Agenda
September 21st
Revolutionizing the Global Metaverse Economy
Together Labs is leveraging the power of blockchain technology to create the new metaverse economy where users can buy, sell, invest and shape its future. Earlier this year, Together Labs launched VCOIN, the first global, digital currency that can be used in and out of the metaverse. VCOIN makes it possible for users to play to earn real value and then convert that value to cash. Learn about this burgeoning new economy and how it benefits companies, brands and entrepreneurs.
The $49B Developer Landscape
Over the past 20 years, IT has witnessed a power shift from CIOs to developers. Any developer with an idea has been given empowerment and authority to innovate. This has led to the creation of 1000 companies that create products used, influenced, or bought by software development teams. In this session, we’ll discuss the 17 landscape segments, the CIO transition from decision maker to governor, and the developer “pay for value” mentality causing the emergence of Product-Led Growth (PLG) businesses.
Saving the World
COVID-19 changed everything. It not only threatened our individual health and well being, but shook industries and economies across the globe. But the same could be said about the COVID-19 vaccines. Hear from BioNTech cofounder and CEO Ugur Sahin on the process of rapidly developing the world’s most sought after vaccine, alongside Pfizer, and the long-term potential of mRNA-based therapies. Sahin will be joined by Ursheet Parikh of Mayfield Fund to discuss what’s next for startups in this rapidly evolving industry.
Where to Cut and Where to Spend in First-Check Fundraising
Every time a founder raises financing, they usually have one goal: growth. But what does that actually mean? And how do you begin divvying up your new capital between the various goals your startup is barreling toward? In this panel, which includes Harlem Capital’s Henri Pierre-Jacques, Equal Ventures’ Richard Kerby, and BBG Ventures’ Nisha Dua, you will learn about how to spend your investment the best way, balancing runway with classic startup rigor.
Democratizing Healthcare
It’s no secret that the current healthcare system in America is broken. Technology stands to make a huge difference, especially in the backdrop of eased regulations due to COVID-19. Hear how startup founders from Forward, Carbon Health and Cityblock Health decided to tackle the behemoth, backward industry of healthcare, as well as talk through their plans to democratize access and digitize the industry.
Bioplatforms for Saving the Planet
Twist’s synthetic DNA is re-inventing the fields of medicine, agriculture, industrial chemicals, and data storage. Ginkgo has developed custom strains of organisms to make fragrances, fertilizers, lab-grown meat, hunt for natural antibiotics, and engineer probiotics. Hear about the founder journeys of these two iconic entrepreneurs from inception through IPO and beyond, and how they are changing our world for the better.
You Complete Me
In the age of the composable ecosystems, we’re all partners now – from frenemies to pure collaborations. So why is now, more than ever, the right time to invite friends and challengers to the table? The truth is we have to build for an unknown future, with a shared strategy and value outcome. Join us to find out how you can benefit from symbiotic relationships in the platform economy.
Pot, Pottery and Beyond
Somehow we live in world where alcohol is sold in grocery stores and weed is considered a gateway drug. But that is rapidly changing. The legalized cannabis industry is estimated to be worth more than $13 billion in 2021, and major players from big food, pharma, etc. all want a slice of the pie. Hear from actor and comedian Seth Rogen on his well-known passion for pot, and how it led him to start Houseplant. Rogen will also be joined by Houseplant chief commercial officer Haneen Davies and co-founder and CEO Michael Mohr.
How to Raise Your First Dollars
Deciding how to go about getting your initial funding is always a tricky subject, as the wrong move could adversely impact your young company. In this session we’ll hear from experts who’ve shepherded multiple companies from the earliest to the latest fundraises.
The Disrupt Desk: Health and Biotech
Industry experts and TechCrunch editors break down the panels you missed with analysis, insight, and likely a laugh or two.
The Startup Battlefield – Session 1
TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $100,000.
So You Want to Build a Space Business?
