The Dwolla team hosted its first internal hackathon Thursday and Friday in Des Moines.
Companies such as Facebook to LinkedIn have hosted internal company-wide hackathons to help spur creativity and break employees out of their daily routines. Now Des Moines-based startup Dwolla is joining the list with its first internal hackathon, held last Thursday and Friday.
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“Some of these (hacks) are things we really want to do and it’s not only about creating them but it’s also getting people really excited about an idea that maybe they can’t get other people to visualize,” said Jordan Lampe, Dwolla’s director of communications.
Lampe also noted that Dwolla builder and former Startup Weekend COO Shane Reiser was a huge factor in organizing the two-day hackathon. From tech-heavy endeavors to community builders working on a Dwolla Culture book, the Dwolla staff formed teams based on previous ideas or pitches earlier in the week.
Check out a some of the hacks Dwolla staffers worked on over the course of the two-day hackathon:
- The Voice – Based on the radio contest model, “Riddln” tweets out riddles and Dwolla users respond to receive money for correct answers.
- Hack for Happiness – A Dwolla culture book created to share the company’s office culture includes everything from staff survival tips to a Dwolla Drinking Game.
- KegBot – Allows staffers to scan their RFID security cards to pour a drink from the office keg. KegBot also keeps track of how much each person drinks and sends out a notification to the person who drank the most so they can buy the next keg.
- HR Geek Out – After a group decided that punching a time clock just isn’t part of Dwolla’s culture, they created their own timesheet that takes the tedious process out of calculating hours worked, meal time and over time.
Credits: Photo by Ben Milne from Instagram. Lampe photo from Google Plus.
