The Builders Stage returns to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 on October 13-15 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, gathering over 10,000 founders, investors, and operators for sessions on scaling companies.
Speakers include Grant Lee, CEO and co-founder of Gamma; Leah Solivan, founder and general partner at Precedent.vc; Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google; and others. Sessions cover fundraising, hiring, go-to-market strategy, and the operational choices required for growth.
Registration closes before the next price increase. Tickets are currently available.
Focus on scaling
Disrupt 2026 features six industry stages. The Builders Stage is one of them, dedicated to the specific challenges of moving from a small startup to a larger company. Topics range from raising capital and recruiting staff to building go-to-market engines and preparing for a Series A round.
Every session offers practical strategies and live Q&A opportunities with speakers.
The following agenda highlights the confirmed sessions. More speakers and topics will be announced as the event approaches.
Builders Stage agenda
How to Win When You’re Not Building AI
Speakers: Shan Shan, Investment Manager, Baillie Gifford; Yuri Sagalov, Managing Director, General Catalyst
While AI dominates venture capital, many successful companies will not sell AI models or agents. This panel addresses founders competing in an AI-obsessed market. Panelists discuss efficient growth, retention, revenue quality, and disciplined execution. They explain why fundamentals drive breakout businesses rather than hype.
What Happens When OpenAI Ships Your Roadmap
Speakers: Michel Tricot, CEO and Co-founder, Airbyte; Rob Toews, Partner, Radical Ventures; Linda Tong, CEO, Webflow
Many AI founders worry that OpenAI or Anthropic will launch a product that competes with their own. Strong products risk becoming features within larger platforms. This session explores where defensibility exists and what founders can do if they face competition from major AI players.
Building the Next Generation of AI Giants
Speaker: Jas Khaira, Global Head, Blackstone N1
AI startups are scaling faster and demanding more capital than previous generations. Jas Khaira shares what separates enduring companies from early momentum. He discusses how founders should view capital during scaling and what Blackstone looks for when backing category-defining businesses.
Competing for AI Talent: Pay, Equity, and Retention
Speakers: Matt Birnbaum, Founder, Wylder.co; Ioana Hreninciuc, Runware; Atli Thorkelsson, VP, Talent Network, Redpoint Ventures
Hiring and retention have become difficult for every tech company due to the growth of AI startups. Founders are rethinking the human infrastructure of their startups. The session examines how companies are adapting compensation, culture, and team-building strategies to attract and retain top talent in a changed market.
Winning Pre-Seed Without a Product
Speakers: Puneet Agarwal, Managing Partner, True Ventures; Austin Clements, Managing Partner, Slauson and Co; Sandhya Venkatachalam, Founder and Managing Partner, Axiom Partners
Founders are increasingly expected to compete for capital before they have a product. At the pre-seed stage, investors bet on story, conviction, and founder-market fit. This session breaks down how to build credibility before revenue exists so investors will cut that first check.
From MVP to Billions of Users: How Product Decisions Must Change at Scale
Speaker: Robby Stein, VP, Product, Google
The instincts that win when building a minimum viable product can break you at a billion-user scale. In this fireside chat, Robby Stein shares how product decision-making changes when every update impacts billions of users. He explains 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
Speakers: Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-founder, Gusto; more speakers to be announced
Early-stage companies are no longer just building with AI; they are hiring 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. It also covers how high-growth startups build hybrid teams without losing speed, accountability, or culture.
Rebuilding Consumer Products for the AI Era
Speaker: Maria Angelidou-Smith, CPO, Reddit
AI is forcing product teams to rethink how people search, discover, communicate, travel, and make decisions. Leaders from Reddit, Square and Uber discuss how they are redesigning products used by millions. They explain 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
Speakers: Karl Alomar, Managing Partner, M13; Lindsey Mignano, Founder, Mignano Law Group
Smart founders today are building with possible acquisitions in mind from day one, rather than just aiming for an IPO. 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 such an option through product strategy and partnerships. It explains how big-dollar startup outcomes actually happen, even for small companies.
The Series A in 2027
Speakers: Jahanvi Sardana, Partner, Index Ventures; Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Peak XV; Janelle Teng Wade, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
Series A rounds are getting harder, with VCs becoming more demanding. For founders planning to raise in the next one to two years, this session breaks down what “fundable” will actually mean in 2027. Investors redefine the metrics, teams, and traction that matter now. The panel covers what outdated fundraising playbooks no longer work and how companies can separate from the pack in the next funding cycle.
The 90-Day GTM: Why $0–$10M ARR Is the New Baseline (and How to Actually Get There)
Speakers: Ryan Meadows, Chief Revenue Officer, Lovable; Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner and Founder, Theory Ventures; Ben Broca, Founder, Polsia
The definition of traction has changed. What once took years is now expected in months, and $0 to $10 million ARR is increasingly becoming the new early-stage baseline. This session breaks down how AI-enabled execution, faster distribution, and shifting investor expectations are compressing GTM timelines. It covers the tactical levers founders need in the first 90 days to accelerate revenue and stand out fast.
The Real Tokenmaxxing: How the Best AI Companies Navigate a Multi-Model World
Speakers: Mo Jomaa, Partner, Capital G; Zuzanna Stamirowska, CEO and Co-founder, Pathway; more speakers to be announced
The frontier is moving faster than any single model can keep up with. The teams building the most successful AI products are increasingly orchestrating across many models rather than betting on just one. This panel brings together founders and operators at the center of that shift to discuss how they evaluate new models, 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?
Speaker: 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. They 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
Speakers: Rajeev Dham, Managing Director, Sapphire Ventures; Rahul Vohra, Founder and Head of Superhuman Mail; more speakers to be announced
In an AI hype cycle, product-market fit signals are easier to fake and harder to trust. Founders are mistaking early excitement, usage spikes, and pilot wins for durable traction. This session breaks down what false PMF actually looks like. It explains how investors and operators separate real retention from hype-driven adoption. It also covers the signals that indicate whether a company has true pull or just temporary momentum.
The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget
Speakers: Grant Lee, CEO and Co-founder, Gamma; Leah Solivan, Founder and General Partner, Precedent.vc; Elia Wallen, Founder and CEO, Engine
Early customer acquisition is not about marketing spend; it is about founder-led distribution and relentless execution. Most startups at zero to one do not have budget, brand, or scale. They have 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-mouth momentum.
Yes, It’s Hard to Be a Founder: An Honest Conversation
Speakers: Nell Daly, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Revenge Capital; David H. Rosmarin, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School; Jack Withinshaw, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Airspeeder
Company building is as psychologically demanding as it is strategic, and most founder narratives understate that reality. In this candid conversation, founders and mental performance experts unpack the hidden costs of high-growth environments. These include burnout, decision fatigue, and the identity strain of sustained pressure. They share the systems, habits, and mental frameworks that help leaders endure and perform at a high level.
So You’ve Got a Hit Product. How Does Your Company Do It Again?
Speakers: Filip Kaliszan, CEO and Co-founder, Verkada; Aaron Jacobson, Partner, New Enterprise Associates; Maddi Holman, General Partner, Daring Ventures
Most startups stall out because they build a single great product instead of a repeatable multi-product engine. A venture capitalist and two founders reveal the precise operational playbook for capital allocation, systemizing internal innovation, and engineering a compounding “Second Act”