The space industry is changing faster than ever, with new technologies and lower launch costs democratizing access to space and driving a new era of innovation. The opportunities to build the next great business are seemingly endless, but space can be a difficult and unforgiving place, especially for those new to the domain. This session will feature practical insights and advice from experienced space leaders for entrepreneurs looking to get their business off the ground.
How Netflix Saved Cybersecurity
We’ve all heard that membership has its privileges, right? In fact, the membership Economy has forever changed why and what we buy…until we go to work. For many of us, the tools we buy at work are still tied to old-school ownership models: The millions of dollars we spend on technology solutions and services tied to multiyear licensing agreements effectively hold us hostage regardless of product efficacy. In cybersecurity specifically,, the transactional nature of such purchases has not and cannot keep pace with the growing costs of breaches or the ease with which hacks can be executed. We’ll show how membership–the Netflix model–can successfully replace ownership and usher in a whole new taxonomy of cybersecurity defense
Saving Lives with Precision Biology
Illumina is the world leader in next-generation sequencing. Adaptive Bio is the leader in immune-driven medicine. Mission Bio pioneered single cell multi-omics for genotype and phenotype. And Endpoint is developing precision therapies for inflammatory illness, sepsis, ARDS and more. Hear from these 4 leaders who are leveraging biology breakthroughs to save lives on a wide range of topics including translating innovation from bench to bedside, aligning incentives with the ecosystem, getting to reimbursement, exploring SPACs and beyond.
The Dark Matter of Workflows: Business Technology’s Big Opportunity
Did you know we’re only familiar with 5% of matter and energy in the universe, according to CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research? The rest is dark. The same can be said about the nature of work. Organizations only have visibility into a small percentage of the actual work taking place because the complexities surrounding it have been growing exponentially. With enormous amounts of data, systems, applications, workflows, and more floating around, leaders and employees feel the gravitational mass of work in their stress levels, yet there’s no clear unified system of record for it. The most successful startups will be the ones that seek to understand, uncover, and harness the dark matter of work now before they launch into hypergrowth mode. Andrew Filev, Founder of a leading collaborative work management platform that went from bootstrapping to billion dollar acquisition, stands by this and can discuss how he’s helping startups bring to light the dark matter of work and harness workflows for operational efficiencies.
The Subtle Challenges of Assessing Product-Market Fit
Product-market fit is the holy grail for founders, and the key to unlocking the next phase of a startup’s growth. Behind “product” and “market” though, there are dozens of considerations, from types of users and product offerings to marketing and pricing that determine just how strong a fit a startup has found. Join early-stage investors David Thacker of Greylock, Heather Hartnett of Human Ventures and Victoria Treyger of Felicis as they discuss the subtler challenges in finding and assessing fit.
Taking Care of the Next Generation
KiwiCo empowers kids to explore, create and learn with hands-on kits. Mirvie provides a personalized window into pregnancy for early detection and intervention. Grove is committed to a plastic-free future with its line of eco-friendly beauty, home and lifestyle products. Hear from these 3 exceptional entrepreneurs about their mission to create a better world for our generation and the next ones, building movements and communities, and the milestones in getting to escape velocity.
How to Cultivate a Community for your Company that Actually Lasts
There’s no doubt about it: the word of the year in startupland is “community.” In this panel, Community Fund’s Lolita Taub, Commsor’s Alex Angel, and Seven Seven Six’s Katelin Holloway will extract buzz from reality and help founders understand the growing importance of chief community officers in startup culture, and ultimately financial success, today.
From ABCs to IPO
Language learning company Duolingo was founded in 2011 and has raised more than $183 million in private capital, and recently went public on NASDAQ under the symbol DUOL. Despite avoiding monetization for years, the startup saw revenue growth of 120+ percent in 2020, with continued growth in the first half of 2021. CEO and co-founder Luis Von Ahn will join us on the Disrupt stage to talk about gamifying education, prepping for a public offering, and how he and the team built the anti-Rosetta Stone with an owl as a mascot.
