Hackathons are fun events. Lots of creative energy. Fueled by the constraint of time. All other barriers are eliminated.

But they are even better when they aim to solve specific problems (eg. TechCrunch Disrupt.)

The problem we are aiming to solve: Serving a different demographic than mainstream or TV news currently reaches. People who are interested in local news and what is happening where they live, are technically savvy, extremely mobile and desire one place to find all the news – regardless of news brand – to discover that which is relevant to them. By relevant, we imply news that an audience wants and needs it because …

• it’s related to their interests
• is close to where they live
• is related to other news they have read
• it’s popular or recommended by other people who share their interests
• it’s generating significant buzz in among your community of shared interests or close to where they live

We are not the only ones trying to solve this problem, of course. Ben Huh is taking a different approach with his Moby Dick Project, for example. But it’s one that we think the Seattle tech community is well-positioned to tackle. And we hope that this event will contribute to building a stronger tech and startup community in Seattle.