//October 3–4 · Innovation Park, Notre Dame
SprintHack@ND.
A reverse-pitch hackathon: companies bring real problems, you build the answer in a weekend and demo it to judges from venture and industry. Open attendance, any major, teams form on site.
Sponsored by 
//The weekend plan
Two days, one shipped demo.
Saturday · October 3
- 11:00 AMDoors and kickoffWho is in the room, how the weekend works.
- 11:30 AMReverse pitchesPartner companies present the real problems they brought.
- 12:30 PMTeam formationPick a problem, find teammates on the spot. No pre-made teams required.
- 1:00 PMBuildMentors and judges circulate all afternoon; office-hour signups open.
- 9:00 PMDoors closeCome back Sunday; nothing is judged tonight.
Sunday · October 4
- 11:00 AMBuild resumes
- 4:00 PMCode freezeWhatever runs at 4:00 is what you demo.
- 4:30 PMDemosEvery team presents to the judging panel, 4:30 to 6:30.
- 6:30 PMJudge deliberation
- 7:30 PMAwardsWinners announced; strongest builders invited toward the Sprint Lab.
- 8:00 PMClose
//Last November, on the record
This already works.
SprintHack ran November 16, 2025 at the Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub: a one-day AI hackathon on reimagining workflows. This year it doubles to a full weekend.
The winners
- 1st · $2,000Nexus AICaden Chuang, Gabriel da Silva Marques, José Lima
- 2nd · $1,200Pantry FinderDevotion Chikutuva, Kaza-Zack Kazirukanyo, Anne Voll, Grace Babirye
- 3rd · $800GogogoBrian Joseph, Nnanna John
- Best Technical · $250Pantry IQDavid Kavanagh, Michael Takami, Mark Kelly
- Best Ethical AI · $250Praxis 12Gabriela Sierocka, Joseph Whelpley
- Best Business Case · $250MovieToonsDavid Carr
- Hackers' Choice · $250DonoGadi Montiel, Matthew Cornelius, Diego Rodrigez, Tiarnan O'Rourke
Judges and mentors came from
- EY
- Desync AI
- Critical Data Solutions
- 1842 Studio
Co-organized with Swindar Zhou. Hosted by the Momentum Entrepreneurship Hub.
//For companies
Three ways in. They stack.
The lanes are separable, they stack rather than compete, and picking a shallow one now closes nothing later. Hackathon output, prototypes plus a shortlist of students, is exactly what a three-month program team starts from.
T1 See it run first
Observer
Come to SprintHack as guests, for an afternoon or the whole weekend. Watch companies pitch real problems and student teams attack them. A short talk to the room puts your company in front of every builder there.
You bring
- As much of the weekend as you want
- Optional: ten minutes speaking to the room
You get
- A direct read on the student talent
- The room itself: mentors, judges, and the South Bend industry people around the program
- Proof the model works before you commit anything
No deadline. Show up in October.
T2 The cheap test
Hackathon Partner
You are listed as a SprintHack partner and your problem runs as its own category. Teams work it for two days and pitch back approaches and prototypes.
You bring
- A real problem, scoped with us in one call
- Someone to present it for ten minutes, ideally with a face in the room for the pitch-backs
You get
- Several independent takes on your problem in one weekend, with prototypes
- A shortlist of the students you would want on it for three months
- Cheap validation before anything deeper
Get listed in September.
T3 The full ramp
Program Partner
Scoping in September, the hackathon category in October, then a selected team working your problem October to December in weekly sprints, landing at Demo Day on December 5.
You bring
- One hour a week from a stakeholder
- The data or codebase access the problem needs
You get
- A working deliverable by December, with progress visible every week
- Not a reveal at the end: weekly sprints you can steer
- First look at hiring the people who built it
September, when the fall partner list locks.
ALREADY IN Fall 2026
Goodwill Michiana
A regional institution scaling from $50M toward $100M. The first sprint kills a weekly vendor report that eats a full staff day, with weekly mentorship from an ex-Amazon supply-chain engineer. That is what a Program Partner engagement looks like in practice.
Want in? Email soleksii@nd.edu and we scope your problem in one call.
//The interest form
Tell us you're coming.
Check the hackathon, the lab, or both; reminders and the room details come to your inbox. Students, alumni, and companies all use this form.