Powering What’s Next: Insights from the Enterprise Software Market
Spurred by digital transformation and the recent shift to remote work, the enterprise software industry has gone from strength-to-strength and competition for deals and valuations are at all-time-highs. While investor appetite for enterprise software may be strong, it doesn’t mean that all tech businesses make worthy investments. In this panel, hear from Michael Fosnaugh and Monti Saroya, Co-Heads of Vista’s Flagship investment strategy, and a selection of Vista CEOs on the hallmarks of best-in-class software companies and trends driving the industry.
The Whole Package
In this session, founders of By Humankind, Package Free and rePurpose will “deliver” the insights they’ve learned about growing and succeeding in the sustainable tech space. These founders have experience across all models, from retail to D2C to the enterprise. Hear how they plan on eliminating plastic and creating a valuable business at the same time.
The Inaugural Connection I.T. Superheroes Awards category winners, announced live by Jamal Khan, Chief Innovation & Growth Officer
Connection and TechCrunch have teamed up to celebrate and recognize those IT people who have gone the extra mile, with the inaugural Connection I.T. Superhero Awards. Winners of the 5 category awards will be announced live, presented by Connection’s Chief Innovation & Growth Officer, Jamal Khan. These awards are about people, not products for the many out there deserving recognition for their daily efforts. We think some well-earned awards are a great place to start.
The Disrupt Desk: Impact
Industry experts and TechCrunch editors break down the panels you missed with analysis, insight, and likely a laugh or two.
How to Ditch Traditional Fundraising
In 2021, venture capital has never been more plentiful, but some founders still can’t break into networks or have found that traditional fundraising isn’t the best route for their business. Fortunately, alternative fundraising techniques are gathering steam as founders find paths to raise cash that diverge from the startup success stories of the past.
The Startup Battlefield – Session 2
TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $100,000.
Demo Derby – How startups are disrupting the status quo with innovative data analytics, AI and modern app development
Startups need to move quickly and focus limited resources on areas where they can differentiate. In this fast-paced session, learn from startups and Google experts how you can leverage Google technologies to serve customers better and get to market more quickly. In a series of short demos, see how innovative startups and Google experts have used Google compute, storage, networking and AI technologies to ‘disrupt’ the status quo.
How Circle’s $4.5B Public Listing Will Change Startup Fundraising
Circle acquired SeedInvest in 2019, as a further step toward realizing its vision of a more open, global, connected, and inclusive financial system. Fast forward to today, Circle recently announced its plans to become a $4.5B public company, with over $1 billion of fresh capital. In this session, Circle CEO and Co-Founder Jeremy Allaire and Ryan Feit, CEO and Co-Founder of SeedInvest, will break down the evolution of the two companies and how Circle and SeedInvest plan to double down on online fundraising to make it faster and easier for entrepreneurs.
The Pros and Cons (but mostly pros) of a Distributed Workforce
Coronavirus has changed so much, but perhaps nothing about our everyday lives has changed quite as much as the way we work. Corporations and small businesses the world over have moved to remote work, and as per usual in a time of change, startups have the advantage. Hear from leaders who have cultivated fast-moving, highly productive (yet still culture-conscious) distributed workforces and how they’ve managed to do so.
Collecting Crypto Opportunities
Dapper Labs launched the digital collectible craze into the mainstream earlier this year with its smash hit NBA Top Shot but, CEO Roham Gharegozlou has big ambitions for the space. His startup most recently hit a $7.5 billion valuation and has aims to own the NFT ecosystem with their Flow blockchain product.
Thrive with an Untethered Workforce
Shark Tank investor and cybersecurity leader, Robert Herjavec chats with Ben Wright, founder and CEO of Velocity Global, about how to thrive with an untethered workforce. The mindsets of employers and talent has converged to work with anyone, anywhere, anytime, anyhow. Choice is paramount: employers engage all types of talent from full-time to project freelancers; people live anywhere, work for anyone, in a work-life balance. When priorities align, the possibilities are endless.
Breaking the Bank
Coinbase’s massive direct listing earlier this year couldn’t have come at a better time as peaking crypto enthusiasm reached market exuberance, but now amid a major market correction, CEO Brian Armstrong is once again tasked with building for the future and navigating volatility while fending off global competitors knocking at their door.
