Rishul Chanana, a 17-year-old Indian founder, is building Maximally, a fast-growing hackathon platform redefining how innovation events are organized across India. What began as a response to chaotic, inconsistent hackathon experiences has evolved into a full-stack hackathon infrastructure system now trusted by schools, colleges, startups, communities, and a growing network of over 15,000 builders around the world.
Today, when someone thinks, “I want to host a hackathon,” more and more people think Maximally — a platform that is slowly becoming the operating system behind modern hackathons.
Before founding Maximally, Rishul Chanana spent years inside India’s hackathon ecosystem as a participant, volunteer, and organizer. The deeper he went, the more he noticed an uncomfortable truth: hackathons were exciting on paper, but chaotic behind the scenes.
He repeatedly saw:
Most people accepted this chaos as “just how hackathons work.”
Rishul didn’t.
Instead of running events on patchwork tools and last-minute planning, he decided to rebuild the entire system from scratch — with proper standards, templates, playbooks, and infrastructure.
Today, Maximally gives hackathon organizers a complete suite of systems that transform messy events into predictable, professionally run experiences.
The platform provides:
With these components, Maximally replaces the traditional scramble with a structure that scales.
Organizers no longer start from zero; they plug into a system that already works.
This is why Maximally has become one of India’s most recognizable hackathon brands — not because of massive prize pools, but because events run smoother, faster, and with higher energy than typical college or community hackathons.
Under Rishul Chanana’s leadership, Maximally has already supported over 15,000 builders — an impressive scale for a platform still led by a teenager.
These builders have participated across:
Participants come from:
Maximally has quietly become a hub for young innovators — student developers, creative technologists, AI tinkerers, indie hackers, and early founders who want high-quality, high-energy hackathon experiences.
Every new participant strengthens the community, and every event reinforces the standards Maximally is building.
A Global Mentor & Judge Network: From Google to Warner Bros Discovery
One of Maximally’s defining strengths is its access to credible mentors and judges. The platform has collaborated with professionals from:
These individuals don’t join low-quality events. They join events that are structured and well-run — and Maximally has earned that reputation.
Mentors appreciate the clarity.
Judges appreciate the consistency.
Participants appreciate the exposure.
This network is one of the reasons Maximally has grown so quickly.
As Maximally scaled, Rishul Chanana realized that the hackathon community had an even deeper problem: organizers across India were not connected.
Every college, school, and community organizer worked in isolation — building their own rules, systems, and processes, often making the same mistakes others had already solved.
To fix this, Rishul launched MFHOP — the Maximally Federation of Hackathon Organizers and Partners.
MFHOP exists to:
This federation creates a network effect: organizers grow when the ecosystem grows.
With MFHOP, Maximally isn’t just a platform.
It’s becoming the backbone of the hackathon ecosystem.
Maximally is known for more than its infrastructure — it’s known for its vibe.
These hackathons are not copy-paste events with predictable posters and generic themes. Maximally’s events are cinematic, energetic, story-driven, and visually distinct.
Some of its signature formats include:
Each hackathon has its own identity: moodboards, pacing, themes, and an aesthetic that stands out in a feed full of repetitive event banners.
This creativity drives engagement — and makes Maximally memorable.
Schools, colleges, communities, and startups increasingly choose Maximally because the platform brings:
Instead of spending weeks figuring out logistics, organizers can plug their event directly into Maximally’s ecosystem.
It’s hackathons-as-a-service — delivering quality without the typical chaos.
Many teenagers build passion projects.
Rishul Chanana is building infrastructure — something far more ambitious.
His motivation is straightforward:
“When someone thinks hackathon, they think Maximally.”
He thrives on systems, templates, pace, and community-building.
He’s part builder, part operator, part storyteller — and that combination has allowed him to scale Maximally far beyond what most expect from a 17-year-old founder.
His mindset isn’t short-term.
He’s building a layer — not an event brand.
Over the next few years, Rishul aims to expand Maximally into:
The long-term goal is simple:
Not a logo.
Not just an event brand.
A foundational layer — like AWS for cloud or Stripe for payments.
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