Step 01
Throw it in
Write the idea like you'd tell a teammate: what it does, who it's for, what the demo shows. Pick the kind of hackathon, or paste your event's real rules.
Throw it in →
AI shark tank for hackathon ideas
Throw yourhackathonidea to thesharks.
Pitch it in a few sentences. Five AI sharks and the Tank Master argue about it out loud, then tell you which sharks it survived and what to fix before the judges see it.
5 sharks · 10 arguments
~90 seconds · free
Step 1 · pitch it
Who's in the tank
Each shark hunts for one way ideas die, watches its own criteria and speaks in its own voice. They don't agree, and that's the point: an idea that survives all five is hard to kill on stage.
Host
Runs the tank
The Tank Master
Job
Nothing. Calls the verdict and keeps the sharks honest.
“Five sharks, one idea. Let's see what's left of it.”
Hackathon fitWinner pattern
Voice · Daniel / ElevenLabs
Shark 01
Skeptical VC
The Market Shark
Eats
Ideas nobody would pay for.
“Who pays for this, and why now?”
Impact
Voice · Brian / ElevenLabs
Shark 02
Senior engineer
The Build Shark
Eats
Ideas that can't ship before the deadline.
“Cool. What breaks at 3 a.m.?”
FeasibilityTechnical innovation
Voice · Charlie / ElevenLabs
Shark 03
Angel investor
The Story Shark
Eats
Ideas with no reason this team should build them.
“Why is this team the one to build it?”
Concept clarity
Voice · Charlotte / ElevenLabs
Shark 04
Product designer
The Novelty Shark
Eats
Ideas the judges have already seen all day.
“I've seen this ten times. Show me the eleventh.”
OriginalityDemo potential
Voice · Jessica / ElevenLabs
Shark 05
Ex-founder, growth
The Crowd Shark
Eats
Ideas with no way to reach their users.
“Great product. How do the first hundred users find it?”
Distribution
Voice · Will / ElevenLabs
How it works
Step 02
Watch them circle
Gemma 4 writes a real argument between five sharks and the Tank Master, and ElevenLabs gives each one a voice. The first shark speaks within seconds.
Step 03
Count the bites
Which sharks it survived, eight criteria scored, the strength to lean on and the bite to fix first. Share the verdict with one link.
Overall
74
Step 04
Sharpen & go again
Fix the deepest bite, rewrite the pitch and throw it back in. Better to bleed here than on stage.
58→81
How it's scored
Eight criteria. The sharks score each 0–10 while they argue; a slower research pass then scores the same eight 0–100 and looks for similar projects.
Every criterion counts the same. We don't yet have the data to say which one wins hackathons, so we don't pretend to.
- 01Novelty
Originality
Have the judges seen this ten times today?
- 02Master
Winner pattern
Does it look like the projects that actually win?
- 03Master
Hackathon fit
Does it hit this event's rules and prize tracks?
- 04Build
Feasibility
Can a small team ship it before the deadline?
- 05Market
Impact
Does anyone need this, and would anyone pay?
- 06Build
Technical innovation
Is there a real technical problem underneath?
- 07Novelty
Demo potential
Will the room remember the demo?
- 08Story
Concept clarity
Can you say what it does in one breath?
Straight answers
What it isn't.
- A prediction of who wins. It rates the idea as written; teams, demos and polish win hackathons too.
- A judge of your code. It reads the pitch, not the repo.
- A replacement for talking to the people you're building for.
- A chatbot that agrees with you. Five critics who each hunt a different weakness are hard to flatter.
FAQ
Is it free?
Yes, grading your own ideas is free. We're building a paid version for hackathon organizers; if you run one, join the waitlist at the bottom of the page.
Which AI is behind it?
Gemma 4, Google's open-weight model, writes the debate and the panel's scores, and ElevenLabs gives each shark a voice. A second, slower Gemma pass searches the web for similar projects and scores the eight criteria 0–100.
Does a high score mean I'll win?
No. It means the idea, as you wrote it, held up against five tough critics. Treat it as the hardest feedback you'll get before the real judges, not as a forecast.
Who sees my idea?
To run the panel, your text goes to Google's Gemma API and the spoken lines to ElevenLabs. We store the idea and its verdict so a share link can work, but nobody else can read it unless you press Share. Shared links are hidden from search engines.
Can I use my hackathon's real rules?
Yes. Pick “My event” and paste the rules, prizes and judging criteria. The sharks judge fit against them instead of a generic hackathon.
Why sharks?
Friends are on your team and mentors are busy. One chatbot tends to agree with whoever is typing. A tank of critics who each look for a different way ideas die is harder to fool.