Humanizing AI: How Brands Are Revolutionizing Customer Experience in an Increasingly Digital World
Empathy deficit is the largest imminent threat to a businesses’ growth, but there’s hope. Humanized AI is allowing brands to create empathetic customer experiences by offering uniquely personal interactions with digital people. But what is empathy, really? And how can it help brands and storytellers better connect with their audiences in a cookie-less world? Soul Machines’ co-founder and CBO Greg Cross explains how embracing AI could be just the competitive advantage your brand needs.
CISO2CISO: On the Wrong Side of Disruption
Disruption isn’t always a good thing. Often, we fear it. We resist prioritizing even necessary change out of fear that the disruption it may bring will be more detrimental than beneficial. Are we wrong? Are we right? Cyvatar Co-Founder and ex-global CISO Craig Goodwin and Alteryx CISO Billy Spears debate both possibilities as they look at the ways we prioritize risk and disruption at work.
S.E Seen It All
Erin Schneider has spent nearly 17 years with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, where she is currently regional director of the agency’s San Francisco office. Schneider has investigated or supervised dozens of matters, including Elon Musk’s famous tweet debacle and the alleged fraud of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, and Schneider still has her hands full. Indeed, we’ll be talking with Schneider about the many moving pieces the agency is tracking right now, from badly behaving CEOs, to SPACs, to crypto regulation.
September 22nd
Belgian Startup Pitch Competition hosted by hub.brussels
Hub.brussels invites you to join us for the 7th edition of our Belgian Startup Pitch Competition. We look forward to seeing you there!
TTA Taiwan Pavilion Pitch-off Session – Healthcare & Enterprise
Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) champions entrepreneurship and innovation to build a vibrant global startup ecosystem in Taiwan. 20 out of 40 TTA promising startups will unveil their latest innovation related to Healthcare and Enterprise solution.
Staying a Step Ahead
In 2020, in the midst of an already-frantic year, Twitter was breached in a very public way. Behind the scenes, Twitter spends a tremendous amount of time, money, and energy on user protection and platform integrity. A big part of that is through information security. CISO Rinki Sethi will join us at Disrupt to talk through how Twitter tries to stay ahead of malicious actors amid the pandemic, and how tech companies large and small can do the same.
The Path for Underrepresented Entrepreneurs
Being a founder comes with a wide array of challenges, but underrepresented founders unfortunately face an extra layer of bias, both conscious and unconscious. At Disrupt, we’ll sit down with founders who will share their journey through fundraising and scaling, as well as advocates who can offer tactical insights and advice.
From Bootstrapped to Billions
Dozens have tried to reinvent the calendar, and dozens have failed. Tope Awotona built Calendly not as a way to reinvent the wheel, but to add a layer of simplicity to the chaos of human communication and time management. And boy did it work! The once-bootstrapped company is now worth more than $3 billion, serving individuals and enterprises alike. Hear from the founder and CEO on how he got Calendly off the ground, why he decided to finally take institutional investment, and how the company has changed as it grows.
Illuminating the Next Great Entertainment Frontier: The Connected TV Metaverse
While the proliferation of operating systems and OTT platforms have made TV more convenient and accessible, the magnitude of players in this ecosystem have also made television more complicated to navigate –for programmers, advertisers, and viewers. We all want our programming in each of its various delivery methods, provided in an easy-to-navigate, fast-to-discover, intuitive interface. Join an in-depth conversation with media industry veteran and technology futurists as they identify the outlook of the CTV world.
The Startup Battlefield – Session 3
TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $100,000.
Achieve Sustainable IT with Prometheus, Grafana, and Hardware Sentry
Implementing sustainability initiatives to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the data center is a vital challenge. Join Bertrand Martin, Sentry Software’s co-founder and CEO, as he presents Hardware Sentry Exporter for Prometheus.Measure the power consumption and temperature of more than 250 platforms with this unique pure-software solution. Report CO₂ emissions, electricity usage and costs of applications and services in Grafana. Reduce the carbon footprint of your datacenter with intelligent optimization of ambient temperature.
