Build a Hackathon Platform for Co-working Spaces

Shared office spaces, hot desk providers, and flexible workspace operators. A hackathon platform solves a core problem: run a hackathon from team signup through to judging, with project submissions, scored rubrics across multiple judges and a public leaderboard.

Co-working Spaces professionals deal with managing desk and room bookings across locations and tracking memberships, credits, and access permissions. A purpose-built hackathon platform handles multiple judges per project with aggregated scores, judging rubrics with per-criterion scoring, project submission with repo and demo links, so you can focus on the work that actually matters.

MVP features (launch in 8-16 hours):

- Participant signup and team creation

- Submission form for project links

- Simple score entry for judges

Advanced features (add later):

- Weighted rubrics per sponsor track

- Judge conflict rules so nobody scores their own team

- Score normalisation across judges

- Live leaderboard during judging

- Sponsor dashboards and prize allocation

This hackathon platform is achievable with the right tools. We recommend starting with the MVP and iterating based on real user feedback from your co-working spaces clients.

Lovable: Build complete web applications by chatting with AI. Lovable handles the frontend, backend, and deployment so you can focus on your vision rather than technical details.. Free tier available: Limited generations. Difficulty: beginner. Learn more about Lovable.

Supabase: The open-source Firebase alternative with a PostgreSQL database, authentication, instant APIs, and real-time subscriptions. Build your backend in minutes, not months.. Free tier available: 500MB database, 50MB file storage, 50K monthly active users. Difficulty: intermediate. Learn more about Supabase.

Vercel: Deploy your frontend with zero configuration. Vercel provides instant global deployments, automatic SSL, and seamless integration with Git for the ultimate developer experience.. Free tier available: 100GB bandwidth, serverless functions, analytics. Difficulty: beginner. Learn more about Vercel.

Here are some ways co-working spaces businesses use a hackathon platform:

- University hackathon with sponsor prizes: Adapted for co-working spaces workflows and terminology.

- Internal company build day: Adapted for co-working spaces workflows and terminology.

- Community AI hackathon with public voting: Adapted for co-working spaces workflows and terminology.

Every hackathon platform we build is customised to the specific needs of your co-working spaces business. No generic templates.

You have two paths:

Build it yourself. Join a buildAcademy cohort and build your hackathon platform in 3 weeks with expert guidance.

Have us build it. We scope your co-working spaces hackathon platform project, quote a fixed price, and deliver within 8-16 hours to 2 weeks. Learn more about buildAgency.

Either way, you end up with a working hackathon platform built specifically for co-working spaces professionals.