Startups don’t construct themselves, and the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 — going down October 27–29 at San Francisco’s Moscone West — is the place founders, operators, and traders get actual about what it really takes. This stage is all techniques, the nitty-gritty of turning an thought right into a enterprise that works.
We’ve already introduced heavy hitters like Elad Gil, Dick Costolo, and Ryan Petersen — and now the lineup is getting even greater. New audio system, together with Discord’s Jason Citron, and new classes, like stay demos of the newest robots, are becoming a member of the agenda. Count on contemporary insights on all the things from closing your first time period sheet to scaling your go-to-market engine to discovering the place AI really matches in your online business.
Count on candid conversations, hard-won classes, and stay Q&A with the individuals who’ve constructed and backed category-defining corporations. If you wish to scale smarter, the Builders Stage is the place it occurs. Register now and save as much as $668 in your ticket earlier than charges go up later this month.
Uncover the complete lineup for the Builders Stage at Disrupt 2025
Elevating sensible
Elad Gil, CEO, Gil & Co.
Earlier than many of the world had skilled ChatGPT, Elad Gil had already written seed checks to startups like Perplexity, Character.AI, and Harvey. That’s on high of early bets on corporations like Airbnb, Airtable, Anduril, Brex, Checkr, Coinbase, Deel, Figma, Flexport, GitLab, Gusto, Instacart, Notion, Opendoor, Pinterest, Rippling, Sq., Stripe … you get the concept.
Gil, who has additionally based a number of corporations like Mixerlabs (purchased by Twitter) and Shade Well being, at all times appears to know what’s subsequent. And he’s already engaged on the following issues coming for AI and investing.
Constructing What’s Subsequent with the Minds Behind Twitter and Meta
Adam Bain and Dick Costolo, co-founders and managing companions, and David Fischer, associate, at 01 Advisors
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
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October 27-29, 2025
Be a part of these three powerhouse traders from 01 Advisors for an insider fireplace chat about what it actually takes to construct, scale, and fund early-stage startups as we speak. From product to development to fundraising, you’ll get candid recommendation and contemporary views from trade veterans shaping the following wave of tech success.
The way to Pitch When You’re on the Inception Stage
Navin Chaddha, managing associate, Mayfield; and Charles Hudson, managing associate, Precursor Ventures
Elevating pre-seed and seed-stage capital on the inception stage means pitching with no product, customers, or traction — only a imaginative and prescient and a founder story. On this panel, Navin Chaddha of Mayfield and Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures share what they search for within the earliest-stage founders and how you can stand out when you might have little greater than an thought. Discover ways to construct belief, inform a compelling story, and keep away from the most typical errors founders make when making an attempt to land that vital first examine.
Seed Cash Secrets and techniques Each Founder Ought to Know
Gabby Cazeau, associate, Harlem Capital; Marlon Nichols, co-founder and managing common associate, MaC Enterprise Capital; and Maria Palma, associate, Freestyle Capital
Elevating your first spherical is hard, however removed from inconceivable. This panel brings collectively skilled traders to interrupt down what it actually takes to shut a seed spherical. From crafting the fitting pitch to making sure you might be greenlighting the fitting companions, get actionable recommendation to show investor curiosity into capital.
The way to Elevate a Sequence A in 2026
Thomas Krane, managing director, Perception Companions; Katie Stanton, founder and common associate, Moxxie Ventures; and Sangeen Zeb, common associate, GV
On this unfiltered panel, high VCs reveal what actually will get them to supply a time period sheet with a wholesome valuation — from metrics that matter to the pitch errors that kill offers. Discover ways to place your organization for its first priced, institutional funding.
What VCs Actually Need to Hear in Your Pitch
Medha Agarwal, common associate, defy.vc; Jyoti Bansal, CEO and co-founder, Harness; and Jennifer Neundorfer, common associate, January Ventures
Traders hear lots of of pitches, however just a few stand out. Hear straight from VCs on what they love, what makes them cringe, and the refined alerts founders typically miss. This panel reveals insider ideas that will help you craft a pitch that grabs consideration, builds belief, and wins the fitting checks.
Rethinking Startup Capital With out VCs
Erik Allebest, co-founder and CEO, Chess.com; Kay Makishi, Lupoff/Stevens Household Workplace; and Gale Wilkinson, managing associate, VITALIZE Enterprise Capital
VCs aren’t the one recreation on the town. Be a part of us as we discover different fundraising paths with an angel investor, a household workplace vice chairman, and a founder who bootstrapped to success. Discover ways to faucet into capital that aligns along with your imaginative and prescient, retains you in management, and will get you to the following stage in your phrases.
Getting ready Now for Your Later Stage Elevate
Lila Preston, head of development fairness, Era Funding Administration; Andrea Thomaz, CEO and co-founder, Diligent Robotics; and Zeya Yang, associate, IVP
Elevating later-stage rounds takes greater than luck — it’s about technique from day one. Be a part of these three distinctive VCs and an skilled founder as they share how you can construct metrics, storytelling, and relationships that place your startup for future funding success. Be taught the important thing strikes that set you as much as shut greater rounds with confidence.
The place VCs Are Inserting Their Bets in 2026
Nina Achadjian, associate, Index Ventures; Jerry Chen, common associate, Greylock; and Viviana Faga, common associate, Felicis
Curious the place the sensible cash is heading subsequent? This panel brings collectively high VCs to share their 2026 funding priorities, rising sectors, and what improvements are catching their eye. Early-stage founders, this one is for you! Get a uncommon glimpse into the traits and applied sciences that would form your online business within the yr forward.
