← Back to the event site

For Hack Club leadership and Gap Years

The proposal, in full.

Everything below is the internal case for the collaboration: what Exea Labs is committing to handle, what we are asking for, why we think it fits, an estimated budget, and an honest board of what is actually built versus still an intention. Nothing here changes what a participant would experience - it is the argument for why this should happen at all.

Proposed in collaboration with Hack ClubCurrently being developed for Hack Club consideration

15What Exea Labs handles

We are not asking Hack Club to run this. We are asking for help making it good.

Seventeen workstreams, with the honest status of each. Several are barely started. None of them are things we expect somebody else to do.

WorkstreamStatusNotes
01Event concept and structureactiveThree-stage format, pathways, and the research-to-product spine.
02Website developmentactiveDesigned and built in-house. You are looking at it.
03Participant platformprototypeProject pages, feed, build logs, hour tracking, team matching.
04Compute accessin progressAllocation, queueing, and support run by Exea Labs infrastructure.
05Research structureactiveProblem bank, starter kits, weekly feedback loop.
06Challenge designactiveThree pathways with separate rubric weightings.
07Participant onboardingready to developGuides, office hours, and a first-week path for total beginners.
08Application systemready to developRegistration, allocation requests, and finalist selection flow.
09Judging frameworkdraftRubric, judge briefing, and per-pathway calibration.
10Mentor outreachupcomingRecruiting, scheduling, and briefing mentors.
11Venue outreachupcomingSourcing and negotiating venues in all four confirmed cities.
12Logistics planningplannedSchedule, catering, equipment, and on-site operations.
13Project trackingprototypeMilestones, build logs, and compute accounting per project.
14Community moderationplannedFeed moderation, conduct enforcement, and escalation paths.
15CommunicationsactiveAnnouncements, participant comms, and post-event write-up.
16Branding and designactiveIdentity, illustration system, print, and signage.
17Documentationin progressRunbook so the event can be repeated by someone who is not us.

NoteStatus labels are self-assessed and deliberately unflattering. Nothing on this list is finished, and a few things have not started. We would rather show the real board.

16What we are asking from Hack Club

Mostly, we are asking to be told what is wrong.

The financial ask is small and last on the list. The valuable part is the guidance, the community, and an experienced organizer telling us which parts of this plan will not survive contact with reality.

the top two matter most
What would help most

Partnership guidance from a Gap Year

The single most valuable thing on this list. Someone who has run a Hack Club event telling us where this plan is wrong before we find out the expensive way.

Help shaping it inside Hack Club culture

We built this to fit the ecosystem, but we are outside it. Tell us what reads wrong, what is too formal, and what would make students actually show up.

Access to the Hack Club community

A channel, a Slack presence, a place for participants to find each other and for us to answer questions in public.

Help promoting the event

Reaching students who have never had GPU access is the whole point, and it is the part we cannot do alone.

Very useful

Operational guidance

Venue contracts, insurance, minors policy, food, and the twenty logistics problems experienced organizers already know about.

Introductions to mentors, volunteers, and venue partners

Warm introductions are worth more than a list. Especially in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City.

Advice from Undercity organizers

An hour with someone who ran a multi-day in-person build event would materially improve this plan.

Open, if it fits

Possible fiscal sponsorship through HCB

If appropriate, running event finances transparently through HCB. Open to whatever structure makes sense.

Possible event funding

A modest contribution toward the in-person final. Our current estimate keeps the Hack Club specific ask small, potentially under approximately $4,000, excluding travel and lodging.

Support with participant travel

The hardest line in the budget and the one that most determines who can attend. Entirely subject to partnership and funding.

Possible inclusion under You Ship, We Ship

If the format fits, we would love to explore it. If it does not, we would like to know why so we can fix the format.

NoteThe exact partnership structure is completely open for discussion. This list is a starting point, not a set of conditions, and we would rather be told which parts are unrealistic.

17Why it fits Hack Club

Nine principles, and what Catalyst does about each.

We did not design an AI event and then look for a place to put it. The three-stage shape exists because a research project that never ships is not a Hack Club project.

01

Students building real things

Every Catalyst project ends as a working artifact. A research finding with no artifact does not finish the event.

02

Learning by doing

Nobody is taught AI research here. They are given compute, a question, and people to ask, and they find out by running it.

03

Shipping projects

The final day is a demo and a public publish. The research stage exists to make the shipped thing worth shipping.

04

Global community

The online phase is open worldwide, and the compute removes the hardware barrier that usually decides who can take part.

05

Accessible participation

No credentials, no institutional affiliation, no GPU of your own, no cost to enter.

06

Ambitious youth-led events

Organized by students, for students, at a scale that is genuinely hard. That is the Hack Club pattern.

07

Open-source culture

Every project publishes its repository. Datasets and evaluation harnesses get released, not hoarded.

08

Peer collaboration

Team matching, a public feed, build logs read by strangers, and cross-team help at the final.

09

Unconventional technical creativity

The pathways reward a weird question answered well over a safe question answered predictably.

The research stage is not meant to end with a paper. It exists so that what gets shipped on the last day is something a student could not have built in a weekend.

18Inspired by what Hack Club already does best

The final takes its shape from Undercity. The six weeks before it are what is new.

