Hackathin Judge Spotlight

Behind every great build is a thoughtful mind evaluating it. Meet two of our hackathon judges, Moe Katib and Neal McPherson, leaders who know what it takes to spot originality, execution, and impact at scale. Here's what they're looking for, what excites them most, and the kinds of projects that stand out…

Moe Katib

CEO, Pica

![Moe Katib Headshot]
(Choose from the two provided headshots)

What I Look for in a Standout Project
Clarity of purpose, thoughtful execution, and usefulness/value. Bonus points if the team shows taste in design and makes complex things feel simple.

Short Bio / Fun Fact
CEO of Pica. Builder since I was 15. Once invented a water distribution system as a teen, only to have it stolen, learned two lessons: build smarter, and protect your IP or open-source.

What I’m Most Excited to See
I'm excited to see teams ship. Even if it's rough around the edges, building something valuable in a short time is always impressive.

Favorite Project or Cool Example
A web app that pulls your daily calendar events, finds the last few emails you exchanged with each guest, taps into tools like Fireflies to summarize older convos, and, if there’s no history, uses something like Exa to pull relevant info from the web. Smart context, fully automated.

Neal McPherson

Head of Domains Product Management, IONOS Group

What You Look for in a Standout Project
It has to be original, not a copy-cat or a "better than Product XYZ".
The project has to solve a user problem and make me think, wow, why didn't I think of that??? And of course, it has to be beautiful and make me want to use it.

A Short Bio or Fun Fact About You
I have been in the domains business years in a variety of roles, currently leading Domains Product Management for the IONOS Group. Fun Fact: I love silly puns—bonus points for the Best Domain Category.

What You’re Most Excited to See in the Hackathon
How 70k (at time of writing) builders will blow our minds with tens of thousands of original ideas.

A Favorite Project or Cool Example That Inspires You
At the moment I love AI Google sheet plugins. Taking a tool we have known for years and builders are adding their ideas of how to make it better. No more waiting 24 months for Google to roll out the next feature...

More judge spotlights coming soon. Stay tuned as we continue to highlight the people helping shape the future of innovation—one build at a time.