At PubMatic, hackathons are not just events; they are a celebration of creativity, collaboration, and innovation. In the past, hackathons have led to the creation of many of our successful products like our header bidding wrapper, OpenWrap, and our identity solution, Identity Hub.
We had record-breaking participation this year, from more than 320 employees across seven PubMatic locations. During the hackathon, our teams engaged in the conceptualization and execution of innovative solutions including:
- Improving the serving of ads on CTV/OTT channels.
- Increasing the yield of online video ads.
- Software optimizations to scale the delivery of ad impressions on the PubMatic platform.
The teams leveraged applications such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to make PubMatic Hackathon 2023 a success with a range of potential business implications, and there were a diversity of ideas explored and built upon. Most impressive was how relevant these concepts are to marketplace challenges and opportunities.
Here are 5 key aspects of the event:
- Innovation and experimentation – These intense, time-bound events bring together diverse minds to tackle challenges and create solutions that push the boundaries of possibility. This encourages employees to think outside the box, experiment with new technologies, tools, and ideas without the fear of failure. This freedom often leads to groundbreaking solutions.
- Rapid prototyping – It involves creating a simplified, functional version of a project or solution to demonstrate core features and functionality. This, in turn, accelerates the process of turning ideas into prototypes, allowing for tangible demonstrations of concepts that might otherwise take much longer to develop.
- Skill enhancements – The participating teams have a deep understanding of our business and the knowledge of cutting-edge technology which provides an opportunity to learn from each other, enhance their technical skills, and gain exposure to new technologies.
- Mentorships and networking – Our hackathons offer mentorship sessions and workshops led by in-house subject matter experts, helping participants refine their ideas and skills during the event. They provide excellent networking opportunities with collaboration across functional teams, bringing a well-rounded approach to problem-solving.
- Celebrating teamwork and cultivating connections – The pressure to deliver a functional prototype within a short period fosters quick decision-making and efficient teamwork. It brings together individuals with diverse skills to develop solutions to specific problems within a constrained timeframe.
With engineers back working in the office, better results were achieved; whiteboarding ideas, meeting face-to-face and interacting in real-time significantly enhanced the experience and the overall implementation of ideas. In the process, teams cultivated strong connections as they collaborated and worked with cross-functional stakeholders both in-person and across the globe to ideate, gather data, validate the relevance, and quantify the impact.
PubMatic Hackathons are more than just competitions; they’re opportunities to learn, innovate, and connect with a community of passionate individuals.
