SumUp Hack Week 2024: Where 300 Heads Are Better Than One

Hack Week is always one of the major highlights of SumUp's annual calendar. Let's look back at the successes of our 2024 edition.

Hack Week: innovation and teamwork

Hack Week is one of our favourite initiatives. It's an epic week when SumUp colleagues worldwide meet up to collaborate and share ideas. Everyone is divided into teams, which means working with people from different cultures and backgrounds. Can you think of a better way to develop new ideas?

Our Hackers come from Engineering, Product and Design (EPD) and other departments from SumUp offices worldwide. They may have different experiences, but they share a passion for getting things done and a drive to innovate. That's what makes our Hack Week so special. It's all about putting new minds together to develop new ideas in a cool, creative environment.

For five days and nights, our teams worked on their special Hack Week projects, taking them from pitch to polished product. Even after everyone went home, the Hack Week fun didn't end. The projects are still going strong, with the momentum from Hack Week driving them forward.

Why we love hacking

Hack Weeks have become a major part of collaborative culture in tech companies. They're a great strategy for fostering innovation at work. Don't believe us? Ask Mark Zuckerberg. Way back in 2007, when Facebook was still just a baby company, he ran a hackathon, during which some creative staffers came up with the idea of the like button. The rest is history.

SumUp Hack Week is inspired by hackathons and Hack Weeks that have taken place at other tech companies - but of course, we put our special spin on it. This is our chance to embrace cross-functional teamwork and get together with our colleagues from around the globe. It may be a cliché, but sometimes teamwork really does make the dream work.

How does Hack Week work?

Hack Week starts with ideas. Before the week kicks off, we gather up proposals. By the time the fun begins, we have some pitches in place - but they're pretty basic. Essentially, we begin with the bare bones of the ideas, and our Hackers step in to flesh them out.

Each team is assigned a captain. From the start, their job is to attract and recruit other SumUppers to the team. They must choose wisely to get the right balance of people, ensuring the team has the strengths it needs to shine. Then it's time to get to work. Our teams spend the week collaborating, turning those basic pitches into something bigger, bolder and more exciting. At the end of the week, everyone presents the fruit of their labours. We award some prizes for the most innovative, exciting ideas - and then all the Hackers get to celebrate with a party.

Is Hack Week a waste of time?

It's natural to be sceptical of things like Hack Week, particularly if you're unfamiliar with SumUp corporate culture. You might wonder why we feel the need to pull SumUppers off their regular projects and have them go hacking. Hack Week projects, by their very nature, are experimental, theoretical and quite far removed from the long-term projects that make up our day-to-day work.

There are plenty of benefits of Hack Week for employees. Hack Week allows them to refresh, reset, and try something new. We remove the limits that govern our normal projects, so Hack Week is all about unbridled creativity. Think of it as giving people the chance to play in a SumUp sandbox for a week, then take those bright ideas and good vibes back to the office. It's this kind of initiative that makes so many people love working at SumUp.

Plus, Hack Week projects don't just get thrown out at the end of the week. We're really proud of our Hack Week track record. In 2023, 28% of the projects that started out at Hack Week made it into production. That's pretty awesome, don't you think? It's the kind of success rate you only see when so many different people come together with their own unique points of view.

What happened at SumUp Hack Week 2024?

Each year, we choose a different theme for our Hack Week. This year, we went for "SumUp the Parts" because true value occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We reckon that's the perfect theme for an event that sees so many different people coming together to create something big. This year, we saw almost 300 people attending from across our different SumUp locations.

Our theme was also reflected in our challenge this year. We asked our SumUppers to take two or more SumUp products or services and put them together into something new, fresh and innovative - and did they rise to the challenge? Of course, they did! Putting their heads together, our SumUppers came up with some brilliant, novel ideas. They took our much-loved SumUp products and services and twisted them in exciting ways that we never could have dreamed of.

Want to know more? Well, we're not sharing our Hack Week ideas...not yet, anyway. Some are still being worked on, so we will keep them under wraps for now. We're confident you'll love them when we're finally ready to unveil them, so keep watching this space!

Is Hack Week just about working?

Of course not. We know that creativity flourishes in the right atmosphere - and that's not an atmosphere of 24/7 work. That's why our Hack Week isn't about grinding out the hours in an office. Think of it as more like a summer camp for innovators. Yes, our Hackers spend the day working with their teams, but there are lots of social events and opportunities for everyone to let their hair down and make friends.

Each year, we choose an epic location. In 2024, that was Albania. Our hacking took place in the Pyramid of Tirana, a fantastic building that has been converted from a museum into one of Europe's most fabulous convention centres. We thought this unique, funky structure would be the perfect place for our SumUppers to get inspired - and we were right.

Plus, this year, we had the added fun of Super SumUp Summer, which was the perfect way to relax and unwind after Hack Week. That allowed our Hackers to spend an extra few days in Albania. They travelled to the beach town of Dhërmi for some well-deserved fun in the sun. All-day beach parties with other SumUppers from around the world? Sounds like a plan!

Learn more about life inside SumUp.

What do our Hackers say about Hack Week?

Let's be honest: we wouldn't keep running Hack Week if people didn't like it. Fortunately, our SumUppers absolutely love this week. Here's what some participants have to say about Hack Week:

"I learned so much from our tech teams. Now I know what back-end end versus front-end, open design means, and just understanding how they think and how they usually work brings together the two worlds of product and operations and helps bridge the gap. Speaking the same language. I think it will be beneficial in the future." - Lina Hoelker, Head of Product Operations, Berlin.

"What's good about hack week is that you really stop your day-to-day work to spend time testing new things and learning new tools and experiments. This is something that you wanted to do when you were working on the unit but did not take the time to do. So, this week is giving you this opportunity." - Caroline Plin, Product Manager, Paris.

"Experiences like Hack Week and Super SumUp Summer for me to define the culture of SumUp in general because we all can come together to do amazing things, hang out together, have fun on the beach, and still support growth and the culture that we want to see in the company as a whole." - John Carrera, Senior Software Engineer, Boulder.

What would you do in Hack Week?

Does the thought of Hack Week get your creative senses tingling? It's a great example of how we do things here at SumUp - and, of course, the innovation doesn't end there. We want the spirit of Hack Week to last all year.

If you're curious about the kind of innovative teamwork strategies we use behind the scenes, why not take a deeper look at the inner workings of SumUp? We're always on the lookout for creative, dedicated new players to join our teams. Who knows - maybe you'll be the one coming up with great ideas at a future edition of SumUp Hack Week.