On Tuesday morning at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, our senior producer Maggie Nye rolled up her jacket sleeve to show me her new tattoo: the classic pixelated cursor arrow. TechCrunch’s Becca Szkutak won the matching cursor and Theresa Loconsolo won the Smiling Moon.
We speculated that at some point during the whole Disrupt kerfuffle, Maggie and Becca wandered off to a trendy San Francisco tattoo shop to cement their friendship with some appropriate tech-themed ink (and maybe Teresa was there, too?). That seemed like a more logical explanation than the reality that they got these tattoos on Disrupt. Yes, it was literally Disrupt, located on the convention floor of the Moscone Center, where discussions on product-market fit and agent-based AI were probably taking place upstairs.
As part of Battlefield 200, hundreds of startups showcased their creations at the Expo Hall. There are also robot chefs, spaceship insurance companies, and shortcuts to plastic recycling. And amidst the chaos, Tattd turned their booth into a mini-tattoo shop.
Tattd is a platform that helps tattoo seekers find artists whose portfolios match the type of tattoo they’re looking for.
The startup uses generative AI to create mockups of designs, but these synthetic designs aren’t actually imprinted on someone’s body. Rather, Tattd puts the AI-generated design through a reverse image search to find artists whose work is similar to the mockup. This allows the client and artist to work together to create an original design, just as you would normally communicate with a tattoo artist.
“If you go to ChatGPT and say, ‘I want to see a traditional Japanese style butterfly with thicker lines,’ they don’t know what that means,” founder Laura Schaack told TechCrunch.
Just a few meters away, Karin Levy, TechCrunch’s deputy editor, had an escape key tattooed on her upper arm.
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Prior to founding Tattd, Mr. Shaq led the operations of two startups: WearAway, a fashion rental company acquired by Grin, and Lemonsqueeze, a market expansion platform acquired by Knotel. But Shaq always had an eye for art. She studied art history at New York University and her body is decorated with a collage of tattoos. Disrupt has a California stamp on his elbow.
“There are many people who have tried to break into the tattoo industry without getting a tattoo, and they have all failed,” Shaq said. While you can’t judge a founder by their appearance, she says the lack of tattoos reflects a lack of interest, investment, or experience in the industry.
“I’m very passionate about this industry and I do a lot of tattoos. I’m here to help artists build businesses that take care of both the client and the artist,” she said. Tattd is home to 900 artists, and the platform partners with third parties to help artists find healthcare and financial advisors.
Shaq said about 30 people got tattoos over the three days of TechCrunch Disrupt.
There was a TechCrunch logo on the flash sheet, but unfortunately (unfortunately) no one imprinted their love for our brand on their bodies.
