVault recently qualified amongst a small group of companies to be selected into the FCA Sandbox (a highly competitive regulatory programme created by the FCA to fast-track highly innovative Fintech businesses). Farid has lived and worked in over 10 countries and currently resides in London.

Charlie Reid | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Charlie is a recent LBS alum (MBA2016). During his MBA, Charlie worked for an early stage VC, looking for investments in the edtech sector. Prior to LBS, Charlie worked in corporate finance, helping raise early stage finance for tech businesses following a stint in Transaction Services for KPMG in London and Hong Kong

Graeme Burns | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Graeme is a recent LBS Alum (MBA2016) who works in BCG's Technology Advantage practice. During his MBA he was the Editor in Chief of the London Entrepreneurship Review and worked as a Seedcamp Startup Mentor and Business Development Exec for an early stage smart-cities & logistics start-up. Originally a telecommunications engineer from Sydney, Australia, he now specialises in digital strategy, customer experience design and product/service development.

Jarryd Porter | Project Leader at BCG - Mentor

Jarryd is a Project Leader at BCG and LBS alum (MBA2014). At BCG Jarryd works mainly with Financial Institutions and Travel Companies on business strategy, transformation and disruptive break-out growth business ventures. Jarryd has topic expertise in Trade Finance (including Blockchain) and Loyalty programmes.

During his MBA at LBS, he worked at Google and Move Guides (during Series A funding round), as well on his own B2C loyalty new business venture.

Atulya Mittal | Senior Venture Architect at BCG Digital Ventures - Mentor

Atulya is a Senior Venture Architect at BCG Digital Ventures. He joined the London office September 2017. Atulya has worked in banking, metals, mining, food, logistics and most recently the auto industry. His most recent venture was an electric mobility startup designed to bring the advantages of electric transportation via 2-wheelers to the masses in India. Concurrently he also led the development of a digital platform for a traditional logistics and trucking company.
Atulya has a BSc. Econ (Finance) from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania (2007) and an MBA from the Harvard Business School (2013).

Alexander Oppermann | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Alexander joined BCG after graduating from a Master in Finance at LSE and is part of the private equity practice.
Before to his masters, Alexander founded and exited several companies including a service provider for insolvency lawyers and banks, a manufacturing business in China, real estate private equity projects and a fintech startup

Pol-Herve Floch | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Pol is a recent LBS alum (MBA2016) and green-tech enthusiast. During his MBA, he worked with a start-up to identify new markets for their innovative heat to electricity conversion devices. Prior to LBS, Pol spent 6 years in consulting focusing on the Energy sector.

Steve McMeikan | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Steve is a recent LBS alum (MBA2017). During his MBA, he supported a software start-up to raise two rounds of Angel investment, and improve its strategy to focus its resources on the most promising target industry. Prior to LBS, Steve spent five years in commercial finance at Procter & Gamble.

Tom Moon | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Tom is a doctor and a Senior Associate at BCG where he works predominantly in the public, healthcare and social impact sectors. Over the last 6 months he has pro bono been helping a small charity with their strategy review. Prior to BCG, Tom spent 4 years working in London teaching hospitals as a physician. He won his first healthcare hackathon in October 2017 although past performance is not indicative of future results

Jessica Hart | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Jessica is an Engineer by training; after graduating from the University of Manchester in Electronic Engineering she worked in software development before joining BCG.
Since joining BCG in November 2017, Jessica has worked across a range of industries, including financial services, industrial goods and private equity. She is currently working on a project in the public sector.

Matthew Sinclair | Engineering Director at BCG Digital Ventures - Mentor

Matt has spent much of the last 25 years building stuff with bits. Prior to moving to the UK from Australia in 2015, Matt was involved in a number of start-ups as an early stage employee or founder, as well as working for big and small banks in online and mobile banking and payments. Matt is currently the Engineering Director for BCG Digital Ventures in London where he has worked on ventures such as Coup (Berlin), FarePilot (London) and WonderBill (London). Back in Australia, Matt is still part owner of an native finger lime orchard in the Hunter Valley. Matt has a Bachelor of Information Science (Newcastle) and an MBA from Australian Graduate School of Management. He bloviates on Twitter and blogs on medium as @matthewsinclair.

Kosta Kolev | Venture Architect at BCG Digital Ventures - Mentor

Kosta started his first company at the age of 18 and since then has gone on to launch 3 more separate startups. As an entrepreneur he has built teams, developed products and raised capital multiple times. Kosta has also consulted with companies including Accenture, Procter & Gamble and Frog Design.