TTA Taiwan Pavilion Networking Session – Smart Living, Cloud and Healthcare.
Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) under the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan have selected 40 potential Taiwan Tech startups to join the networking session in TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 and expect to Scale and Globalize Taiwan’s Startups in the near future.Furthermore, TTA is a deep tech startup ecosystem building program bringing academic/R&D talents, startups, accelerators, corporate and investors under one roof. And also aims to cultivate deep technology entrepreneurship, foster commercialization of innovation and build a vibrant cross border deep tech startup ecosystem. This event is invite only.
How to Sign Your First Three B2B Customers
The secret to revenue growth is great sales, but the definition of “great” and “sales” has changed dramatically post-COVID. Virtual meetings, simple onboarding, product-led growth, and more have upended the traditional approach to sales for enterprise companies, requiring new tactics for founders to get the kind of skyrocketing growth they desire and lock in those first customers. Join Kate Taylor of Notion, Pablo Viguera of Belvo, and Vineet Jain of Ennyte as we discuss the best practices for handling sales in a re-energized 2021 economy.
The New Human and Planetary Health Pioneers
Mammoth Biosciences, co-founded by Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna, is the industry’s first CRISPR platform company. It has already delivered a breakthrough Covid test and has inked partnerships for novel CRISPR diagnostics, therapeutics and biomanufacturing with leading healthcare companies. NotCo is combining artificial intelligence and deep science to re-invent the food industry, starting with a milk alternative product with many more to come. Hear about the founder journey from these breakout companies and tips for scaling your business.
An Unstoppable Force and an Immovable Object
Slack and Salesforce are two of the biggest names in all of tech. The communication tool (born from one of the odder pivots in tech history) is commonplace across organizations from almost every industry. It’s an unstoppable force. The sales CRM behemoth is used all over the world by sales teams small and large. An immovable object. In December of 2020, the pair announced a $27.7 billion merger. Hear from Slack co-founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield and Salesforce President and COO Bret Taylor about the future of the combined entity, why the deal made sense, and what it’s like to write down that many 0’s.
Korea Pavilion Pitch Session – Hosted by KOTRA
We present the 13 pioneering Korean companies that will enrich our lives with their innovative edge. The companies specialize in various technologies including Green Tech, AR/VR, 3D Display, AI & Big Data, and Cybersecurity. Don’t miss your chance to catch a glimpse of ingenuity from the technology powerhouse.
Hacking US Healthcare: How a Simple Platform Can Help Solve Some of America’s Most Complex Healthcare Problems
Few things conjure more negative emotions than navigating medical billing; Americans urgently need solutions that prioritize their needs, decrease costs and elevate the patient journey so they can focus on getting care. Fortunately, digital innovation can provide exceptional patient experiences that remove friction for payers, providers and consumers alike. Hear how digital health unicorn Cedar has engineered a complete consumer-first digital platform that’s revolutionizing the financial experience for the entire healthcare industry.
So, You Want to Go Public. What’s Next?
The path to your startup’s exit has grown increasingly complex in the last year. Acquisition? SPAC? Traditional IPO. Hear from seasoned tech experts about how to think about your company’s path to going public and weigh the pros and cons of the various routes.
Dogmatic Design
The rapid evolution of the design industry can’t be understated. From better collaboration among designers and other departments, to collaboration among designers themselves, to the democratization of design across an organization, the landscape is changing. Canva has led the charge in this evolution, building one of the simplest (and yet full-featured) tools on the market. Hear cofounder and CEO Melanie Perkins talk about scaling the business to now be worth upwards of $15 billion, and expanding the business from B2C to B2B, all while continuing to iterate the product.
Why Can't We Stop Ransomware?
