This is an interesting idea I'd like to see expanded beyond the health space. Not sure if Hackathon is the right term anymore. Investathon?
I can see it now. A panel of computer geeks in skinny jeans grills a lineup of white-haired VCs about their investment ideas. After a long deliberation period, they throw out all the ideas except for one. They offer to commit engineering resources to the chosen investor under a strict set of terms and conditions (an engineering "term sheet"). I'd pay to watch that.
What if the winning hackers win at two of your events, and are funded for two different companies but aren't interested in the problem after the weekend - except for the running around money.
Is the money in the form of 'a gift which could be used to run a company for a couple of months'?
Who would collect the money, just one of them in their bank account?
Who monitors the teams afterwards - or is that just up to the your sponsor/the investor?
Basically, I like the idea - but I'd be tempted to use it to allow me space to concentrate on my primary software idea more, rather than a 3 day event health hackathon solution. As an investor, I'd be worried that I'd be 'herding cats' getting three teams of three random people (for example) to continue a project they don't genuinely care about and eventually have just lost that money.
-What if the winning hackers win at two of your events...
-Being that this is invite only - I don't plan on having the same teams at two events.
-Is the money in the form of 'a gift...
-Nope, it's an actual seed investment from an angel group. Terms, equity, etc. will apply (but don't have to be accepted if you'd rather bootstrap)
-Who would collect the money, just one of them in their bank account?
-Good question, and one I need to think more on. The assumption, since it's an investment, is that they'd create a Delaware C corp and it would be property of the newly founded company. We're not directly involved in this process but will be trying to help keep things moving smoothly.
-RE Herding cats:
-Most investments will come after a 3 month 'build-a-thon' for teams that impressed their investor/company partner. Band of Angel investments (aka prizes) might happen at the end of the weekend.
I can see it now. A panel of computer geeks in skinny jeans grills a lineup of white-haired VCs about their investment ideas. After a long deliberation period, they throw out all the ideas except for one. They offer to commit engineering resources to the chosen investor under a strict set of terms and conditions (an engineering "term sheet"). I'd pay to watch that.