This summer, Toast hosted an AI focused Hackathon which was an opportunity for all Toasters to dive into AI tooling and innovate. Our central theme for the Hackathon was intentional learning, collaborative building, and to accelerate our work through the power of AI. And we challenged everyone to explore how AI could help improve our products for customers and optimize our internal processes.

This year, we completely reimagined the event, and it ended up surpassing all of our previous Toast hackathons in both scale and participation. We saw a massive increase in engagement and the number of hack projects compared to prior Hackathons. Because one of our key goals was to be more inclusive, we also saw broad Toast-wide participation regardless of role, location, or technical experience

We saw strong participation from teams across Toast, regardless of their technical backgrounds. We even had engagement from a wide range of locations, with participation from Boston, Bangalore, Dublin, and many remote locations. Ultimately, the hackathon helped us achieve our goal of learning about, experimenting with, and innovating with AI to accelerate our work.

How did we reimagine the Toast hackathon this year? 

One of the biggest changes was extending the Hackathon to a full week, which gave everyone more flexibility for collaborating and hacking while ensuring key deliverables were still met. We wanted folks to have more time for deeper dives, more experimentation with AI tools, and better collaboration across time zones. And feedback from the post-Hackathon survey confirmed that having this dedicated time to focus and experiment and learn was one of the most valuable aspects of the hackathon this year.

We also focused on flexible participation options for all Toasters. We hosted various in-office activities to bring to life that classic, scrappy Hackathon spirit, and we held a mid-Hackathon Livestream so everyone could hear from their peers about what they were up to that week. 

We also introduced the Toast Village expo hall which was open for two weeks to give everyone a chance to explore hack decks and demo videos on their own time. The Toast Village featured hundreds virtual booths and was visited by ~1,200 Toasters who cast a total of ~1,500 votes for their favorite hacks. 

Lastly, we aimed to make the hackathon more accessible to all Toasters. The theme of leveraging AI as an engine to build our ideas meant that Toasters could participate regardless of their technical depth. And we saw that the Hackathon significantly improved our collective understanding of AI tools. In a post-event survey, participants overwhelmingly confirmed that the Hackathon had enhanced their understanding and self-rated proficiency with AI tools.

What key themes did we see across the hackathon projects? 

We saw many hack projects use AI in an attempt to solve problems by automating tasks, improving experiences, and analyzing data. These included tools designed for both internal efficiency and customer-facing features. Another major theme was trying to improve the end-user experience whether it was for diners, restaurant staff, and business owners, etc. These hacks looked at creating new interfaces and features to make interactions more seamless. We also saw hacks focused on streamlining business operations and making internal workflows more efficient through automation and new tools. And lastly, we saw a large number of hacks leverage data for smarter insights. These projects focused on creating dashboards, reports, and analytical tools that aimed to provide actionable insights for our teams and customers.

And what did we see as a result?  

The Hackathon earned a strong satisfaction score, but the Hackathon's success wasn't just in the numbers. We are also exploring how to potentially integrate impactful projects into our product roadmaps and implementing AI automation into our internal processes, and have continued excitement about innovating with AI at Toast!

Looking to host a Hackathon? Consider some of our key learnings! 

• Make it Inclusive and Accessible: Focus on enabling everyone to participate, regardless of their role or technical skill level. Offer flexible participation options, like in-office social hours, virtual events, and showcasing options so folks can see what their peers are up to. 

• Encourage a Wide Variety of Hacks: Frame the event around using AI to solve a diverse range of problems. We saw success with hacks that focused on improving end-user experiences, streamlining internal business operations, and enhancing data analysis, not just traditional product building.

• Showcase the Results: Spotlight standout projects to celebrate the effort and build momentum.  

• Focus on Post-Hackathon Continuity: Have a plan for how to move projects forward after the event. Consider partnering with product managers, program managers, and leaders  to incorporate high-impact projects into product roadmaps and internal workflows.

• Listen to and Incorporate Feedback: Actively compile feedback from participants to refine the strategy for future hackathons. 

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