The Builders Stage is returning to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, bringing collectively founders, startup operators, and buyers for sensible conversations on what it takes to construct and scale profitable corporations.
Hear from startup and enterprise leaders shaping the tech ecosystem, together with Grant Lee, CEO and co-founder of Gamma; Leah Solivan, founder and common associate at Precedent.vc; Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google; and more. By candid conversations and real-world case research, audio system will share actionable insights on fundraising, hiring, go-to-market technique, AI, and the operational selections that gasoline startup development.
Be part of greater than 10,000 founders, buyers, startup operators, and expertise leaders at Moscone Middle in San Francisco on October 13-15. Register today and save up to $330 earlier than ticket costs enhance.
Constructed for founders who’re able to scale
Constructing a startup is one factor. Constructing an organization that may scale is one other problem solely. The Builders Stage is one of six industry-focused stages at Disrupt 2026, devoted to serving to founders navigate the challenges of development, from elevating capital and hiring prime expertise to constructing go-to-market engines and making ready for the soar from seed to Collection A.
Each session delivers sensible methods you possibly can put to work instantly, plus alternatives to interact immediately with audio system throughout dwell Q&A. Secure your pass to Disrupt 2026 today and save as much as $330 earlier than charges enhance.
With out additional ado, right here’s your first take a look at the Builders Stage agenda, with more speakers and classes to be introduced as we get nearer to the occasion.
Builders Stage agenda
How you can Win When You’re Not Constructing AI
With Shan Shan, Funding Supervisor, Baillie Gifford; and Yuri Sagalov, Managing Director at Basic Catalyst
AI might dominate the world of enterprise, however many enduring corporations gained’t be people who promote AI fashions or brokers. This session is for founders competing for consideration in an AI-obsessed market. Panelists break down what truly issues now: environment friendly development, retention, income high quality, and disciplined execution, and why fundamentals, not hype, nonetheless construct breakout companies.
What Occurs When OpenAI Ships Your Roadmap
With Michel Tricot, CEO and Co-founder, Airbyte; Rob Toews, Accomplice, Radical Ventures; and Linda Tong, CEO, Webflow
Practically all AI founders have the identical fear lately: What if OpenAI or Anthropic launches a product that competes with mine? Even robust merchandise are prone to turning into options of the bigger gamers. This session explores the place defensibility exists and what founders can do in the event that they do face competitors from quickly evolving AI giants.
Profitable Pre-Seed With no Product
With Puneet Agarwal, Managing Accomplice, True Ventures; Austin Clements, Managing Accomplice, Slauson and Co; and Sandhya Venkatachalam, Founder and Managing Accomplice, Axiom Companions
Founders are more and more anticipated to compete for capital earlier than they actually have a product. On the pre-seed stage, buyers are betting on story, conviction, and founder-market match. This session breaks down the right way to construct credibility earlier than income exists so buyers will reduce that first examine.
From MVP to Billions of Customers: How Product Choices Should Change at Scale
With Robby Stein, VP, Product, Google
The instincts that win when constructing your first minimal viable product can break you at a billion-user scale. On this fireplace, Robby Stein shares how product decision-making adjustments when each replace impacts billions of customers. Hear how groups stability velocity with belief and innovation with reliability at one of many world’s largest product organizations.
Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder
With Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-founder, Gusto; extra audio system to be introduced
Early-stage corporations are not simply constructing with AI; they’re hiring it. As AI brokers tackle engineering, assist, and operations, the definition of an early workforce is being rewritten. This session explores how founders resolve what people ought to personal versus what will get delegated to AI, and the way high-growth startups are constructing hybrid groups with out shedding velocity, accountability, or tradition.
M&A Is Now an Early-Stage Technique
With Karl Alomar, Managing Accomplice, M13; Aklil Ibssa, Head of Company Improvement and M&A, Coinbase; and Lindsey Mignano, Founder, Mignano Regulation Group
The neatest founders in the present day aren’t simply constructing for IPOs; they’re additionally constructing with attainable acquisitions in thoughts from day one. As exits shift and capital tightens, understanding M&A early has turn into a aggressive benefit. This session breaks down how founders can create the potential of such an possibility via product technique and partnerships. It delves into how big-dollar startup outcomes truly occur, even for small corporations.
The Collection A in 2027
Jahanvi Sardana, Accomplice, Index Ventures; Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Peak XV; and Janelle Teng Wade, Accomplice, Bessemer Enterprise Companions
Collection A is getting more durable, with VCs rising extra demanding. For founders planning to boost in the subsequent one to 2 years, this session breaks down what “fundable” will truly imply in 2027. Hear how prime buyers are redefining the metrics, groups, and traction that matter now, what outdated fundraising playbooks not work, and the way corporations can separate from the pack in the subsequent funding cycle.
The 90-Day GTM: Why $0–$10M ARR Is the New Baseline (and How you can Truly Get There)
With Ryan Meadows, Chief Income Officer, Lovable; and Tomasz Tunguz, Basic Accomplice and Founder, Principle Ventures; extra audio system to be introduced
The definition of traction has modified. What as soon as took years is now anticipated in months, and $0 to $10 million ARR is more and more turning into the brand new early-stage baseline. This session breaks down how AI-enabled execution, quicker distribution, and shifting investor expectations are compressing GTM timelines, and the tactical levers founders want in the primary 90 days to speed up income and stand out quick.