This will be an open discussion with participation from audience members about the challenges and consequences of our current approaches to defending against ransomware attacks. The reemergence of REvil over the Labor Day weekend and the uptick in ransomware attacks on schools and universities remind us that hacks for ransom are still among the most attractive and lucrative threats around. Our open forum will uncover ways to combat malicious actors better and thwart the successful execution of ransomware.
The Disrupt Desk: Enterprise/SaaS
Industry experts and TechCrunch editors break down the panels you missed with analysis, insight, and likely a laugh or two.
Why You Probably Have Been Screwing Up Your Hiring Process
Distributed workforces have rapidly become the new normal – but chances are that your hiring processes haven’t been re-invented at the same clip. In this panel, a host of experts including EQ Talent Group’s Doris Tong, SignalFire’s Tawni Cranz, and Sequoia’s Jaime Bott – will discuss how to hire with culture and competence at the core of each decision. And, more importantly, what within your process needs to be scrapped and rewritten for the post-pandemic world.
The Startup Battlefield – Session 4
TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $100,000.
Accelerate your growth using agile market research throughout the product lifecycle
Conducting market research at each stage of your product lifecycle is a critical component to a successful product launch and sustained growth in an increasingly competitive market. While traditional market research can be costly and require a specialized team, agile market research software makes it possible for anyone on your team to get the insights you need fast. Join Momentive.ai to learn how to conduct your own market research to identify what kinds of products and features users value most, get insight into the competitive landscape, and track your brand’s awareness and shifting perceptions over time.
Powering the Small Business Economy with Cloud Technology
Small business is a critical engine of job creation, economic growth, innovation and a driver in our efforts to recover from a global pandemic. Fifteen years ago a start-up company from New Zealand called Xero was founded with the purpose of making life better for people in small business and their advisors. Xero achieved this by shifting accounting practices to the cloud and providing an open set of APIs which has enabled more than 1000 application partners to build affordable tech solutions connected to the Xero platform. Steve Vamos, CEO will discuss how Xero is revolutionizing the way small businesses do business by using cloud and its platform to connect real-time data, with bespoke business solutions that help small business owners be more successful. Steve will speak to a number of key initiatives that will change the game for startups and entrepreneurs who want to innovate and collaborate on the Xero platform, and he will explain how Xero’s vision extends beyond just technology to galvanizing a global community of support and purpose to help small businesses everywhere.
How to Accelerate Everything
In the past year, growth marketing exploded as companies doubled down on what’s worked in the past and found new runway inside an increasingly competitive landscape. We brought together some of the best growth marketing minds across verticals to tell you how they conquered growth in 2021.
Sweating the Big Stuff
Years from now, the pandemic will be view as the watershed moment for Peloton and the explosion of connected fitness. But the past two years have also brought their share of difficulties for the company. CEO John Foley and Chief Content Officer Jennifer Cotter will join us to discuss how the company managed a roller coaster year and where it goes next.
Securing your journey to IPO from the start
Without the right governance tools in place at a company’s inception, a business becomes susceptible to risks as it scales. Adopting governance practices early in a business’s growth process sets them up for long-term growth and a successful IPO. During this session, attendees will hear leadership perspectives for securing your business growth in a time of rapid change.
Accelerating your direct-to-consumer business
The direct-to-consumer landscape has radically accelerated over the past few years, becoming an even more critical lever for brands to build relationships with customers than ever before. This is a new era in which brands must understand the shifts in the customer journey to drive transformational business growth to be ready for what’s next. Join Google and Lenovo to understand key strategies to enable business success and delight customers in 2022 and beyond.
A Fictional Future Built with Real AI
A leading mind in AI research and investment and a bold new voice in science fiction collaborate in “AI 2041,” a remarkable new collection of stories imagining a future shaped by technology being built today. Hear Sinovation Ventures Chairman and CEO Kai-Fu Lee and author Chen Qiufan (AKA Stanley Chan) discuss the tech that inspired their book and the changes they expect over the next two decades.
