Thank you to everyone who made this year’s San Francisco event what it was, and to the 10,000 people who filled the halls, made connections, and walked away with more than they expected. Couldn’t you? The image below gives you a glimpse of what you may have missed.
Until next year.
Vinod Khosla told attendees he disagreed with the argument that enhanced AI would doom efforts to tackle climate change. He said geothermal energy is just around the corner, but nuclear fusion is even further away. He also touched on points of agreement (deregulation) and disagreements (immigration) with President Donald Trump, and said with a laugh, “One thing I can say is that this administration will not last forever.”
That was Roelof Botha on stage, and the crowd was watching his every word. The Sequoia partner talked about how his firm picks winners and what government ownership means for startups, and warned founders not to skimp on timing, advising them to raise money now if they need it in six months. Bubbles burst.
Winners of this year’s Battlefield competition, Kevin Damoa of Glid Technologies and Battlefield chief Isabelle Johannessen. She and TC’s Michael Schick are working with dozens of startups to prepare them for this stage. Hugs are earned.
Roy Lee, founder of Cluely, an app best known for its motto “Fake anything,” entertains audiences with his bombshell insights on how to win at marketing. “Every day, people are doing crazier and crazier things. That’s why you have to do crazier and crazier things to stand out.” (Maxwell Zeff, pictured on the left, holding his own.)
Former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Tristan Thompson’s absence from the NBA doesn’t show it. He’s built a business empire and is asking pointed questions about the league he leaves behind. When asked about whether players could manipulate Basketball Fans, the Web3 platform that turns NBA players into tradeable tokens, he countered, “That’s the same question we’re asking about referees: Are referees abusing the system?” When host Rebecca Beran asked if he meant NBA referees take bribes, Thompson shrugged. “That’s just a question that needs to be asked,” he said.
tech crunch event
san francisco
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October 13-15, 2026
Our own Sean O’Kane speaks with Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wave. Kendall may also be smiling as his UK-based self-driving startup, whose software acts as the “brain of the car,” is in talks to raise another $2 billion from SoftBank and Microsoft at an $8 billion valuation.
Phoebe Gates and Sofia Chianni, founders of the AI-powered shopping assistant Phia, captivated the Disrupt audience with their passion for making finding quality vintage clothing easier. Gates, the daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, also played sports when host Amanda Silberling asked her what her famous parents had learned from her. Gates said with a laugh, “Hopefully with style! I don’t consider myself that stylish. I just like building in consumer spaces, and now I get random emails from my family saying, ‘Should I wear this to go?'”
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana and TechCrunch’s Kirsten Kolosek answered questions about self-driving cars, including whether society would accept death by self-driving cars. “I think society will do the same,” Mawakana says. “The challenge is for society to set sufficient safety standards for businesses.”
Kevin Rose (also a general partner at early-stage venture firm True Ventures) talks about rebooting Digg and the future of venture capital. I’m smiling because that’s what you do when someone won’t answer your questions about a hot wearable startup that’s still in stealth. (We will explain more about sandbars in the near future.)
Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf hydrates between questions about building the future of AI, including about LeRobot, the Hugging Face project that seeks to democratize robotics using affordable hardware, open source tools, and shared datasets.
The final judges in the highly competitive startup battleground are Marlon Nichols of MaC VC and Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures. Somewhere off-camera, the founders are sweating it out on the pitch deck.
A conversation with Box’s Aaron Levie and TC’s Russell Brandom. Levie has graced the Disrupt stage many times over TC’s 20 years at the heart of the startup ecosystem, and has always brought it.
“The way we tell stories hasn’t changed,” Netflix Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone told an enthralled crowd, noting streamers’ growing powers from simple binge-watching to interactive programming (think voting on live shows and games using your phone).
TC’s Dominic Madri-Davis talks about building community with Tade Oyelinde of Campus, who is reimagining community colleges, and Teddy Solomon of Fizz, the anonymous social app that spreads across college campuses and is sometimes banned. Some may consider this a badge of honor.
Request Whiteboard: Developer needed, contact provided, deal proposed. We love when founders lean into old-school tactics. (Some are still working!)
David George, who heads the growth investing team at Andreessen Horowitz, came to the show to talk with Julie Bolt about what startups need to consider when looking to the public markets. After all, it was his birthday. The crowd takes a moment here to celebrate it with him.
Here’s San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on the phone with President Trump about why he won’t send the National Guard to the city, a suggestion brought up by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “What I told him was the same thing I tell everyone: This is a developing city,” Lurie said. “The three days of disruption here should prove that.” He was noncommittal about whether he conceded to President Trump leading the deal. “No, absolutely not. Don’t ask.”
A lot of people from all over the world come to program on how to put together a startup. We covered all the locations throughout the day on the Builders Stage, which was packed every day.
TC’s Jessica Barrera, who was in charge of ticketing 10,000 attendees, was elated after the show. She regularly saves bacon for me.
For more photos from the event, check out our Flickr stream.
Also check out our full video coverage. Check out Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 here.
