30 Hackathon Business Business Ideas You Can Start Today [2023]

30 Hackathon Business Business Ideas You Can Start Today [2023]

Interested in starting a hackathon business business in 2023?

We put together 30 of the best hackathon business businesses you can start in today.

For each business idea, we’ll show you real-world examples of other hackathon business businesses to help you see what it really takes.

Here's the full list:

1. Start an automated web browser business ($120K/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$10,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$50
Skills

Joel Griffith from Portland, Oregon, USA started Browserless over 5 years ago, a automated web browser business.

  • Revenue: $10,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1
  • Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

Case Study

It’s a bit of a curvy road in how we got here. Like a lot of businesses out there, browserless was something I stumbled upon while building other things. Kind of like how alchemy was back in the Medieval ages: I was trying to make gold but instead discovered plutonium, if you follow my metaphor.

Being pushed outside of your comfort zone is when the biggest changes can come about, but getting there is incredibly challenging, so get used to not always being in control!

More specifically I was building a wishlist app for my family to use to create birthdays, weddings and holiday lists. The core idea was to gather items from across the internet into one place, as opposed to the way it works now where a single site pretty much “owns” your list. Anyways, while working on this I ran into frequent issues where certain sites didn’t have any product details available via programmatic means. Most of the time this is pretty easy to work around: you simply “get” the site’s contents and parse out the parts you care about. However, certain sites explicitly don’t have this information in their site’s content. You have to have a web browser actually load the page, execute all the code before the data you care about is even there!

how-i-built-an-automation-tool-for-developers-and-grew-it-to-28k-month

2. Become a virtual assistant ($12K/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$1,000 — $850,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$4,289
Time To Revenue
180 days
Skills
Business model

Julmar Grace Locsin from Davao City, Davao del Sur, Philippines started FVA Business Consultancy ago, a virtual assistant.

  • Revenue: $1,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 14
  • Location: Davao City, Davao del Sur, Philippines

Case Study

Ten years ago, my husband and I were working in an office set-up. Due to a mix of struggles experienced, my husband and I decided to quit our job and transition into freelancing. The transition phase was difficult since we didn't have the facilities needed like a computer and internet connection. We worked in an internet cafe for the first month of our freelancing career until we bought our personal computer and had our internet connection.

We had experience downtime in our new career at first, but we grow and learn from our mistakes as we go along. Freelancing changed the quality of our lives, our family, and so with our marriage. We embrace these benefits to realize that if mothers can work at home, they can earn while taking care of their family.

Another thing is the overseas workers. They have been working far from their family to make a living. Those who are exhausted and feel unproductive because of many circumstances like long hours of commute eat a lot of their time, endangering their work-life balance. These are a few of our realizations why we come up with putting Filipino Virtual Assistance. Because we know how difficult it is to work far from our family, we want to empower Filipino families, one freelancer at a time. We want to provide our graduates an avenue to earn dollars at their homes' comfort, without the hassle of traffic, toxicity of the environment, and an excellent opportunity for those who never got the chance to go to College.

on-starting-a-business-training-virtual-assistants

3. Start a learning experience app business

How Much Can You Make?
$40,000 — $475,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful learning experience app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a learning experience app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a learning experience app business ➜

Case Study

Together with my team, we develop a game-based learning platform, and our goal is to make learning loveable for as many large organizations as possible. Our clients are mostly multinational organizations in knowledge-intensive industries, like finance, engineering, telecommunications, IT, or consultancy.

I started Games for Business in 2016, and very quickly, within only 3 years we managed to do projects on 3 continents. Based on our professional and business success, Austria’s largest private education group has acquired the company. When I started Games for Business, I planned to establish a company with which I can achieve international professional recognition, and which will establish my total existential independence. By selling the company, I achieved both of my goals.

how-we-developed-a-40k-month-game-based-learning-platform

4. Start a truly predictive keyboard business

Examples of a successful truly predictive keyboard business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a truly predictive keyboard business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a truly predictive keyboard business ➜

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5. Start an assignment organizing app business

Examples of a successful assignment organizing app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a assignment organizing app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting an assignment organizing app business ➜

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6. Start a vehicle maintenance business

Examples of a successful vehicle maintenance business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a vehicle maintenance business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a vehicle maintenance business ➜

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7. Start a medical & emergency communication system business

Examples of a successful medical & emergency communication system business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a medical & emergency communication system business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a medical & emergency communication system business ➜

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8. Start a health technology system business in rural areas

Examples of a successful health technology system business in rural areas:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a health technology system business in rural areas:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a health technology system business in rural areas ➜

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Check also our other tech startup business ideas.

9. Start a digital shopping performance business

How Much Can You Make?
$3,000,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful digital shopping performance business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a digital shopping performance business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a digital shopping performance business ➜

Case Study

I am Rishi Narayan, co-founder of Underground Printing (UGP), a national custom printing apparel and promotional products provider, headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI. UGP offers screenprinting, digital printing, and embroidery on a wide variety of apparel and promotional products. We have stores throughout the nation in the heart of communities we serve. At UGP, it’s our goal to make your order process as convenient and hands-on as possible.

