Talk to Users Makes Customer Reaction Part of the Hackathon Clock
Most hackathons protect the build from the customer until the product is finished enough to defend. Talk to Users is putting the reaction inside the clock.
Twenty technical teams will spend twelve hours building a feature for one vertical while Sense AI connects them with people matching the intended customer profile. Teams can ship, test, listen, revise, and return to the user before the final demo. More than $10,000 in prizes and product credits are listed across the event.
The organizer also names office hours with founders from a16z Speedrun and Y Combinator companies, including leaders from Athena, Oasiz, PreMan, Dial, Pavoot, Lumeria, and MochaCare. Stripe, Base44, Cognition, Sense AI, Daytona, Fish Audio, MongoDB, Bright Data, and Clerk.com appear across the listed host and partner group. The crowded infrastructure matters less than the discipline underneath it: the build has to encounter somebody outside the team while there is still time to change direction.
The final demo will show what each team built. The iterations before it may show something harder to manufacture: the moment a user made the original idea less comfortable and the builders chose to keep listening.
Event details
- Date: Saturday, October 10, 2026
- Time: 09:00-22:00 PT
- Location: SOMA, San Francisco, CA
- Format: Hackathon, Pitch Event / Demo Day, Roundtable / Workshop
- Hosts: Stripe, Base44, Cognition, Sense AI, Daytona, Fish Audio, MongoDB, Bright Data, Clerk.com
- Registration: [Official SF Tech Week event page](https://www.tech-week.com/calendar/sf/events/talk-to-users-hackathon-2ea9ffb9-d4c2-410f-b45c-94eab588be96?src=mcp)
Registration status, capacity, meeting details, and program information can change. Use the official event page for the latest organizer updates.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many teams will participate?
The organizer lists twenty technical teams.
How does user testing enter the hackathon?
Sense AI will match teams with target users so builders can test and iterate during the event.
What is the event duration?
The official listing runs from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Pacific on October 10.
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