What you get
The Build-Off terms. Short, human, no tricks.
This page is everything the competition promises and everything it asks of you, in plain English. If anything here is unclear, email unbound@hermitcrabs.io and a person will answer.
The competition
The UNBOUND 2026 Build-Off, run by hermitcrabs. Pitch us your hardest HubSpot CMS web project. Every qualified pitch is scored within 24 hours and receives a full Build Plan within 48 hours, free. One winning pitch receives its project built by hermitcrabs at no charge: a build worth up to $15,000.
Key dates
Entries opened August 2026 and close Friday 18 September 2026 at 12:00 noon ET, or earlier if the 20 Build Plan places fill first. Judging runs 12:00 to 16:00 ET that day. The winner is announced at 17:00 ET at UNBOUND, Boston, and contacted directly. You do not need to be at UNBOUND to enter or to win.
Who can enter
Entry is open to businesses (not private individuals or agency partners) with a real, buildable web project. The prize build is delivered on HubSpot CMS, so prize eligibility needs a HubSpot Professional or Enterprise subscription, live or in documented progress. If you are on Starter or not yet on HubSpot, you are welcome to pitch: your pitch sits outside the prize draw, and we will tell you honestly what your options look like. One entry per organisation. Employees of hermitcrabs and their immediate families cannot enter.
What you get for entering
Every qualified pitch receives: a scored yes or no within 24 hours, with reasons; and a full Build Plan within 48 hours: feasibility verdict, solution architecture, scope and timeline, and a risk register. The Plan is free, contains no price, and is yours to keep and use with any build team you choose, including not us. Entering creates no obligation to buy anything, ever.
The prize
The winning pitch receives its pitched project designed and built by hermitcrabs at no charge, up to a value of $15,000 at our standard project pricing, delivered in Q4 2026 on a schedule agreed with the winner. Web and CMS scope only: site builds, migrations, portals, LMS, template systems and the like. Scope beyond the winning pitch or the value cap is quoted separately and is entirely optional. The prize is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative.
What we ask of the winner
The winner agrees to: a filmed case study of the build, reasonable access to measure outcomes, and use of their logo and an honest testimonial once the project ships. If your project is confidential and these cannot work, tell us at pitch stage and we will judge fairly either way; however, anonymised case studies are not acceptable.
Judging
Every entry is judged against the same three lines: clarity of outcome, complexity worth solving, and fit to what we build well. Judging is by hermitcrabs senior architects with the Founder as final voice in shortlisting, an independent HubSpot employee will pull the final winner from the shortlist. The decision is final, and every entrant, winner or not, is told the result on the day.
After the competition
After the winner is announced, every qualified entrant receives one written price for their pitched project, built from their own Build Plan, with a Build-Off discount attached and valid for five days. One email, one price, one deadline: after that we leave you alone. No drip campaigns, no chasing calls.
Confidentiality
Your pitch and everything in it is treated as confidential. It is read by the hermitcrabs scoring team only, never published, never shared, and never used for anything except scoring your entry and building your Plan. If you need an NDA before pitching, email us and we will sign a sensible one.
Your data
The details you submit are stored in our CRM and used to run the competition: scoring, sending your Plan, and the one post-competition price described above. Marketing beyond that only happens if you opted in on the form. Full detail in our privacy policy, and unsubscribe works the first time.
The honest housekeeping
We can disqualify entries that are not real projects, are outside web and CMS scope, contain false information, or are abusive. If something outside our control forces a change to dates or mechanics, we will change them fairly, tell every entrant directly, and never quietly. These terms were last updated 6 September 2026.
Who is running this
The Build-Off is run by Hermitcrabs Technologies Pte Ltd. These terms are governed by the laws of Delaware, United States. Questions: unbound@hermitcrabs.io, a person replies.