Catalyst is not affiliated with Undercity or any existing Hack Club event. The in-person final takes inspiration from what those events do well.

Undercity-style strengths we are borrowing

  • Ambitious building over a compressed multi-day sprint
  • A travel-supported gathering that puts people in one room
  • A collaborative environment where teams help each other
  • Hardware and software creation side by side
  • A final showcase that everyone builds toward

The layer Catalyst adds

  • An extended online research period before anyone travels
  • Free GPU compute so the ambitious version is possible
  • Structured experimentation with a documented method
  • AI-focused pathways from first project to original research
  • Research documentation treated as a real deliverable
  • A deliberate step turning technical findings into a shippable product

19Later, maybe

One event first. Regionals are a different conversation.

We are including this only so the ambition is visible. It is explicitly not part of the current request, and it is not worth discussing until the first event has actually run.

The proposal on the table
  1. Global online round
  2. Regional semifinals in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City
  3. One final in San Francisco

This is what we are asking about for year one: three West Coast cities, proven once, before we talk about anywhere else.

Possible future version
  1. Global online round
  2. Regional semifinals in more cities, including outside the West Coast
  3. National or international final

Only worth discussing after year one actually happens and we can show it worked.

Not part of this request

NoteHack Club has not approved or endorsed this event. This site is a proposal. The regional format above is a hypothetical future version and has not been proposed to anyone.

20Estimated budget

Every number here is a guess. Move the slider and watch which ones matter.

Nothing below is a quote. The point of this tool is not the total, it is the shape: the event itself is inexpensive, and participant travel is the line that decides everything.

40
Estimate
Total, everything on

$10,850

Excluding travel and lodging

$3,650

  • VenueShared / to discussestimate

    3 to 4 days of space with power, tables and overnight access. Outreach has started; no venue is confirmed.

    $0
  • FoodShared / to discussper personestimate

    Roughly 9 meals plus snacks and caffeine across the sprint.

    $1,800
  • Participant travelSeparate fundingper personestimate

    The largest and least certain line. Would need separate budgeting and its own funding conversation. Not assumed in the core ask.

    $7,200
  • LodgingSeparate fundingper personestimate

    Depends entirely on venue type. Overnight-at-venue removes this line; it is why venue and lodging are decided together.

    $0
  • Local transportationShared / to discussper personestimate

    Airport shuttles and transit passes for the sprint days.

    $600
  • Event materialsExea Labsestimate

    Signage, stickers, printed research posters, name badges, the sticker table.

    $300
  • Hardware and partsShared / to discussestimate

    Shared bench stock: microcontrollers, sensors, cameras, cables, a soldering station or two.

    $500
  • Internet and powerShared / to discussestimate

    Uplink capacity and distribution. Non-negotiable when 40 people are pushing to remote GPUs.

    $0
  • Insurance and permitsShared / to discussestimate

    Depends on venue and region. Unknown until a venue is real.

    $0
  • Printing and documentationExea Labsestimate

    Research posters, the printed program, the physical logbooks.

    $150
  • Prizes and project grantsShared / to discussestimate

    Small continuation grants beat trophies: money that lets a project keep going after the event.

    $0
  • Emergency reserveExea Labsestimate

    The line that stops a single surprise from ending the event.

    $300
The actual request

Our current expectation is that Hack Club specific financial support would stay relatively limited, potentially under approximately $4,000, excluding any larger travel or lodging commitments that would need separate budgeting. Exea Labs expects to carry the platform, compute, and program costs. These numbers are planning estimates and are not final.

  • No figure on this page is a quote or a commitment.
  • Travel and lodging are excluded from the core request and would be budgeted separately.
  • Costs change substantially with venue type, region, and finalist count.
  • We would rather revise this number with Hack Club than defend it.

NoteNo figure on this page is a quote, a commitment, or a final number. Placeholder values live in data/budget.ts and are meant to be replaced with real quotes as they arrive.

21Preparation status

What is actually built, and what is still an intention.

This board is useful precisely because it is not all green. If it were, either we would be lying or we would not need the conversation.

Last updated: Placeholder date, update before sharing

Concept development

active

Three-stage structure, pathways, and rubric drafted.

75%

Website prototype

active

This site. Built as the foundation for the real platform.

70%

Participant platform

prototype

Project pages, feed, build logs and team matching designed and mocked.

35%

Compute access

in progress

Exea Labs already distributes cloud GPU compute to students. Event-scale allocation model still being sized.

55%

Challenge design

active

Three pathways defined. Problem bank and starter kits in progress.

50%

Judging framework

draft

Rubric drafted with per-pathway weighting. Needs external review.

40%

Mentor outreach

upcoming

Target list drafted. No confirmed mentors yet.

15%

Venue outreach

upcoming

Four confirmed cities. Initial enquiries only. Nothing booked.

10%

Funding plan

draft

Estimated budget built. Core ask kept small. Travel funding unresolved.

30%

Safety and conduct

in progress

Code of conduct and responsible-use policy drafted, not yet reviewed.

45%

Hack Club partnership

proposed

This proposal. No approval, endorsement, or commitment exists yet.

5%

Branding and identity

active

Catalyst identity, illustration system, and site design built.

80%

Percentages are self-assessed and rough. They exist to show relative readiness, not to claim precision about work that has not happened yet.