Why Employers Are Ignoring a Large Candidate Pool That’s Necessary for Growth Today
Hear directly from Checkr CEO Daniel Yanisse and DDI CEO Aaron Hageman about why this job market is fueling the gig economy growth, how to tap into fair chance hiring and how it will help your employee base, the benefits of fair chance hiring and its impact on your bottom line and organizations and allies that promote fair chance hiring and why this matters to DEI efforts.
Crafting a Pitch Deck that Can’t Be Ignored
Investors may be chasing after the hottest deals, but for founders selling their startup’s vision, it’s never been more important to communicate it in the clearest way possible. Our panelists of pitch deck experts are digging into what’s essential, what’s unnecessary and what could just make all the difference in your next deck.
Drones, Self-driving Cars, and Everything in Between
Pete Buttigieg first came on the scene as a small town Mayor in Indiana. He launched onto the national stage as a presidential candidate for the Democratic party in 2020. He now serves as Secretary of Transportation under the Biden administration, and oversees everything from public transport to autonomous vehicle regulation. Hear Secretary Buttigieg’s take on micromobility, the future of cities, drone delivery, autonomous vehicles and more in this fireside chat.
Crafting a Lunar Trajectory in Newspace
Rocket Lab has upgraded its ambitions from building a global launch empire to designing its own spacecraft and visiting the Moon and beyond. Founder and CEO Peter Beck will speak to the challenges and opportunities lying ahead for his fast-growing space and tech outfit.
How to approach fundraising from Corporate VCs
Global CVC funding hit an all-time high of $73B in 2020. Corporations are increasingly investing in the startup community and can be a valuable resource beyond capital. But not all corporate VCs are the same. Understanding a corporate investor’s strategy, mandate and processes can improve how startups successfully fundraise from corporate VCs.Intuit Ventures recently invested in Clearco, a $2B+ startup that is disrupting traditional VC with founder-friendly, equity-free capital. Join Shveta Mujumdar (VP of Corporate Development at Intuit), Andrew D’Souza (Co-founder and CEO at Clearco), and Michele Romanow (Co-founder and President at Clearco) to learn what corporate VCs are looking for in an investment and how to best position your company and showcase how you are solving your customers’ biggest problems.
You’ve Raised Your Seed Round—Now What? Preparing for Your Series A
The first hurdle has been cleared: initial funding is in the bank. You’re hiring more talent, seeing the beginnings of a finished product with clear evidence of traction, and experiencing the coveted growth that previously felt just out of reach. Before you know it, the decision to raise for what is arguably the most competitive round is staring you in the face. In this panel, join Samsung Next’s David Lee alongside founders Kadie Okwudili (Agapé), Andy Hoang (Aviron), and Jim Bugwadia (Nirmata) as they discuss the learnings and nuances of bridging Seed to Series A.
Electric Generation: The Next Frontier For American Business
This session will explore the ways in which smart electric mobility impacts businesses, and what a transition to electric will look like for commercial fleets. Host Chuck Nice will be joined by TechCrunch panelist Ted Cannis, CEO of Ford Pro, and Sam Abuelsamid, longtime engineer in the automotive industry-turned auto industry journalist. Nitty-gritty car talk will blend with discussion of sustainability and imagery to elaborate on the future of the topic.
September 23rd
How to build a remote-first engineering culture
How do you build culture with globally dispersed engineers? Marcelo Lebre, COO and co-founder of Remote and former VP of Engineering at Unbabel, understands better than anyone the challenges of scaling an international workforce of engineers. In this talk, Marcelo will teach you how to adopt a remote-first mindset and how to scale a distributed team of engineers while retaining your culture.
Bankrolling Web 3.0
At $2.2 billion, Andreessen Horowitz’s third crypto-centric fund is their largest vertical-specific bet ever and a signal of just how crucial blockchain tech and decentralized finance is to the firm’s future. General Partner Katie Haun co-leads the crypto team tasked with tracking down the firm’s next Coinbase, which returned billions for the firm.
How Do You Select the Right Tech Stack
From day zero, startups have to make dozens of trade-offs when it comes to the infinite variety of tech stacks available to today’s engineers. Choose the wrong combination or direction, and a startup could be left with years of refactoring to fix the legacy damage. What are the best practices for assessing potential stacks, and how can you minimize the risk of a painful mistake? Top technologists will discuss strategies for improving engineering right from the beginning and at every stage of a startup’s journey.
