A Letter to Everyone Building With Us at DoraHacks 2.0

Dear Builder,

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard the word “hackathon” a hundred times. Maybe you’ve participated in a few, maybe you’ve never been to one, or maybe you’ve always wanted to build something but never really found the right reason to start. So rather than giving you another event description filled with dates, numbers and corporate language, we wanted to tell you what DoraHacks 2.0 actually means to us.

DoraHacks 2.0 started with a fairly simple thought: building should not feel like something reserved for a certain kind of person.

For a long time, the word “builder” automatically meant someone who could code. If you had an idea but couldn’t write software, you were expected to find someone who could. If you were a designer, marketer, storyteller or someone who simply understood a problem really well, there wasn’t always an obvious place for you in the room. But the way we build has changed. AI has made it possible for more people than ever to turn an idea into something real, and we believe this is only the beginning.

We wanted to help them become ready for it first.

Over the course of the fellowship, women from completely different backgrounds, students, creators, designers, marketers, founders, builders and professionals, have been brought into an environment where they could actually experiment with AI instead of just hearing about it. The fellowship was designed around hands-on sessions, challenges, building in public and eventually launching what they created.

And the preparation wasn’t limited to one side of AI.

We had people coming in to teach AI-powered product building, including sessions around tools like Gemini and Codex, alongside people teaching storytelling, filmmaking, creating AI films, product launch commercials and how to actually launch a product through platforms such as Product Hunt, X and communities. The idea was to gradually take someone from “I’m curious about AI” to “I can actually make something with this.” The fellowship also brought in founders, creators and people working across AI filmmaking, AI product building and SaaS monetisation.

We’re expecting a wonderfully mixed crowd this time. There will be developers and engineers who love building from scratch, AI enthusiasts experimenting with what’s possible, vibecoders who are discovering a completely new way of creating software, designers who can turn rough ideas into beautiful experiences, product managers who know how to turn a problem into something people actually need, founders looking for their next big idea, marketers and growth people who know how to get products in front of the right audience, creators and storytellers who can make people care, students coming in with their first big idea, and first-time hackers who may have never built anything at a hackathon before. Some will arrive with a team. Some will come alone. Some will have a polished idea ready to go, while others might figure out what they want to build only after meeting the right person.

And honestly, that’s exactly the kind of room we want.

And that’s also why we don’t really care whether you build everything from scratch. Use AI. Use no-code. Write code. Combine all of them. Use whatever helps you turn the thought in your head into something another person can actually use. We care much more about the problem you’re solving and the product you’re creating than whether every line of it was written manually.

We’ve seen too many hackathons where teams spend three exhausting days building something, submit a GitHub repository, present it to a few judges and then never touch the product again. We don’t want DoraHacks 2.0 to end that way. We want you to experience what happens when your product leaves the safety of the hackathon and meets the real world.

That’s why the journey doesn’t stop at building. You’ll have access to people who can help you think through your product, your positioning, your story, your launch and your first users. You’ll be encouraged to take your product to platforms like Product Hunt and Peerlist, put it in front of people you don’t know, collect feedback and figure out whether what you’ve built actually resonates with someone outside your team.

And you won’t be doing this alone. One of the things we’re particularly excited about is the people who are joining the ecosystem around DoraHacks 2.0. We’re bringing together 50+ mentors, with the wider mentor network reaching even further, across product, AI, engineering, growth, marketing, startups and technology. You’ll find people connected to organisations and ecosystems such as Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, UiPath, NASSCOM, Lovable, Cursor, Gemini and many more. We’re also bringing in speakers and experts from across technology, AI, product, media, startups and the creator economy.

We don’t want these people to simply appear on a poster with a fancy title underneath their name. We want you to actually interact with them. Ask them why your product isn’t working. Show them what you’ve built. Ask them how they’d launch it. Get feedback on your pitch. Challenge your assumptions. Sometimes the most valuable thing you take away from a hackathon isn’t a prize or a certificate. It is one conversation that changes the way you look at your product.

The same goes for the brands and communities supporting this experience. DoraHacks 2.0 is being built at the intersection of AI, emerging technology, developer tools, no-code, Web3, startups and the creator economy. Behind the event is the wider DoraDAO community, a network that has grown across countries, cities, builders, creators, developers and technology communities. So when you enter DoraHacks 2.0, you’re not just entering a 72-hour competition. You’re stepping into an ecosystem of people who can continue to exist in your life long after those 72 hours are over.

And perhaps that’s the part we hope stays with you.

You might come into DoraHacks 2.0 looking for a prize. You might leave with a product. You might come looking for teammates and find co-founders. You might come looking for feedback and find a mentor. You might come with an idea that you aren’t even sure is good and discover that hundreds of people actually want it. Or you might simply discover that you are capable of building far more than you thought you were.

There is no requirement to arrive here with everything figured out.

You don’t need a perfect idea. You don’t need a startup. You don’t need years of experience. You don’t need to be the best coder in the room. You don’t even need to have participated in a hackathon before.

You just need to be willing to start.

For 72 hours, we want to create an environment where you can stop consuming and start creating. Where you can take that idea you’ve been carrying around and finally give it a shape. Where you can meet people who are just as curious, ambitious and slightly crazy about building things as you are.

And yes, there will be winners. There will be judges, prizes, showcases and a ₹2 Crore prize pool. But honestly, the bigger win would be leaving those 72 hours with something that didn’t exist before you started.

Something you can put your name on.

Something you can launch.

Something you can show your friends.

Something that solves a real problem.

Maybe even something that becomes much bigger than a hackathon project.

That’s the bet we’re making with DoraHacks 2.0.

We’re betting that if you put the right people, the right technology, the right mentors and a little bit of pressure in the same place, incredible things can happen.

So when the clock starts on 20 August, don’t worry too much about whether your idea is perfect. Don’t spend the first few hours wondering if you’re good enough to be here.

Just start building.

We’ll figure out the rest together.

See you inside DoraHacks 2.0.

With love,
Team DoraDAO