Bill Zhang, 23
Bill Zhang: The Hackathon Champion Leveraging His Wins for Real Companies, Careers, and Community
What began as a childhood obsession with playing video games transformed into a lifelong drive to build when Bill Zhang attended a middle school summer camp and wrote his first line of code. Through that iD Tech camp experience, he realized he could actually build the games he spent all his time playing. High school brought another iD Tech robotics program at Stanford, stacking physical hardware skills onto his coding base and establishing a momentum of building that never stopped.
Bill officially joined the hacker community while studying at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC). He entered his very first hackathon after seeing an ad for CruzHacks 2022 - where his team built CoviNet, a COVID tracker that earned the QB3 Prize for Harnessing Big Data for the Improvement of Health Care. "There's this adrenaline rush you get from building something in a weekend and having people recognize it, and I just got hooked," Bill shares. "I kept going to hackathon after hackathon after that…”
That initial win kicked off an incredible streak: competing in over 50 hackathons, accumulating 36+ wins, and earning over $100K in combined team prizes. Hackathons became his ultimate incubator for speed, scoping, and high-pressure execution. These hackathon builds even paved the way for his career, landing him his first internship. During the interview, he walked through a project he built at LA Hacks 2023 - MemGen, an intelligent vector-based cover letter creator. It turned out to be exactly what the company was attempting to build internally, earning him an offer right on the spot.
At UC Berkeley AI Hackathon 2024, Bill and his team built Dispatch AI - a 911 dispatcher copilot. This project won Best Use of Intel AI (earning the team laptops), the AI For Good by Academic Innovation Catalyst (AIC) award, and the hackathon’s grand prize from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund. Combining the AIC and Berkeley SkyDeck Fund prizes unlocked $50,000 in total backing and a Golden Ticket to Skydeck Pad-13. Bill was able to turn his hackathon project into a real startup at a $1M valuation. Transforming a 36-hour prototype into a venture-backed company proved firsthand that hackathons are far more than weekend competitions - they are true startup launchpads.
Bill is dedicated to empowering new builders and strengthening the hackathon community. He co-founded WeCracked, a hackathon community that had over 4,000 members and helped hackers share strategies, form teams, and win. He also published The Hackathon Playbook, a free site offering guides, templates, and pitch strategies compiled from his wins. “I wanted to take everything I learned from competing in 50+ hackathons and make it available to anyone preparing for their first or fiftieth hackathon. I've had people message me saying it helped them win their first prize, and that's honestly more rewarding than any trophy.”
Having experienced hackathons from every angle - starting as a participant, serving as a mentor, sponsoring events through his former position at Scale AI, and returning to LAHacks as a judge - Bill stands as a true pillar of the community and a shining example of the transformative power of the hacker movement. “I think my story shows that hackathons aren't just competitions. They can be launchpads for real companies, real careers, and real communities if you treat them that way."
Today, he continues pushing technical boundaries as a Software Engineer at Pinterest, building internal AI capabilities from discovery to production. Outside of technology, he unwinds by playing the piano, playing drums, and hiking. As he looks back on his evolution from a curious middle schooler to a community leader, Bill credits the hacker movement for shaping his path: "Without hackathons, I wouldn't be where I am today."
Quick Facts
Links
Bill Zhang, 23
Bill Zhang: The Hackathon Champion Leveraging His Wins for Real Companies, Careers, and Community
What began as a childhood obsession with playing video games transformed into a lifelong drive to build when Bill Zhang attended a middle school summer camp and wrote his first line of code. Through that iD Tech camp experience, he realized he could actually build the games he spent all his time playing. High school brought another iD Tech robotics program at Stanford, stacking physical hardware skills onto his coding base and establishing a momentum of building that never stopped.
Bill officially joined the hacker community while studying at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC). He entered his very first hackathon after seeing an ad for CruzHacks 2022 - where his team built CoviNet, a COVID tracker that earned the QB3 Prize for Harnessing Big Data for the Improvement of Health Care. "There's this adrenaline rush you get from building something in a weekend and having people recognize it, and I just got hooked," Bill shares. "I kept going to hackathon after hackathon after that…”
That initial win kicked off an incredible streak: competing in over 50 hackathons, accumulating 36+ wins, and earning over $100K in combined team prizes. Hackathons became his ultimate incubator for speed, scoping, and high-pressure execution. These hackathon builds even paved the way for his career, landing him his first internship. During the interview, he walked through a project he built at LA Hacks 2023 - MemGen, an intelligent vector-based cover letter creator. It turned out to be exactly what the company was attempting to build internally, earning him an offer right on the spot.
At UC Berkeley AI Hackathon 2024, Bill and his team built Dispatch AI - a 911 dispatcher copilot. This project won Best Use of Intel AI (earning the team laptops), the AI For Good by Academic Innovation Catalyst (AIC) award, and the hackathon’s grand prize from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund. Combining the AIC and Berkeley SkyDeck Fund prizes unlocked $50,000 in total backing and a Golden Ticket to Skydeck Pad-13. Bill was able to turn his hackathon project into a real startup at a $1M valuation. Transforming a 36-hour prototype into a venture-backed company proved firsthand that hackathons are far more than weekend competitions - they are true startup launchpads.
Bill is dedicated to empowering new builders and strengthening the hackathon community. He co-founded WeCracked, a hackathon community that had over 4,000 members and helped hackers share strategies, form teams, and win. He also published The Hackathon Playbook, a free site offering guides, templates, and pitch strategies compiled from his wins. “I wanted to take everything I learned from competing in 50+ hackathons and make it available to anyone preparing for their first or fiftieth hackathon. I've had people message me saying it helped them win their first prize, and that's honestly more rewarding than any trophy.”
Having experienced hackathons from every angle - starting as a participant, serving as a mentor, sponsoring events through his former position at Scale AI, and returning to LAHacks as a judge - Bill stands as a true pillar of the community and a shining example of the transformative power of the hacker movement. “I think my story shows that hackathons aren't just competitions. They can be launchpads for real companies, real careers, and real communities if you treat them that way."
Today, he continues pushing technical boundaries as a Software Engineer at Pinterest, building internal AI capabilities from discovery to production. Outside of technology, he unwinds by playing the piano, playing drums, and hiking. As he looks back on his evolution from a curious middle schooler to a community leader, Bill credits the hacker movement for shaping his path: "Without hackathons, I wouldn't be where I am today."
