Disrupt

Once a year, we tell the Ambiki team to stop worrying about the roadmap and build something a little crazy.

That is the Ambiki Hackathon.

We randomly divide the company into cross-functional teams, reveal a challenge, and give them a few days to design, build, and present a working solution.

I started it because I wanted everyone, not just developers, to experience what happens when you combine different perspectives, remove the normal constraints, and create protected time to experiment.

Over the years, the challenges have included:

• Improving speech recognition for marginalized populations
• Reimagining Ambiki’s onboarding experience
• Making scheduling easier for admins at large clinics
• Building dashboards that help practice owners make better decisions

Some of the ideas have influenced the product. Others have remained fun experiments.

In past years, we have also invited Ambiki customers to judge the final presentations. I loved that because it brought the people who use the product directly into the creative process.

But this year, we’re intentionally keeping the judging internal.

Why?

First, we want the teams to feel completely free to get weird. No worrying about whether an idea is practical, marketable, or something a customer expects us to build next quarter.

Second, inviting customers creates an unspoken pressure: if they love something, are we now promising to put it into Ambiki?

This year, I want to remove that pressure.

The 2026 theme is: Disrupt Ambiki.

Don’t just improve the product.

Challenge its assumptions. Tear apart how something currently works. Imagine the product that could make part of Ambiki, or even all of it, obsolete.

Dare to be different.
Dare to be disruptive.
Dare to be distinctive.
Dare to be daring.

I can’t wait to see what the teams come up with.

PS: Check out this year’s logo/t-shirt design by the amazing Patrick Ijima-Washburn.