Since launching the company in 2001 while sophomores in college, UGP has 35+ locations across the country. All of our garment print production is done in our state-of-the-art 55,000 sq. ft. production facility and warehouse, located in southeast Michigan. Our technology and infrastructure allow us to provide the best quality, the lowest prices, and with the shortest turnarounds in the industry. It is these traits that have propelled our growth, allowing us to be ranked among Inc. Magazine’s 5000 fastest-growing companies for 3 years running.

how-i-started-a-3m-month-custom-printed-apparel-company

10. Start a pedestrian safety prototype business

Examples of a successful pedestrian safety prototype business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a pedestrian safety prototype business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a pedestrian safety prototype business ➜

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11. Start a credit score calculation business

Examples of a successful credit score calculation business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a credit score calculation business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a credit score calculation business ➜

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12. Start a remote patient examination business

Examples of a successful remote patient examination business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a remote patient examination business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a remote patient examination business ➜

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13. Start a GPS monitoring business

How Much Can You Make?
$25,000 — $500,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful GPS monitoring business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a GPS monitoring business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a GPS monitoring business ➜

Case Study

Hi, my name is Jared Brown and I am a co-founder of Hubstaff. We started the company eight years ago to build a time tracking tool that included “proof of work”. The initial goal was to solve the issue of non-developer owners and managers not knowing how long development tasks should take and feeling helpless when they suspected the freelancers they hired were billing them for more hours than they were actually working.

We started charging for our product in August of 2013 and we were recently named one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. for the second year in a row. We are about to hit 10,000 paying customers and $6,000,000 in annual recurring revenue.

how-we-grew-our-time-tracking-app-to-10-000-paying-customers

14. Start an university finder app business

Examples of a successful university finder app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a university finder app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting an university finder app business ➜

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Examples of a successful smartphone related information business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a smartphone related information business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a smartphone related information business ➜

16. Start a drone mapping and industrial business

Examples of a successful drone mapping and industrial business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a drone mapping and industrial business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a drone mapping and industrial business ➜

17. Start a real estate AR/VR app business

Examples of a successful real estate AR/VR app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a real estate AR/VR app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a real estate AR/VR app business ➜

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18. Start a vr hardware repairs business

Examples of a successful vr hardware repairs business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a vr hardware repairs business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a vr hardware repairs business ➜

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19. Start a themed content business

How Much Can You Make?
$40,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful themed content business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a themed content business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a themed content business ➜

Case Study

Hey! My name is Marti Sanchez and I am the CEO of Influence Podium. We help B2B CEOs get placed on podcasts their target audience listens to and repurposes those episodes into LinkedIn or Twitter content to grow their personal brand and drive inbound.

We just crossed $30k MRR and are looking to hit seven figures by the end of the year. We’re a young company in our 3rd year in business, and completely self-funded.

how-i-started-a-30k-month-personal-branding-content-service-for-b2b-ceos

20. Start a subscription management business

Examples of a successful subscription management business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a subscription management business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a subscription management business ➜

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21. Start a data processing business

How Much Can You Make?
$2,000 — $1,000,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful data processing business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a data processing business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a data processing business ➜

Case Study

Hi, my name is Manthan Koolwal and I am the founder of Scrapingdog, just outside of Jaipur, India. Scrapingdog is a web scraping API that can help you extract data from any website in just a single GET request. That data can be used for price comparison, sentiment analysis, training data sets, lead generation, etc.

how-i-bootstrapped-a-264k-year-data-scrapping-api-from-india

22. Start a home automation devices business

Examples of a successful home automation devices business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a home automation devices business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a home automation devices business ➜

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23. Start a cash flow management business

Examples of a successful cash flow management business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a cash flow management business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a cash flow management business ➜

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24. Sell luxury smartphones and tablets

Examples of a successful sell luxury smartphones and tablets:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a sell luxury smartphones and tablets:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a sell luxury smartphones and tablets ➜

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25. Start an advertising insights app business

How Much Can You Make?
$10,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful advertising insights app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a advertising insights app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting an advertising insights app business ➜

Case Study

Howdy! My name is Jordan Shamir, and I am one of the co-founders of Yofi, a customer identity platform that helps brands prevent bots and create meaningful relationships with their customers! My co-founders and I started Yofi because we were frustrated constantly needing to pay ridiculous resale prices for our favorite sneakers and concert tickets because we couldn’t beat the bots who were buying all of these items.

how-these-former-resellers-built-a-120k-year-tool-to-combat-bots

26. Start a smart tutoring app business

Examples of a successful smart tutoring app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a smart tutoring app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a smart tutoring app business ➜

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27. Start a referral app business

How Much Can You Make?
$100,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful referral app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a referral app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a referral app business ➜

Case Study

Hi, my name is Kevin Yun. I’m one of the co-founders of GrowSurf, a referral software for tech startups.

We are currently around $25k MRR. All of our metrics are openly available here.

how-we-developed-a-25k-month-referral-software-for-tech-startups

28. Start a parking space finder app business

How Much Can You Make?
$100,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful parking space finder app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a parking space finder app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a parking space finder app business ➜

Case Study

Hey! I’m Patrick Murray. Dad of a 9 month old- husband to a wife who is ageless, and an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. I am Co-Founder and CEO of a company called NOSON, we run the popular parking deal website, onairparking.com.

We sell highly discounted airport parking reservations across the country to very price sensitive leisure and vacation travelers. We are in 27 markets, are doing about $1.2M in revenue a year and have been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc.

how-i-started-a-1-2m-year-business-with-tools-like-typeform-zapier

29. Start a qr code business

How Much Can You Make?
$110 — $100,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful qr code business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a qr code business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a qr code business ➜

Case Study

Hey! I’m Ramy and I’m the founder of Hovercode, a dynamic QR code generator for brands.

It’s still early days so our monthly revenue is only at ~$150, but I’m seeing some good signs and expect that to grow quite nicely over the next few months.

how-i-launched-a-side-project-got-paying-customers-in-just-one-month

30. Start a course finder app business

How Much Can You Make?
$5,000 — $3,735,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful course finder app business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a course finder app business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a course finder app business ➜

Case Study

Paul founded SPUDS, a men’s apparel company based in California. After many prototypes, they launched on Kickstarter and were able to raise $15,000.

Pat Walls,  Founder of Starter Story
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I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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