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PRANJUL RATHOUR
PRANJUL RATHOUR

Posted on Originally published at pranjulrathour.scult.in

Hackathon judging vs startup pitch judging: two different jobs that look similar

#hackathonjudging #startuppitches #comparison

Both formats put a panel in front of a pitch and a demo, which makes it tempting to judge them the same way. The underlying question each format is actually asking is different.

What each is actually testing

  • Hackathon: did this team build something real, working, in a fixed short window — execution under time pressure is the core signal.
  • Startup pitch: is there a viable business here, with a market, a plan, and a team capable of executing it over years, not hours.

Where judges misfire

Applying startup-pitch criteria (market size, business model, go-to-market) to a 36-hour hackathon project punishes teams for not having solved a problem the format never asked them to solve. Judge each format on what it was actually designed to test.

See what hackathon judges look for for the hackathon-specific version of this criteria set.

About Pranjul Rathour

Pranjul Rathour, GenAI engineer from Kanpur, in a white turtleneck and black jacket, looking to the side
Pranjul Rathour — GenAI engineer, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour speaking into a microphone on stage at a MeetKats event
Speaking at a MeetKats event

Pranjul Rathour holding a microphone while answering a question during a session
Taking questions during a session

Pranjul Rathour in a grey suit at Dr. Virendra Swarup Institute of Computer Studies (VSICS), Kanpur
At VSICS, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour in front of an Integral Startup Foundation hackathon backdrop
At an Integral Startup Foundation hackathon

Pranjul Rathour is a GenAI engineer from Kanpur, India, and CTO at SCULT INDIA, currently shipping production RAG,
fine-tuning and agentic AI systems, mentoring 200+ students through TechVerse Enclave, and judging and speaking at
student hackathons across India. Updated 2026-09-07.

Reach out if you want to talk GenAI, book a campus session, or invite him to judge:

Pranjul Rathour · GenAI engineer, 3x hackathon winner, campus mentor. Open for GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks: pranjulrathour41@gmail.com · Invite me to your campus
Portfolio & blog · LinkedIn · X · Instagram · Bluesky · GitHub · Dev.to

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