Hack the Herd: Real Problems, Real Prototypes, Real Speed. DAC.digital’s First-ever Hackathon Focused on Vibe-Coding and AI Solutions

Three evenings, six projects, vibe-coding. DAC.digital’s first internal hackathon proved that real innovation doesn’t need a huge event or a weekend sprint. All it takes is a challenge, some cross-team curiosity, and a competitive spirit.

Apart from just talking about innovation and AI, we actually build it. Even after hours. From July 7th to 9th, we hosted our first-ever internal “Hack the Herd” hackathon at DAC.digital’s headquarters in Gdańsk, Poland. It was three evenings packed with AI, collaboration, code, and creativity, all in the spirit of learning, rapid prototyping, and solving real problems together.

1. Cross-functional Teams Combined Developers, Marketers, UX Designers, and Business Minds to Exchange Knowledge

We believe in continuous learning so we hosted “Hack the Herd” to:

• Try new tools and ideas like vibe coding, low-code and AI-based frameworks
  
• Share knowledge across departments (from developers through UX to marketing and business development)
  
• Build business awareness in tech teams
  
• Accelerate time-to-market thinking
  
• Most of all: have fun while solving real challenges
  

We focused on three main themes:

• Observability 2.0
  
• Real Customer Problems
  
• Supporting Sales & Marketing
  

As opposed to classic formats, spending 24-48h straight on coding, the hackathon took place in the evenings, after work, with a jury of team leads who also acted as mentors. On the last day, teams had 5 minutes to pitch and demo their ideas in front of the jury and a hybrid audience (some of the team members who couldn’t make it to the office could join us online for the grand finale of the event). And yes, there were prizes!

2. Brainstorming Fueled with Pizza Turned Ideas into Vibe-Coding Sessions by the End of the First Night

It all started a few weeks before the actual event, when our CTO, Krzysztof Radecki, opened the floor for ideas. Anyone could throw something on the table: a pain point, a crazy thought, a tool we wished existed. Teams formed naturally around those ideas, mixing people from different departments who might not normally work together.

Then came Day 1, the kickoff. The teams gathered in the office after hours, grabbed some pizza, and got things rolling. They set their goals, energy was high, and laptops and discussions were heated. By the end of the evening, every team had a vision and a game plan.

Day 2 was a hustle. Brainstorming, design, AI prompts, code. Everyone was deep into their builds and the jury walked around to give quick feedback and sanity checks, but mostly just tried not to disturb the flow.

By Day 3 everybody could feel the momentum. There were last-minute pivots, final Figma updates, and lots of “one more push” energy. Teams polished their demos and rehearsed their pitches. Then, each group got five minutes to show what they’d built in front of the jury. We wrapped it all up with awards, applause, and a sense that something cool had just happened.

3. Hack the Herd Projects that Made it Real with AI

Our teams were a mix of business, data, product, and engineering folks, so it was more than a tech experiment. Here’s what they came up with:

DACIntell (the Winner)

A sales assistant bot that instantly pulls up relevant case studies, past issues, proposals, pricing ideas from our internal docs. Perfect for onboarding new salespeople or preparing for calls with potential clients.

The Reheater

AI-powered tool that reactivates old contacts in HubSpot by finding past leads and launching personalized email sequences automatically.

DACtor

A log analysis sidecar for services like NGINX or QuickFIX/J. It discovers patterns using AI or manual YAML configs, no custom exporters needed. Sends data straight to Grafana and shows a neat dashboard for the end user.

CutLog

Collects structured data from surgeons before and after complex procedures. Helps with benchmarking rare surgeries and supporting hospitals in more informed hiring and healthcare decisions.

General Visual Inspection Tool

A universal computer vision demo with defect detection and industry-specific options. Designed as a quick, self-service sales showcase of our computer vision capabilities.

4. Smart Criteria that Rewarded Practical Innovation and Use of AI

Our jury was made up of DAC.digital’s leadership: 

• Marek Tatara, PhD (Chief Science Officer), 
• Krzysztof Radecki (CTO), 
• Adrian Nicoś (Solutions Architect), 
• Tom Sieroń (Chief Growth Officer), 
• Damian Derebecki (COO).

All of them brought a combination of technical insight and business perspective. They also served as mentors during the hackathon, checking in with teams and offering feedback as the ideas evolved.

When it comes to the evaluation criteria, they looked for a few key things: clever use of AI, clear potential for business impact (internal or external), and if the project taught us something new we could share with others. And the most important of all: the “laziness-to-impact” ratio. In other words, how much return you could get with the simplest possible solution. Add to that technical execution and a sharp, confident pitch, and you had a shot at taking home not just the cash prize, but some serious bragging rights.

“My team got an interesting challenge and jumped right into it. The first day was mostly brainstorming and kicking off the technical work, plus chatting with other teams and a bit of informal team-building. Day 2 was full-on vibe coding. It was great to see how much you can actually get done using tools like Claude or Cursor. On the last day, we added final touches, a few Easter eggs (including a mini-game), and prepped for the presentation. As a team, we worked together really well. One of the biggest takeaways for all of us was how much we learned. That knowledge will help us improve how we work every day. I’m definitely looking forward to the next edition.”

Marcin Poliński, Python Developer, DAC.Intell Team

5. What’s Next?

Some of the projects are already being implemented into our internal workflows to make everyday work easier. Others have real potential as demos for the clients. A few still need some polishing and we’re fully committed to develop them further. Next up, we’ll discuss each project during our weekly Creativity Hour sessions and break down the thinking behind them and how to take them to the next level. And soon, the whole company will get to vote in the peer award because good ideas deserve a spotlight.

We’re calling this hackathon a success. There will be more.

“These three days exceeded all my expectations. The creativity, teamwork, and quality of the solutions were outstanding. We’re definitely planning another edition in the future, and in the meantime, we’ll be refining and applying the results in our day-to-day operations.”

Damian Derebecki, COO at DAC.digital

Do you want to build the future with us, one hackathon at a time?

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