@yarotska.near [Posted on Developer DAO Board](https://near.social/#/devgovgigs.near/widget/Post?id=565) ## Idea: Hackbox: a new unified hackathon approach for the ecosystem I would like to create a plug-and-play solution for those who want to host a Near hackathon. **What is Hackbox?** Hackbox is a DevHub initiative created and tailored for the local leads who want to host a NEAR hackathon for their community. Whenever DevHub needs to host a hackathon, or a local community member applies for a hackathon sponsorship, the Hackbox would be a unified solution providing: + A beginner friendly step-by-step guide + A set of design and communication assets in several languages + 4 hours of 1-on-1 mentorship with NEAR hackathon experts + Budgeting, marketing and scheduling templates + Bounty and judging guidelines + Up to $10k allowance (not including bounty pool) + One-off access to Taikai hackathon platform to host the event **Why do we need it?** Near community constantly generates ideas that need to be funnelled. An open and public hackathon strategy helps the contributors navigate the onboarding process and ecosystem’s needs. A sustained pipeline of hackathons invigorates the community to produce more ideas and creates healthy competition. Decentralized and carefully curated hackathon process might be a solution for this. + 6000+ people hacked on NEAR in 2022 + Hackathon sponsorship requested up to 30 times per year + In-house team can host 4-5 hackathons per year + Hackathons’ diversity and lack of success criteria drain funds and complicate decision making We need to remove the bottlenecks and scale unified, community led hackathons on a budget. Hackbox is designed both for educational beginner friendly hackathons and deeptech hacking sessions dedicated to a certain aspect of blockchain technology. **What does DevDAO expect in the short term?** If DevDAO approves the project, Hackbox will be ready for a beta test for selected regional hubs. After a few successful launches (approximately 3 months), Hackbox will become available for anyone in the community. Applications will be selected in batches every 3 months. A successful Hackbox batch would include: + Up to 100 host applications + 15-20 hackathons hosted in 3 months + Up to 100 participants for each hackathon + Up to 20 eligible submissions for each hackathon + 1-2 most exciting projects move to the next stage with Near Horizon team **Launch budget** I would like to request DevDAO to reserve $55,000 USDC for the Hackbox launch; see the details below: + The team needs 2 full-time contributors for the launch and beta testing with regional hubs: a senior designer ($3,000 for 60 hours of work) and a senior marketing lead ($3,000 for 60 hours of work) + Hackbox will be hosted on a Web3 hackathon platform Taikai ($15,000 for a yearly subscription, dedicated landing page, and an unlimited number of events hosted) + Direct expenses for the first 3 events hosted by selected regional hubs ($30,000 allowance not including bounty payouts) + Marketing costs for launch e.g. paid promotion, swag, reusable promo materials (up to $4,000) **How to apply as a Hackbox local lead** The beta version of Hackbox will be available for testing for the regional hubs, so if you represent a hub, or a local guild, and are willing to become one of the first hosts, please reply in the comments with the following: + Your name and hub/guild location + Your general background in hosting hackathons, meetups and developer focused events + Links to your community groups on telegram or discord, if any + Your telegram handle for me to reach out in the following few days. **Contact me** If you have any questions and/or suggestions, Hackbox team is open for any feedback. Reach out to me, and I will add you to the working group: t.me/yarotska