TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 арга хэмжээний Builders Stage тайзнаа стартапуудыг өргөжүүлэх практик шийдлүүдийг хэлэлцэнэ

The Builders Stage is returning toTechCrunch Disrupt 2026, bringing together founders, startup operators, andinvestors for practical conversations on what it takes to build and scale successful companies.

Hear from startup and venture leaders shaping the tech ecosystem, including Grant Lee, CEO and co-founder of Gamma;LeahSolivan, founder and general partner at Precedent.vc; Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google;and more. Through candid conversations and real-world case studies, speakers will share actionable insights on fundraising, hiring, go-to-market strategy, AI, and the operational decisions that fuel startup growth.

Joinmore than 10,000 founders,investors, startup operators, and technology leaders atMoscone CenterinSan Francisco on October 13-15.Register today and savebefore our next ticket priceincrease.

Built for founders who are ready to scale

Building a startup is one thing. Building a company that can scale is another challenge entirely. The Builders Stage isone of sixindustry-focused stages atDisrupt 2026, dedicated to helping founders navigate the challenges of growth, from raising capital and hiring top talent to building go-to-market engines and preparing for the jump from seed to Series A.

Every session delivers practical strategies you can put to workimmediately, plus opportunities to engage directly with speakers during live Q&A.Secure your pass to Disrupt2026todayand save up to $330 before ratesincrease.

Without further ado,here’syour first look at the Builders Stage agenda, withmore speakersand sessions to be announced as we get closer to the event.

Builders Stage agenda

How to Win When You’re Not Building AI

WithShanShan, Investment Manager, BaillieGifford; and Yuri Sagalov, Managing Director at General Catalyst

AI may dominate the world of venture, but many enduring companieswon’tbe those that sell AImodels or agents. This session is for founders competing for attentioninan AI-obsessed market. Panelists break down whatactuallymattersnow: efficient growth, retention, revenue quality, and disciplined execution, and why fundamentals, nothype, still build breakout businesses.

What Happens When OpenAI Ships Your Roadmap

WithMichel Tricot, CEOandCo-founder,Airbyte;RobToews, Partner, Radical Ventures;andLindaTong, CEO,Webflow

Nearly allAI founders have the same worry these days: What if OpenAI or Anthropiclaunchesa product that competes with mine? Even strong products are at risk of becoming features ofthe largerplayers. This session explores where defensibility exists and what founders can do if they do face competition from rapidly evolving AI giants.

Building the Next Generation of AI Giants

With Jas Khaira, Global Head, Blackstone N1

AI startups are scaling faster, and demanding more capital, than any generation before them. Jas Khaira, Global Head of Blackstone N1, shares what separates enduring companies from early momentum, how founders should think about capital as they scale, and what Blackstone looks for when backing the next generation of category-defining businesses.

Competing for AI Talent: Pay, Equity, and Retention

With Matt Birnbaum, Founder, Wylder.co, Ioana Hreninciuc, Runware, Atli Thorkelsson, VP, Talent Network, Redpoint Ventures

The growth of AI startups has made hiring and retention more difficult for every tech company. From competing for AI talent to navigating secondary sales, founders are rethinking the human infrastructure of their startups. As incentives and employee expectations rapidly evolve, this session explores how companies are adapting compensation, culture, and team-building strategies to attract and retain top talent in a fundamentally changed market.

Winning Pre-Seed Without a Product

With Puneet Agarwal, Managing Partner, True Ventures;AustinClements, Managing Partner, SlausonandCo;andSandhya Venkatachalam, FounderandManaging Partner, Axiom Partners

Founders areincreasingly expected to compete for capital before they even have a product. At the pre-seed stage,investors are betting on story, conviction, and founder-market fit. This session breaks down how to build credibility before revenueexistssoinvestors will cut that first check.

From MVP to Billions of Users: How Product Decisions Must Change at Scale

WithRobby Stein, VP, Product, Google

The instincts that win when building your firstminimumviableproduct can break you at a billion-user scale. In this fireside,Robby Steinshares how product decision-making changes when every updateimpactsbillions of users. Hear how teams balance speed with trust and innovation with reliability at one of the world’s largest product organizations.

Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder

WithJoshReeves, CEO and Co-founder,Gusto;more speakers to be announced

Early-stage companies are no longer just building withAI;they’rehiring it. As AI agents take on engineering, support, and operations, the definition of an early team is being rewritten. This session explores how founders decide what humans should own versus what gets delegated to AI, and how high-growth startups are building hybrid teams without losing speed, accountability, or culture.

Rebuilding Consumer Products for the AI Era

With Maria Angelidou-Smith, CPO, Reddit

AI isn’t just adding features, it’s forcing product teams to rethink how people search, discover, communicate, travel, and make decisions. Leaders from Reddit, Square and Uber discuss how they’re redesigning products used by millions, what users actually want from AI, and where product leaders should resist the temptation to automate everything.

M&A Is Now an Early-Stage Strategy

WithKarlAlomar, Managing Partner, M13 andLindsey Mignano, Founder, Mignano Law Group

The smartest founders todayaren’tjust building forIPOs;they’realso building withpossible acquisitionsinmind from day one. As exits shift and capital tightens, understanding M&A early has become a competitive advantage. This session breaks down how founders can create the possibility of suchan optionthrough product strategy and partnerships.It delvesinto how big-dollar startup outcomes actually happen, even for small companies.

The Series Ain2027

Jahanvi Sardana, Partner,Index Ventures;ShailendraSingh, Managing Director, Peak XV;and Janelle Teng Wade, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Series A is getting harder, with VCs growingmore demanding.For founders planning to raiseinthe next one to two years, this session breaks down what “fundable” will actually meanin2027.Hear how topinvestors are redefining the metrics, teams, and traction thatmatter now, what outdated fundraising playbooks no longer work, and how companies can separate from the packinthe next funding cycle.

The 90-Day GTM: Why $0–$10M ARR Is the New Baseline (and How to Actually Get There)

WithRyanMeadows, Chief Revenue Officer, Lovable; andTomaszTunguz, General Partner and Founder, Theory Ventures;Ben Broca, Founder, Polsia

The definition of traction has changed. What once took years is now expectedinmonths, and $0 to $10 million ARR isincreasingly becoming the newearly-stagebaseline. This session breaks down how AI-enabled execution, faster distribution, and shiftinginvestor expectations are compressing GTM timelines, and the tactical levers founders needinthe first90 daysto accelerate revenue and stand out fast.

The RealTokenmaxxing: How the Best AI Companies Navigate a Multi-Model World

WithMo Jomaa, Partner, Capital G;and ZuzannaStamirowska, CEOandCo-founder,Pathway;more speakers to be announced

The frontier ismoving faster than anysinglemodel can keep up with, and the teams building themost successful AI products areincreasingly orchestrating across manymodels rather thanbetting onjust one. This panel brings together founders and operators at the center of that shift to discuss how they evaluate newmodels, manage cost and reliability at scale, and architect products that can evolve as quickly as the underlying technology.

Revealing AI Disruptors 60: What Can AI Do Next?

With Shay Grinfield, Greenfield Partners

The AI conversation is shifting from what models can say to what they can actually do. Agents are navigating the open web and completing work, AI systems are taking on increasingly ambitious research, intelligent machines are beginning to operate beyond the screen, and a new infrastructure layer is emerging to make all of this possible at scale.

Greenfield Partners’ Shay Grinfeld sits down with founders building across these emerging areas to separate what’s real today from what’s coming next, and explore where the biggest new opportunities are taking shape. The conversation will culminate in the reveal of Greenfield Partners’ 2026 AI Disruptors 60, spotlighting the companies Greenfield and TechCrunch believe are pushing AI into new territory.

PMF Red Flags: How to Tell If You Really Have It

WithRajeev Dham, Managing Director, Sapphire Ventures;and Rahul Vohra, Founder and Head of Superhuman Mail;more speakers to be announced

Inan AI hype cycle, product-market fit signals are easier to fake and harder to trust. Founders are mistaking early excitement,usagespikes, and pilot wins for durable traction. This session breaks down what false PMFactually lookslike, howinvestors and operators separate real retention fromhype-drivenadoption, and the signals thatindicatewhether a company has true pull or just temporarymomentum.

