HackBAC

Incubator Program

Overview

HackBAC prides itself on cultivating genius in an intentional space designed for upper middle school and high school students, all participants emerge with concepts of solutions to real-world problems.

Since its inception, HackBAC has had a decidedly different approach to innovation. Most hackathons end, winners are dispersed, and few of the ideas ever get the momentum or development necessary to advance. For most hackathons, the learning ends when the hackathon ends.

In the past, a few winners were selected at HackBAC for what was essentially a one-time grant, while the rest were given a couple of sentences of feedback from panelists. Instead of getting bogged down in outdated practices from a grant model, HackBAC 2025 provides a unique and comprehensive post-hackathon experience. HackBAC takes around 3.5 days to accomplish. Teams are formed, problems identified, brainstormed, researched, and synthesized into a pitch within the timeframe. Now comes the real work.

To continue the ideation and entrepreneurial conversation, four intentional, objective-oriented meetings are scheduled to allow Genius Groups to move their idea from pitch to prototype. Many of these topics were touched on during the hackathon and will be revisited for deeper learning and understanding.

Additionally, our previous programmatic partner, General Assembly, will join us to provide a workshop on determining potential users to prepare the winning team for a five-week design sprint that will produce a high-fidelity prototype. Genius Groups mentors will continue to assist in the process of ideation.

The final deliverable will be a recorded pitch presentation.