Scaling sensible
Constructing in a Time of Uncertainty
Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO, Flexport
Uncertainty is the brand new regular, but it surely’s additionally a possibility. On this fireplace chat, Ryan Petersen, CEO of worldwide logistics unicorn Flexport, shares his hard-won insights. With $2.3 billion raised, Flexport’s delivery know-how sits on the intersection of worldwide enterprise and coverage, giving Petersen virtually prescient financial insights. He’s been vocal about all the things from tariff coverage to AI. He’s additionally skilled private volatility, famously leaving his CEO position after which returning lower than a yr later. Founders, take be aware: That is the way you construct when the principles maintain altering.
Creating Communities and Firms That Final
Jason Citron, founder and former CEO, Discord; and Tade Oyerinde, founder and chancellor, Campus
What occurs if you design round folks, not establishments? Jason Citron, founder and former CEO of Discord, and Tade Oyerinde, founder and chancellor of Campus, will focus on how they constructed corporations that tapped into neighborhood to interrupt via the noise. From Discord’s rise as a worldwide hub for hundreds of thousands to Campus’ bold mission to reinvent school, they’ll discover product design, classes in scaling amid competitors, and the way founders can steadiness imaginative and prescient with adaptability.
The way to Nail Product-Market Match
Rajat Bhageria, founder and CEO, Chef Robotics; Ann Bordetsky, associate, NEA; and Murali Joshi, associate, ICONIQ
Constructing a product is difficult. Constructing one which clients are chomping on the bit to get, that’s priced proper, and that delivers on its guarantees is even more durable, and it’s at all times messy. However when you hit the holy grail of product-market match, your startup is on a quick observe to development, funding, and traction. Hear from a founder who’s lived it and two traders who’ve helped many others get there. This panel breaks down how you can take a look at smarter and iterate with intention so you possibly can cease guessing and begin rising.
How A lot Wage and Fairness Ought to You Actually Supply Early Staff?
Randi Jakubowitz, head of operations and expertise, 645 Ventures; Rebecca Lee Whiting, fractional common counsel for early-stage startups, Epigram Authorized P.C.; and Yin Wu, founder and CEO, Pulley
Early hires form your startup’s future, however provided that you possibly can appeal to and maintain them. This panel dives into constructing fairness and advantages packages that compete with Huge Tech with out breaking your burn price. Hear real-world methods to align incentives, increase retention, and construct a group that scales.
With Vibe Coding, Do Early-Stage Startups Nonetheless Must Rent 10x Engineers?
David Cramer, co-founder and CPO, Sentry; Lauri Moore, associate, Bessemer Enterprise Companions; and Zach Lloyd, founder and CEO, Warp
Vibe-coding merchandise have fully modified the velocity, value, and technical ability wanted to construct merchandise, from prototypes to delivery. That is very true for early-stage startups. Some makers of those merchandise have even declared that nobody must be taught to code anymore. In that case, which means startups don’t must fill their early rosters with the famed 10x coders. However how a lot of that’s hype and the way a lot is actuality? Our panelists will dive into how the developer instrument world is altering and what comes subsequent.
The Professionals and Cons of Hiring AI Brokers as Early Staff
Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, co-founder and CEO, Artisan; Sarah Franklin, CEO, Lattice; and Caleb Peffer, co-founder and CEO, Firecrawl
Most startups as we speak are utilizing AI in some capacities: vibe-coding prototypes or new options, deep analysis through their favourite chat earlier than gross sales calls. Many are additionally constructing AI merchandise, or at the least together with AI choices and options. So, do you have to embed AI on the root operations of your companies, like hiring AI brokers as an alternative of people for gross sales? For buyer help? To automate your billing? Discover ways to decide the fitting use circumstances, construct smarter workflows, and get the most important affect with restricted sources.
Do Startups Nonetheless Want Silicon Valley?
Anh-Tho Chuong, co-founder and CEO, Lago; Tawni Cranz, working associate, SignalFire; and David Corridor, managing associate, Rise of the Relaxation seed fund, Revolution
Whereas Silicon Valley continues to be the startup capital, how necessary is entry to it anymore? This panel debates whether or not founders should plant roots within the Valley to succeed or if alternative is so robust elsewhere that they don’t want it. Hear views from traders and founders redefining what it means to construct, scale, and fund an organization in as we speak’s decentralized tech world.
Constructing a GTM Engine That Truly Works
Max Altschuler, founder and common associate, GTMfund; Marc Manara, head of startups, OpenAI; and Alison Wagonfeld, VP advertising and marketing and chief advertising and marketing officer, Google Cloud
A killer product wants a killer go-to-market technique. This panel explores greatest conventional practices in constructing a GTM perform, in addition to how early-stage startups can harness AI to construct a GTM perform that drives development, wins clients, and scales effectively. Hear from founders and GTM consultants on hiring, messaging, gross sales techniques, and the important thing metrics that show your method is working.
Stay Demo of Moxi the Humanoid Robotic
Hospitals are complicated, high-pressure workplaces, and robotics and AI are being developed to tackle routine duties that release employees for affected person care. Humanoid robots like Moxi, constructed by Diligent Robotics, are already deployed in hospitals to handle deliveries and ease every day workloads. On this stay demo, you’ll see how Moxi navigates hallways, avoids obstacles, and interacts with folks in actual time. The session will discover the alternatives and challenges of bringing socially clever robots into healthcare and the place the know-how is headed subsequent.
From scaling techniques to startup technique — it’s all at Disrupt 2025
You’ll achieve invaluable insights from these tech giants stay on the Builders Stage, and also you’ll be taught from different high voices throughout 5 trade levels, breakouts, and classes at Disrupt 2025 — all alongside 10,000+ startup, tech, and VC leaders this October. Register as we speak and save as much as $668 in your go earlier than charges enhance on the finish of this month.
