TechCrunch Disrupt comes back to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 13 to 15, and it’s still the place where a seed-stage company can go from unknown to funded in a week. About 10,000 founders, investors and operators are expected. Most of them aren’t there for the keynotes. They’re there for the hallway.
The center of gravity is Startup Battlefield, the pitch competition that has launched companies people now use every day. A few dozen early-stage startups get picked, they pitch on the main stage to a panel of VCs, and one walks off with the cup and a cheque. The rest still walk off with press, investor meetings and a cohort of founders who’ve been through the same grinder.
This year AI is the default setting rather than a track. Expect founders building agents, AI infrastructure and vertical tools for law, health and finance, and expect investors asking the same question in every meeting: what happens to your business when the model gets cheaper next quarter?
If you’re raising in 2027, Disrupt is where you test the story. If you’re investing, it’s where you see the class before everyone else does.