Apply to a cohort

A recurring hackathon, run like a startup sprint

From git init
to investor yes.

Vibe2Pitch isn't a weekend of pizza and Red Bull. It's a three-week arc that takes a room of strangers from cold intros to a validated idea, a working build, and a pitch deck — ending on a stage in front of real investors.

Apply to a cohort See the full arc ↓
01

Not a hackathon-in-a-night

Most hackathons ask you to design, build, and present in 24 hours. We stretch the same ambition across weeks, because real validation takes longer than a caffeine high.

02

Research before you write code

Teams form first, then spend real time on customer discovery and data sourcing — before a single prompt gets vibed into an editor.

03

Built for the pitch, not the demo

The finish line isn't a working build. It's a founder-grade pitch deck and a room of investors deciding whether to write a check.

The full arc

Three weeks, one idea, one stage.

Every cohort runs the same six beats. Dates flex per city; the sequence never does.

Day 1Evening

Meet & Greet

Builders, designers, domain experts, and the pitch-curious show up with nothing but a problem they care about. Lightning idea pitches, structured mingling, and teams of 3–5 lock in before anyone leaves the room.

team formationidea speed-dating
Days 2–5Sprint

Customer Discovery

Teams leave the building. Ten interviews minimum, cold outreach scripts provided, mentors on call. Half the ideas here get re-scoped or killed outright — that's the point of doing it now instead of after the build.

market researchinterview quota: 10+
Days 6–9Access

Securing Data

A validated idea is only as real as the data behind it. Teams work with our partner data providers to request API access, licensed datasets, or sandboxed records — and learn to negotiate terms like it's their own company, because for three weeks, it is.

data providersaccess & licensing
Days 10–15Build

Vibe Coding Sprint

Only now does anyone open an editor. With a validated problem and real data in hand, teams vibe-code the MVP — fast, iterative, AI-assisted builds judged on whether they prove the thing works, not on elegance.

AI-assisted builddaily standups
Days 16–20Narrative

Program Mgmt. & Deck-Building

A program manager keeps every team honest on scope and timeline while they translate three weeks of research and code into a ten-slide story: problem, market, solution, traction, ask. Deck reviews run nightly.

PM check-insdeck workshops
Day 21Finale

Pitch Night

Six minutes on stage, four minutes of Q&A, one investor panel. Every team that survives the arc gets a real slot — no elimination rounds, no filler acts.

investor panellive pitch

The playbook

What teams actually work on.

Four disciplines, running in parallel across the arc — not just a build sprint with a demo bolted on.

DISCOVERY

Customer & market research

Structured interview scripts, TAM/SAM sizing worksheets, and a mentor bench of former founders to pressure-test the problem before anyone commits to a build.

ACCESS

Data provider sourcing

A vetted bench of data partners — market, geospatial, financial, health, and consumer datasets — offering cohort teams short-term, sandboxed access.

DELIVERY

Program management

Every team is paired with a PM who runs standups, tracks scope creep, and makes sure "vibe coding" stays aimed at the problem, not a feature detour.

NARRATIVE

Pitch deck construction

Deck templates built from real accelerator formats, nightly review sessions with pitch coaches, and a dry-run night before the investors ever see it.

Where it lands

One stage. Real investors. Your six minutes.

Pitch Night closes every cohort. It isn't a showcase for parents and friends — it's a working session with an investor panel that has written checks before, asking the same questions they'd ask in a real diligence call. Teams present what they validated, what they built, and what they'd do with a pre-seed check.

FORMAT6 min pitch + 4 min Q&A
AUDIENCEAngel & pre-seed investors
TEAMS PER NIGHT8–12
OUTCOMEFollow-on intros, not trophies

Who's in the room

You don't need a co-founder yet. You need a seat.

Teams form at the meet & greet, not before. Come with a problem, a skill, or just curiosity.

Builders

Engineers & vibe coders

Comfortable turning a validated problem into a working prototype fast, with AI tools doing the heavy lifting on syntax so you can focus on the product.

Operators

PMs, researchers & analysts

You run the discovery interviews, wrangle the data access requests, and keep the team's scope honest when the build wants to wander.

Storytellers

Designers & pitch leads

You turn three weeks of raw research and rough code into a deck an investor actually leans forward for.

Logistics

Before you apply.

Do I need to arrive with a team or an idea?

No. Most participants arrive solo. Teams and ideas both form live at the meet & greet — bring a problem you care about if you have one, but it's not required.

How much time does this actually take?

The arc runs three weeks, but it's built around evenings and weekends — roughly 6–10 hours a week outside the opening night and Pitch Night itself, which are full sessions.

What if our customer discovery kills the idea?

That happens to roughly a third of teams, and it's treated as a milestone, not a failure. Teams that pivot early with a re-scoped, better-validated idea are common finalists.

Who are the data providers?

A rotating bench of partners across market, financial, geospatial, health, and consumer data — confirmed per cohort and introduced during the Securing Data phase.

Is there a cost to apply?

Applying is free. Selected teams pay a materials fee that covers venue, mentor time, and Pitch Night production — waivers available on request.

Next cohort is forming now.

Apply as a builder Apply as a data provider