It’s hard to overstate how excited we are in these final days before the hackathon begins. The Bolt community is so pumped, they’ve even made a hype track. Are you ready to make something amazing?!
Here’s a handy to-do list to make sure you’re ready for May 30:
✅ Make sure you’re registered for the hackathon!!
Not sure? This event is for everyone—not just engineers, coders, or full-stack developers. Our goal is to have zero barriers to entry. Whether you’re a PM, a designer, a front-end visualizer, a back-end warrior, a life hacker, a self-made maker, a vibe coder, or just a person with a good idea—you’re already the right fit.
✅ Decide if you’re building solo or want to find a team.
Either way, a local meetup is a great place to meet and collaborate. We've got 60+ IRL community meetups happening worldwide and RSVPs are filling quickly, so grab a spot if you haven’t already!
✅ Dream up your idea for the hackathon.
The next hype social platform? A modern personal finance tracker? A charitable app that leaves a positive mark on the world? You’ve got this.
✅ Start prototyping!
Free Bolt tokens and other helpful tools will be coming soon exclusively for participants, but we recommend getting familiar with Bolt now. Need help getting started?
- [Read the Intro to Bolt]
- [Watch: Building an App from Scratch with Bolt.new (Full Beginners Guide)]
✅ Attend our AMA livestream tomorrow, May 21!
Members of the Bolt and River teams will be sharing more details about the event, mentors, rules, guidelines, and more. This is a great opportunity to bring any questions you might have as you prepare.
Stay tuned—in just a few days, we’ll announce event sponsors, award categories, and prizes 👀
We’ve been hard at work locking in some incredibly exciting sponsorship for the hackathon, and we’re happy to share that the $1M+ prize list has started rolling out! From a $100k 1st place prize, to regional prizes and plenty of bonus awards…the competition is about to light up.
Aside from 1st–10th and the region-specific awards, we’ll also be awarding winners in categories like Most Viral, Most Likely to Get Funded, Most Beautiful UI, and Uniquely Useful Tool, and many more. Feels a bit like those yearbook superlatives, huh?
Stay ahead of the pack
Watch our Bolt 101: How to be a Bolt Builder, where we go over Bolt’s features, tips for your first project, hackathon tricks, and a live Q&A with the Bolt team.
Builder Pack incoming
Already registered? You’ll soon be receiving the Builder Pack full of helpful rewards and goodies from us and our partners, so keep an eye on your email inbox this week.
Don’t forget to loop in friends as teammates, supporters, or just your personal hype squad. Think they’d like Bolt too? Tell them to register ASAP! They’ll thank you for the upcoming Builder Pack—and even more if they win.
Hackathon starts on May 30th
With only 4 days left, it’s time to lock in. Here’s a list of resources we recommend:
- Getting started with Bolt.new
- Building an app from scratch
- Hackathon hype track
- Join our Discord
- Explore IRL and virtual meetups
- Become a Community Mentor
- Become a Content Creator
- Read the Official Rules
See you in 4 days!!