The Actual Tokenmaxxing: How the Greatest AI Firms Navigate a Multi-Mannequin World
With Mo Jomaa, Accomplice, Capital G; and Zuzanna Stamirowska, CEO and Co-founder, Pathway; extra audio system to be introduced
The frontier is shifting quicker than any single mannequin can sustain with, and the groups constructing the most profitable AI merchandise are more and more orchestrating throughout many fashions reasonably than betting on only one. This panel brings collectively founders and operators on the middle of that shift to debate how they consider new fashions, handle value and reliability at scale, and architect merchandise that may evolve as shortly because the underlying expertise.
PMF Crimson Flags: How you can Inform If You Actually Have It
With Rajeev Dham, Managing Director, Sapphire Ventures; and Rahul Vohra, Founder and Head of Superhuman Mail; extra audio system to be introduced
In an AI hype cycle, product-market match alerts are simpler to pretend and more durable to belief. Founders are mistaking early pleasure, utilization spikes, and pilot wins for sturdy traction. This session breaks down what false PMF truly seems to be like, how buyers and operators separate actual retention from hype-driven adoption, and the alerts that point out whether or not an organization has true pull or simply non permanent momentum.
The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How you can Get Your First 1,000 Prospects With no Advertising Price range
With Grant Lee, CEO and Co-founder, Gamma; Leah Solivan, Founder and Basic Accomplice, Precedent.vc; and Elia Wallen, Founder and CEO, Engine
Early buyer acquisition will not be about advertising spend; it’s about founder-led distribution and relentless execution. Most startups at zero to 1 don’t have funds, model, or scale, solely urgency and creativity. This session breaks down how founders are touchdown their first prospects via neighborhood constructing, product-led development, founder-led gross sales, strategic outbound, and word-of-mouth momentum.
Sure, It’s Arduous to Be a Founder: An Sincere Dialog
With Nell Daly, Co-founder and Managing Accomplice, Revenge Capital; David H. Rosmarin, Affiliate Professor, Harvard Medical Faculty; and Jack Withinshaw, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, Airspeeder
Firm constructing is as psychologically demanding as it’s strategic, and most founder narratives understate that actuality. In this candid dialog, founders and psychological efficiency consultants unpack the hidden prices of high-growth environments, from burnout and choice fatigue to the id pressure of sustained stress, and share the methods, habits, and psychological frameworks that assist leaders endure and carry out at a excessive degree.
So You’ve Obtained a Hit Product. How Does Your Firm Do It Once more?
With Filip Kaliszan, CEO and Co-founder, Verkada; and Aaron Jacobson, Accomplice, New Enterprise Associates; extra audio system to be introduced
Most startups stall out as a result of they construct a single nice product as a substitute of a repeatable multi-product engine. Be part of a enterprise capitalist and two founders as they reveal the exact operational playbook for capital allocation, systemizing inner innovation, and engineering a compounding “Second Act” earlier than the core product’s development curve flattens.
Hiring, Compensation and Tradition in the Most Aggressive Market Ever
With Matt Birnbaum, Founder, Wylder.co; and Atli Thorkelsson, VP, Expertise Community, Redpoint Ventures; extra audio system to be introduced
No query about it, the expansion of AI startups has made hiring and retention for all tech corporations tougher. From competing for AI expertise to secondary gross sales, founders are rethinking the human infrastructure of their startups. As hiring, incentives, and worker expectations quickly evolve, this session explores how corporations are adapting compensation, tradition, and team-building methods to draw and retain prime expertise in a essentially modified startup surroundings.
How you can Create Viral Development and Capitalize on It
With Zach Yadegari, Founder, Cal AI
Startups can go from zero to viral in a single day, however sustaining that momentum is a totally totally different problem. In this fireplace, Zach Yadegari shares how Cal AI navigated speedy development, product stress, and the realities of constructing in a distribution-driven market. Hear the teachings behind turning breakout consideration into sturdy retention and long-term firm constructing.
The Excessive-Conviction Filter: What We Discovered From the Battlefield
With Alexa von Tobel, Impressed Capital; and Chi-Hua Chien, Co-founder and Managing Accomplice, Goodwater Capital; extra audio system to be introduced
What separates the breakout corporations from the remainder at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026? In this candid debrief, Startup Battlefield judges unpack the tendencies and founder qualities that stood out in actual time, from shifting investor expectations to the narratives that resonated most this 12 months. The dialog may also discover how startup storytelling is evolving and what occurs after the highlight, together with the realities of sustaining momentum and surviving the vital 12 months after a serious launch, funding spherical, or Startup Battlefield look.
Be part of the conversations and make the connections at Disrupt
If you’re able to construct smarter, scale quicker, and study from the leaders shaping the way forward for startups, secure your pass to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 today and save as much as $330 earlier than charges enhance.
If you buy via hyperlinks in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t have an effect on our editorial independence.
