A hackathon is an organized event where participants work together to build a product or tool. Hackathons are about creativity, learning, and exploration. A developer that is participating in a hackathon is often working on something that is outside of their normal day-to-day focus. 

Hackathons can provide significant value to the participants. Hackathons have led to friendships, new companies, and newly developed confidence that can be critical to a developer who feels uncertain in their ability to launch their own projects.

Jonathan Gottfried is a co-founder of Major League Hacking, an official student hackathon league that powers invention competitions. Major League Hacking is a B corporation that is focused on improving the education and community of technology leaders, entrepreneurs, and young hackers.

Jon joins the show to discuss hackathons–and how he has built and scaled an organization that is devoted to creating systematically successful hackathon experiences.