The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget

WithGrant Lee, CEOandCo-founder, Gamma;LeahSolivan, Founder and General Partner, Precedent.vc; and Elia Wallen, Founder and CEO, Engine

Early customer acquisition is not about marketingspend;it’sabout founder-led distribution and relentless execution.Most startups at zero to one do not have budget, brand, or scale, only urgency and creativity. This session breaks down how founders are landing their first customers through community building, product-led growth, founder-led sales, strategic outbound, and word-of-mouthmomentum.

Yes,It’sHard to Be a Founder:AnHonest Conversation

WithNellDaly,Co-founderandManaging Partner, Revenge Capital;DavidH. Rosmarin, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School;andJackWithinshaw,Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer,Airspeeder

Company building is as psychologically demanding as it is strategic, andmost founder narratives understate that reality.Inthis candid conversation, founders and mental performance experts unpack the hidden costs of high-growth environments, from burnout and decision fatigue to the identity strainof sustained pressure, and share the systems, habits, and mental frameworks that help leaders endure and perform at a high level.

SoYou’ve Got a Hit Product. How Does Your Company Do It Again?

WithFilipKaliszan, CEO and Co-founder,Verkada; andAaron Jacobson, Partner, New Enterprise Associates; Maddi Holman, General Partner, Daring Ventures

Most startups stall out because they build asinglegreat productinstead of a repeatable multi-product engine. Joina venture capitalist and two founders as they reveal the precise operational playbook for capital allocation, systemizinginternalinnovation, and engineering a compounding “Second Act” before the core product’s growth curve flattens.

Hiring, Compensation and CultureintheMost Competitive Market Ever

WithMatt Birnbaum, Founder, Wylder.co; andAtli Thorkelsson, VP, Talent Network, RedpointVentures;more speakers to be announced

No question about it, the growth of AI startups has made hiring and retention for all tech companiesmore difficult. From competing for AI talent to secondary sales, founders are rethinking the humaninfrastructure of their startups. As hiring,incentives, and employee expectations rapidly evolve, this session explores how companies are adapting compensation, culture, and team-building strategies to attract andretaintop talentina fundamentally changed startup environment.

How to Create Viral Growth and CapitalizeonIt

WithZachYadegari,Founder, Cal AI

Startups can go from zero to viralovernight, butsustaining thatmomentum is a completely different challenge.Inthis fireside,ZachYadegari shares how Cal AI navigated rapid growth, product pressure, and the realities of buildingina distribution-driven market. Hear the lessons behind turning breakout attentioninto durable retention andlong-termcompany building.

The High-Conviction Filter: What We Learned From the Battlefield

With Alexa von Tobel,InspiredCapital; and Chi-Hua Chien, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Goodwater Capital; more speakers to be announced

What separates the breakout companies from the rest at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026?Inthis candid debrief, Startup Battlefield judges unpack the trends and founder qualities that stood outinreal time, from shiftinginvestor expectations to the narratives that resonatedmost this year. The conversation will also explore how startup storytelling is evolving and what happens after the spotlight,including the realities ofmaintainingmomentum and surviving the critical 12months after a major launch, funding round, or Startup Battlefield appearance.

Ask the Investors

With Stacy Brown-Philpot, Founder & Managing Partner at Cherryrock Capital; Chi-Hua Chien, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Goodwater Capital; Dayna Grayson, Construct Capital; Carter Reum, Co-founder and Managing Partner, M13; Alexa Von Tobel, Inspired Capital

What makes an investor say yes? In this audience-led Q&A, the Startup Battlefield finals judges take your toughest questions on what separates a fundable startup from the rest: team, traction, market opportunity, pitch delivery, red flags, and more. Come ready to ask and get candid answers straight from the investors making the decisions.

Jointhe conversations and make the connections at Disrupt

Ifyou’reready to build smarter, scale faster, and learn from the leaders shaping the future of startups,secure your pass to TechCrunch Disrupt2026today.