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PRANJUL RATHOUR
PRANJUL RATHOUR

Posted on Originally published at pranjulrathour.scult.in

The questions judges ask in hackathon Q&A, and how to answer them

#hackathon #qa #pitching #judging

Q&A is where I learn the most as an evaluator, because a team's answers reveal what the demo hid. Teams that prepare for these questions look like engineers; teams that improvise look like they got lucky. Prepare all fifteen; you will be asked five.

About the demo

  1. Which part of what we just saw is real, and which is mocked? Answer precisely. Judges reward honesty and punish discovered mocks.
  2. Can you try it with this input? Say yes. If it fails, explain why technically.
  3. What happens when the external API is down or slow? Strong: a fallback or a clear error. Weak: "it wouldn't be".

About the technology

  1. Why this model, database or framework? Strong answers mention the constraint that drove the choice, not the popularity.
  2. How did you evaluate the AI part? Even five test cases with expected outputs is a strong answer; "it seemed good" is not.
  3. Where does user data go, and who can see it? Every team using AI APIs should be able to answer this.
  4. What was the hardest bug, and how did you find it? This is the question that identifies who built what.

About the user and the problem

  1. Who did you talk to? Names or roles, and one thing they said that changed the design.
  2. How does the user do this today, without you? If you cannot answer, you have not understood the problem.
  3. Why would they switch? The honest answer is usually about time or money saved, stated in numbers.

About the team and what is next

  1. What did you cut, and why? The best question on the sheet. Have a proud answer.
  2. Who built which part? Match your answer to who answers the technical questions.
  3. What would you do with another week? Specific and small beats grand and vague.
  4. What did you learn that you did not expect? Judges are teachers; they love this one.
  5. Would you keep working on this? Only say yes if it is true; they can tell.

Rehearse these with your mentor before the freeze. When I run a mock pitch for a team, this is the list I use.

About Pranjul Rathour

Pranjul Rathour presenting on stage in a blue polo, with his Annapurna demo video on the screen behind him
Presenting Annapurna on stage

Pranjul Rathour giving a talk titled 'How and what I do', with demo videos of his products Vaidya and Annapurna on screen
Talking through the products he has shipped

Pranjul Rathour in a black t-shirt holding a microphone in front of a chequered wall
On the mic

Pranjul Rathour pitching with a microphone in front of a projector slide at CSJMU, Kanpur
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour speaking from the podium at VSICS, Kanpur
At the VSICS podium, Kanpur

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 2026-09-06.

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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