One of Kosta’s biggest passions is bringing together Fortune 500 companies, governments, entrepreneurs and universities to nurture open innovation. He has led programs and accelerators including StartupBus, HackTrain, HackTheHouse, HK Designathon and MIT Kickstart.

Erin Maxwell | Consultant at BCG - Mentor

Erin is a recent LBS alum (MBA2017). During the MBA, she was co-president of the Impact Consulting Club, managing one of their projects her first year. Prior to LBS, Erin worked at Accenture focusing on eCommerce implementations and digital strategy. She is now working on a digital transformation for a retail client.

Steven Kok | Project leader at BCG - Mentor

Steven Kok is a core member of BCG's Technology Advantage in London
He is one of the topic leads on IT&Ops strategy, Agile and DevOps, Open architecture and Blockchain
He has 10 years in consulting and industry experience.
Prior to BCG, Steven worked at Oliver Wyman, and Barclays.
Steven has an Electronics Engineering degree from ITBA, an MBA from ESADE.

Conrad Young | MD at FoodFw - Mentor

What McKinsey describes as a "tri-sector athlete" - a creative and entrepreneurial leader who has worked all along the spectrum of public good to private profit - from the UK's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, through trade associations and NGOs to a high growth company acquired by a Fortune 500 consultancy. And now immersed in the gritty and rewarding business of running his own venture: FoodFw.

Umar Ahmed | Co-Founder and CFO of XYZ Reality - Mentor

Umar is currently working on a disruptive Tech Start-Up in the construction space.
Umar's previous experience includes working as a Strategy Analyst in Shell's Downstream Technology Division where he was responsible for driving the Strategy of emerging technologies including AR/VR, Blockchain and Analytics.

Courtney Carlsson | co-founder of Paradym - Mentor

Courtney's background is sales and marketing, and operations in global markets.
She is currently co-founder of Paradym, whose mission is to demystify personal growth and self awareness using a multimedia platform on app.
Courtney completed her MBA at London Business School in 2016. Prior to this she has 5 years of experience in global sales and marketing. At Celine, LVMH she oversaw sales of $ 52mn annually. After Celine, she joined The Row, a luxury startup, for a more entrepreneurial role. There she created a strategy that grew her division's global sales by over 100% in just one year.

Omar Itani | co-founder of Paradym - Mentor

Omar's background is in thematic investing, global macro strategy, and devising accurate world views.
He is currently co-founder of Paradym, whose mission is to demystify personal growth and self awareness using a multimedia platform on app.
Prior to this Omar was a thematic investor in the Global Macro Group at Balyasny Asset Management. Before that, Omar spent three years advising a multi-billion family office on their thematic investment strategy.
Omar also holds an MBA from London Business School with a concentration in Economics. He holds a BS in Maths and Economics from the American University of Beirut, which he attained at age 19.

Cameron Miller | co-founder of Mori - Mentor

Cam is presently developing a new digital lifestyle brand focused on personal growth.
Previously, Cam was Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at MORI (babymori.com), where he was responsible for building our babywear essentials brand and community through the creative use of design, marketing and technology. In the summer of 2016, he represented the brand at the 500 Startups Mountain View accelerator.

Prior to MORI, Cam studied an MBA at London Business School and held various roles in Australia, France and the UK - in engineering, business development, finance and event management.

During spare time, he enjoys reading about philosophy and personal growth, playing the guitar, surfing and kiteboarding at every opportunity, and exploring nature in its most pristine forms.

Sunil Oberoi | Co-founder & COO, Laika Network - Mentor

Sunil is a UK based entrepreneur building and running his own ventures from over 5 years now. His current cloud based online media venture is now a profitable business which was bootstrapped from scratch and never had to raise any investor funds. Top clients include well known names like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Phil Collins .
Full Profile

Juan Pablo Caicedo | Founder of Sportskred - Mentor

After graduating from LBS, Juan Pablo co-founded Sportskred, an online platform connecting brands and athletes for social media sponsorship deals. The idea of Sportskred was conceived during the 2015 LBS Hackathon. Juan Pablo is currently focused on studying the blockchain technology and advising projects in the industry, as well as sharing his passion for this technology as a speaker and through his YouTube channel “Bitcoin, Blockchain y Crypto en Español”.

Ricardo Tannus | Co-founder of Global Dinners - Mentor

Ricardo is a computer engineer with a masters in management from LBS. His passion for people and technology and his fascination for the power the right connections have in people's lives led him to co-found Global Dinners. Global Dinners is an adaptive networking platform that uses a proprietary profiling technology to bring together people over food, sharing a meal and a discussion.