---
id: hackathon-participants
title: "Hackathon Participants — Public Signals & Competition"
type: research
status: active
owner: ivan
created: 2026-02-19
updated: 2026-02-19
tags: [hackathon, research, participants, competition]
---
# Hackathon Participants — Public Signals & Competition
## Public Sharing
Minimal. Event is in ~48 hours, heavy pre-event hype phase. No Devpost/gallery, no widespread "here's my idea" posts from registered participants.
## Project Ideas
**None confirmed for this exact event.** Broader Feb 2026 MCP ecosystem themes:
- SecureOps AI (private DevSecOps with 4 autonomous MCP agents)
- GitHub repo scanner → LLM-generated professional report → PDF export
- NEXUS / ContextWeaver / QueryMaster (intelligent routing, context management)
- Multi-agent MCP servers (TS-based master + sub-agents, Neo4j/Qdrant)
- MCP Guardian (security/policy enforcement), Vision agents
**Common themes people are gravitating toward:**
- Agent orchestration/scaling/security/privacy
- Dev/tools integrations (GitHub, IDEs, APIs, cloud)
- Context/data management + RAG-style workflows
- Business/ops automation with interactive UIs
- Multimodal/voice extensions
**Less saturated**: Vertical applications with polished chat-native UX (vs. pure infra/devtools).
## Solo vs Teams
Mix, leaning solo-friendly but teams encouraged. 218 in group chat implies many solo registrants + on-site team-forming.
## Skill Distribution
- **Heavy on engineers/builders** (full-stack, AI/dev tools).
- "Vibecoders" (AI-assisted builders) explicitly welcome.
- Some product/design focus for compelling UIs.
## "Celebrity" Participants
None publicized. Hosts/organizers are the "celebs" (Manufact team). Jon Xu (YC GP) is judging.
## Differentiation Opportunity
Huge — almost zero competing ideas are public:
- **Go vertical/niche + user-delight focused** with polished interactive UIs.
- Avoid crowded generic agents/devtools.
- Leverage the format: in-person YC office = networking + judge feedback.
- Build something production-ready/scalable for 800M+ ChatGPT/Claude/Cursor users.
Sources: X, LinkedIn, Reddit, web searches, event pages.
