AI Hackathons

    AI hackathons that turn your problems into working builds

    Practical application beats theory. In a Day Seven AI hackathon your team builds real, usable AI solutions to a genuine internal challenge — guided hands-on by our experts, using the AI tools you already use.

    Why a hackathon

    Most teams learn AI in the abstract — a webinar here, a course there — and never actually apply it to their own work. A hackathon flips that. It forces real application, against a real problem, in a short window. Your team finishes with something usable in their hands and lasting momentum to keep going.

    Real problem

    Anchored to something your business actually cares about.

    Real build

    Working prototype or solution by the end, not slides.

    Real momentum

    Skills, patterns and confidence to keep building after.

    Our signature format

    The Day Seven Sprint

    Seven days from problem to working solution

    It's where our name comes from — by Day Seven, your team has gone from an idea to something real, with a plan to keep it going.

    Phase 1·Day 1

    Discover & plan

    We work with your team to pin down the real problem, map where AI fits, and plan the build — so Day 2 starts with a clear target, not a blank page.

    Phase 2·Days 2–6 · Five full days of building

    Build

    Five solid days of building. Your team builds real, working products, automations and workflows for your area of the business — using the AI tools you already use: Claude, ChatGPT/OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, with our experts hands-on alongside them.

    Day
    2
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    Phase 3·Day 7

    Embed & what next

    Wind down, demo what you've built, and map how to maintain, roll out and scale it — so the momentum doesn't stop when the sprint ends.

    Not got a full week? We also run shorter, focused sprints scaled to your scope.

    How our hackathons work

    Step 1

    Start with your real problem

    We work with your team to surface a genuine internal challenge worth solving — not a contrived case study. The hack is anchored to something that actually matters to the business.

    Step 2

    Find the AI angle

    We map where AI can realistically help, what 'good' looks like, and what's out of scope — so your team starts the hack with a clear, achievable target.

    Step 3

    Build it for real

    Your team builds working solutions using the tools you already use — Claude, ChatGPT/OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, plus automation. Our experts guide hands-on throughout.

    Step 4

    Walk away with something usable

    A working prototype or solution to your real problem — plus the skills, patterns and structure for your team to keep building long after the hackathon ends.

    Formats

    Flexible from a focused one-day sprint to a full week — scaled to what the business can give us.

    1-day sprint

    A focused single-day hack on one tightly-scoped problem. Best for proving the model and energising a team.

    2–3 day hack

    Deeper exploration with time to iterate. Teams can tackle more ambitious problems and ship more polished builds.

    Full-week programme

    Multiple parallel teams, multiple problems, leadership showcase at the end. Designed for org-wide momentum.

    What makes this different

    • We don't just run a workshop — we design and structure the hack around your team and your problem
    • Real internal challenges, not generic exercises — so the output is genuinely usable
    • Hands-on expert facilitation throughout, not just a kickoff and a debrief
    • Built on the AI tools your team already uses, so the skills transfer the day after
    • The format centres on applied learning with your tools and a defined internal challenge

    Who it's for

    Innovation and transformation leads looking for tangible AI output, not just awareness
    L&D teams who want applied learning, not another lecture
    Function leaders (ops, marketing, HR, finance) ready to put AI to work on real problems
    Any team that wants practical, applied AI adoption — fast

    Frequently asked questions

    Our signature seven-day hackathon format — and where our name comes from. Day 1 is discovery and planning, Days 2–6 are five full days of hands-on building with our experts alongside your team, and Day 7 is demo, embed and roll-out planning so the momentum doesn't stop when the sprint ends.

    Our signature format is the seven-day Day Seven Sprint. We also run shorter, focused sprints (one to three days) scaled to your scope when a full week isn't possible.

    No. Our hackathons are designed for business teams using everyday AI tools — Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and automation platforms. If a team is more technical, we scale the build complexity to match.

    A working prototype or solution to a real internal problem, the skills and patterns your team used to build it, and a structure they can re-use for the next problem.

    Whatever you already use. We design the hack around your stack — typically Claude, ChatGPT/OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, plus automation tools like Make, Zapier or n8n.

    A workshop teaches; a hackathon delivers. In a Day Seven hackathon your team applies what they've learned to a genuine business problem and produces something usable — guided by our experts, not just hearing about it in theory.

    Start with a real internal problem, not a hypothetical one. Agree what "good" looks like and what is out of scope before anyone opens a laptop. Give the team the AI tools they already use rather than something new to learn. Put experienced facilitators in the room for the whole build, not just the kickoff and the demo. Finish with a working prototype and a plan for who maintains it. Day Seven designs and facilitates all five of those steps, and the format scales from a focused one-day sprint to a full week with parallel teams.

    Cost depends on format, team size and how many parallel groups you run. A one-day focused sprint on a single tightly scoped problem sits at the lower end. A full-week programme with multiple teams and a leadership showcase sits at the upper end. Tell us the scope and headcount on an initial scoping call and you get a fixed quote, not a range.

    You can move a whole team from access to applied capability in a week, and that is what the Day Seven Sprint is built for: Day 1 to frame the problem, Days 2 to 6 to build, Day 7 to demo and plan the rollout. What a week will not do is make everyone an expert. It will produce working builds, a shared standard for how AI gets used, and enough momentum that the next wave is easier. For a whole organisation we run the sprint in rolling waves by cohort rather than all at once.

    Specialist AI trainers who build alongside your team throughout, not a compere who opens the event and returns for the demo. Delivery is online over Teams or Zoom, or in person.

    Design your AI hackathon

    Tell us about a problem your team is wrestling with. We'll come back with a hackathon format, structure and facilitation plan to turn it into a working build.

    From challenge to prototype

    From challenge to prototype
    FocusWhat it coversWhat we agree with you
    DiscoverFrame a real internal problem and success criteriaData access, tools and boundaries
    BuildGuided hands-on prototyping using your stackTeam roles, format and feasibility
    EmbedDemonstrate the build and plan next stepsOwnership, evaluation and any work needed before rollout

    Illustrative use cases

    These examples show possible applications, not client projects or results. Exercises and deliverables depend on the agreed scope.

    Document triage
    A team could prototype sorting sample documents and sending uncertain cases to a person for review.
    Knowledge assistant
    A team could explore answering internal questions from approved material, testing unsupported answers before any wider use.

    Trusted by

    Teams we've worked with to build practical AI capability.

    GXO logo
    SharkNinja logo
    Velociti logo
    Studiospace logo
    GXO logo
    SharkNinja logo
    Velociti logo
    Studiospace logo

    Day Seven has delivered AI enablement work for GXO, SharkNinja, Velociti and Studiospace.

    This is company-level experience, not a claim that each organisation bought the particular service described on this page.

    Learn about the Day Seven team and how to choose an AI training provider before deciding who to work with.