Design Hackathon

What Is a ThinkLab Hackathon?

A ThinkLab Hackathon gives the industry clarity on what is changing and what to do about it.

Through yearlong research and ecosystem collaboration, we surface early signals others are just beginning to notice. We combine quantitative data, qualitative insight, and generative working sessions to uncover what is really happening and what it means for strategy, sales, marketing, and growth.

Each Hackathon is sponsored by forward-thinking manufacturers and powered by SANDOW’s reach, bringing together voices across the built environment.

The goal: Move beyond conversation and produce actionable intelligence the industry can use.

Gen Z is not a trend. They are an early signal.

Through our structured Gen Z Cohort, we study how this digital-first generation communicates, builds trust, defines loyalty, and makes career decisions. Rather than relying on stereotypes, we use real-time dialogue and research to translate their instincts into practical insights for firms and manufacturers.

Building on the research featured in Amanda Schneider’s TED talk and her forthcoming book Work for What’s Next, this Hackathon reveals how generational shifts are reshaping culture, recruitment, leadership, and brand loyalty.

If you do not understand how decisions are being made today, you cannot win tomorrow’s work.

Buying decisions are more complex, more distributed, and more scrutinized than ever before. This Hackathon reveals how corporate, healthcare, hospitality, and other end users are evaluating partners and products—identifying who holds influence, where trust is built, how risk is assessed, and what is stalling approvals.

The result is a clearer roadmap for navigating longer sales cycles, managing more stakeholders, and successfully meeting higher scrutiny.

The sales journey is no longer purely physical or digital. It is phygital.

Every disconnected touchpoint creates friction, and friction costs momentum. This Hackathon uncovers how specifiers discover, evaluate, and select products across showrooms, reps, websites, social platforms, events, and peer networks.

You gain clarity on where influence is won or lost and how to design a seamless, trust-building experience that shortens sales cycles and strengthens brand loyalty.

AI is reshaping marketing, but the design industry operates differently than most sectors.

What works in tech or CPG does not automatically translate to a relationship-driven, specification-based ecosystem. This Hackathon delivers industry-specific clarity. We bring in leading thinkers from outside the industry, then translate those insights alongside non-competing peers.

The result is smarter application, clearer governance, and AI strategies grounded in the realities of reps, specifiers, long sales cycles, and brand trust.

Brands relying on yesterday’s definition of luxury risk becoming invisible.

Luxury residential is evolving rapidly in expectations, spending patterns, and definitions of value. This Hackathon reveals how affluent clients are making decisions today—identifying what signals trust, where experience outweighs product, and how discretion and personalization drive long-term loyalty.

The result is clearer positioning, stronger designer relationships, and a sharper strategy for winning in a high-touch, high-expectation market.