Three-day workshops and hackathons in Brooklyn for people who'd rather build something than scroll past it. First cohort starts September 2026.
Can you make yourself AI proof? There are no guarantees. But soft skills are forever.
Many of the academic and career strengths like critical thinking, problem solving, and strong written and verbal skills (e.g., storytelling) are as much in demand today as they were 30 years ago—some say even more so. And they're still the success drivers of tomorrow.
Coupled with hard skills we teach, Slingshot's collaborative, hands-on hackathons and tech workshops help develop and strengthen these timeless soft skills. They help our workshop participants Go Further! faster in their educational paths and careers.
Slingshot workshop participants go from being consumers to creators. And from scrollers to builders!
Participants in our hands-on hackathons and tech workshops learn in person—not online—in smaller cohorts.
Collaboration and peer learning make sophisticated technical concepts easier to absorb—and to retain.
They also flex and strengthen soft skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and communication (e.g., storytelling)—success drivers more crucial than ever in a fast-evolving, AI-driven job market.
No staged photos. No lecture halls. People with their hands on actual keyboards, working through actual problems, in a room with the smell of actual coffee.
Slingshot currently has two workshops for participants to choose from. Our first workshop is set to launch in September 2026: A 40-person cohort focused on building AI agents. Participants sign up for the waiting list for the workshop(s) they're interested in—and they'll get an alert once registration goes live!
A hackathon model that teaches workshop participants how to strategize and smartly audit existing systems and operations before mapping workflows and creating AI agents. First, participants individually create agents for themselves. Then they collaborate in a team to create an AI agent for an actual small business.
A collaborative hackathon model centered on building in the Bluesky social media platform's option-rich open network. Bluesky for business, in particular, is underutilized. Workshop participants learn coding, and flex soft skills like critical thinking and problem solving. The format also strengthens leadership skills.
Slingshot offers a comprehensive suite of advisory services to help small and medium enterprise (SME) business owners and nonprofits Go Further! faster.
Auditing your existing systems and operations, mapping the workflows, then building the AI agents worth building.
Moving the pipeline forward, including Fractional CGO services for owners who need a senior set of hands.
Senior marketing help on the hours you actually need it, including Fractional CMO services.
Encompassing stakeholder conversations, audience research and user experience (UX) studies—helping business owners to unmask genuine customer pain points and make targeted, data-backed business decisions.
Petra E. LewisSlingshot's founder, Petra E. Lewis, spent decades as a business development and strategic communications leader at firms like Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). More recently, she has worked with first-time founders and tech-for-good startups. Slingshot is what came out of that.
Our flexible programming fits most populations—and income levels. But we specialize in accelerating the pathways and pursuits of those who are out of school and out of work (OSOW), Gen Z and Alpha, and older workers looking to reskill and pivot.