TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Day 2
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TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Day 2 TechCrunch Events 7:30 AM PDT · October 14, 2026 Day 2 of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is here at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Explore innovative startups and solution providers in the Expo Hall, discover emerging technologies through live startup pitches, and use AI-powered matchmaking to connect with a community of 10,000+ founders, investors, startup teams, and technology leaders.
Whether you’re looking for your next investment, discovering solutions for your business, or gathering ideas to take back to your team, there’s plenty to explore today.
Today’s focus spans AI, with speakers from Nvidia, Waabi, Flock Safety, and Ricursive Intelligence, alongside Benchmark’s full partnership. Conversations will cover robotics, AI hardware, public safety, and venture investment.
Still deciding whether to come? Get your pass and join us at 50% off the original walk-up rate. Make discovery and networking your focus with an Expo+ Pass, or choose an eligible conference pass to add stage sessions, interactive roundtables, and Q&A breakouts.
Registration: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Badge pickup and in-person registration is in the Level 1 lobby. All times below are Pacific Time.
Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Level 2. Explore 300+ startups alongside tech partners and solution providers across the Expo Hall. See products in action, discover tools that could help your business grow, and speak directly with the teams behind them.
Meet potential customers and partners, scout investment opportunities, or compare solutions to the challenges your team is facing. Give yourself time to explore companies beyond your usual area of interest.
Catch today’s enterprise fast pitches to discover emerging startups and see how founders make their case. Whether you’re building a company, scouting investments, or working in a startup team, find inspiration in how others explain their products, demonstrate value, and capture attention.
Note the companies and approaches that stand out, take fresh ideas back to your team, and meet the founders afterward to explore potential opportunities.
With an eligible conference pass, explore the ideas, business strategies, and technologies shaping the startup ecosystem. Check the full agenda for session times and the complete Day 2 lineup.
Hear perspectives that could inform your next business decision, investment thesis, or product strategy. Today’s highlights include:
AI, Surveillance, and the Future of Public Safety : Garrett Langley, Flock Safety
What We Believe Now : Benchmark’s Jack Altman, Peter Fenton, Chetan Puttagunta, Everett Randle, and Eric Vishria
When AI Starts Designing Its Own Hardware : Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini, Ricursive Intelligence
Startup Battlefield continues with health tech and life sciences, plus enterprise and security, as contenders pursue a place in the final and $100,000 in equity-free funding.
Discover companies to follow, see how teams respond to investor scrutiny, and gather ideas for presenting your own products or evaluating new opportunities.
Explore what it takes to fund and grow a startup. Founders can sharpen their plans, investors can compare perspectives on what makes a business fundable, and startup teams can better understand the priorities shaping their next stage of growth.
Consider what the discussion means for your business, portfolio, or team, and compare perspectives with other attendees afterward.
The Series A in 2027 : Jahanvi Sardana, Index Ventures; Shailendra Singh, Peak XV; and Janelle Teng Wade, Bessemer Venture Partners
How to Win When You’re Not Building AI : Mark Crane, General Catalyst; Shan Shan, Baillie Gifford; and Chris Yu, ALSO
Build Mode Live: Building From Zero to One : Juliana Di Simone, Forela; Arul Nigam, Circuit Breaker Labs; and Courtney Young, MyoGene Bio
Revealing AI Disruptors 60: What Can AI Do Next? : Parag Agrawal, Parallel Web Systems; Shay Grinfeld, Greenfield Partners; Anand Kannappan, Patronus; Alberto Taiuti, Reactor
The Real Tokenmaxxing: How the Best AI Companies Navigate a Multi-Model World : Mo Jomaa, Capital G; Vipul Ved Prakash, Together AI; and Zuzanna Stamirowska, Pathway
Building the Next Generation of AI Giants : Jas Khaira, Blackstone N1
The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget : Crystal Huang, GV (Google Ventures); Grant Lee, Gamma; and Elia Wallen, Engine
So You’ve Got a Hit Product. How Does Your Company Do It Again? : Maddi Holman, Daring Ventures; Filip Kaliszan, Verkada; Tamar Yehoshua, Atlassian
Discover how AI is moving into physical products and environments, with opportunities to explore practical applications, emerging markets, and the challenges of deployment. Plus, witness a live robot demonstration.
Building AI Systems When Failure Is Not an Option : Nathan Michael, Shield AI; Mikell Taylor, General Motors; and Raquel Urtasun, Waabi
Come, Meet Stretch. The Robot Built for Real Life, Not a Demo Reel : Aaron Edsinger, Hello Robot
Robots Are Waiting for Their ChatGPT Moment. Here Is What Is Standing in the Way : Les Karpas, NVIDIA
Operating at the Edge: How AI Works When the Cloud Doesn’t: Ali Agha, FieldAI; Michelle Lee, Medra; and Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Eclipse Ventures
Launching AI’s Orbital Infrastructure: Devin Coldewey and Blake Bullock, The Aerospace Corporation, Jeff Thornburg, Portal Space Systems; and Jonny Dyer, Muon Space
Humanoid Robots Have Arrived: Live and On Stage: Jonathan Hurst, Agility Robotics; and Digit, Humanoid Robot
From Prototype to Production: Can it Scale in Reality?: Kevin Peterson, Bedrock Robotics and Adrian Macneil, Foxglove
The Race to General-Purpose Robots with Skild AI: When AI Meets the Physical World: Varun Jain, SE Ventures; Deepak Pathak, Skild AI
Can We Engineer…
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