Softbank's Next Target
Marcelo Claure wears many hats as the CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group Corp., including overseeing the company’s strategic direction of operating companies like WeWork and, more recently, leading an aggressive investing effort in Latin America. We’ll be talking with Claure about why venture capital in Latin America is breaking records this year, which markets are worth watching most closely, and how the region fits into the bigger picture for the Japanese conglomerate.
Rewiring the Brain to Improve the Quality of Life
TRIPP is a digital psychedelic platform that fully immerses you into alternate realities to improve your mental and emotional well-being. Nēsos’ purpose-built earbuds retrain neural pathways to control inflammation, creating the new category of e-mmunotherapeutics. Mindstrong is transforming mental health through innovations in virtual care, data measurement, and data science. The brain is in a state of constant evolution, responding to new electrical signals from the senses and nerves. Hear from these neuroscientists, physicians, and entrepreneurs about how to build brain-based businesses that improve the quality of life.
The Future of Venture
Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and CEO of Social Capital, is one of the world’s most well-regarded and respected investors, and has been at the forefront of the recent SPAC craze. Hear Palihapitiya’s thoughts on the future of SPACs, what tech sectors are primed for a boom, and what excites him most in terms of future investments.
TTA Taiwan Pavilion Pitch-off Session – Smart Tech
Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) champions entrepreneurship and innovation to build a vibrant global startup ecosystem in Taiwan. 20 out of 40 TTA promising startups will unveil their latest innovation related to Smart Tech.
How to Build Brand Buzz and Generate Influence in the Creator Economy
Brands are the lifeblood of startups. The name, the design, the feel, and the emotional connection between customers and company can determine the entire trajectory of a business. It’s a well-trodden field that’s been upended in recent years thanks to the skyrocketing growth of the influencer and creator economies. What does it mean to build a brand in today’s competitive marketplace and how can you assess success? Julia Munslow of Yahoo News and Rachel Drori of Daily Harvest will discuss how they built and reshaped brands for 2021, and what tools founders should consider today in designing a compelling brand.
The Startup Battlefield – Final Round
TechCrunch’s iconic startup competition is back, as entrepreneurs from around the world pitch expert judges and vie for the Battlefield Cup and $100,000.
Scaling Businesses and Creating Value with the Everywhere Workforce
As startup founders scale their companies, increase velocity and eye potential exits, flexibility in talent that can execute a lean, mean go-to-market strategy is quickly becoming not only a necessity but a differentiator. Join Insight Partners’ Hilary Gosher and Ivanti’s Melissa Puls in conversation with Upwork’s Tim Sanders about how hybrid workforces are the new cloud when it comes to accelerating revenue, value creation and businesses overall.
How DAOs Could Shake Up VC
Investment in blockchain startups and tokens exploded in 2021, and some investors are blowing up the idea of a venture capital firm as they look to back more projects in the crypto world. DAOs, or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, are starting to pop up more and more, turning traditional VC on its head by building investment organizations on the blockchain.
Esri Hackathon Finalist Presentations
From August 23 to September 13, developers from around the world are joining Esri and TechCrunch for Hack for a Sustainable Future—a hackathon to imagine and build new apps to take on global challenges like climate, equity, and public health. With big ideas and market-leading location services from Esri, participants are creating some truly innovative solutions that highlight the power of mapping technology for purpose-driven problem solving. Tune in to this special session to see an exclusive showcase of the top three projects: the winning teams will take you through their process, share the tech behind their new solution, and inspire you to make a difference with your work.
Pitch Deck Teardown
An articulate, alluring pitch presentation is a big part of successfully fundraising, and yet it’s relatively uncommon for founders to get candid feedback on how they communicated the problem, their solution, and their path to success. During the Pitch Deck Teardown, VCs will offer their live feedback on decks submitted by audience members.
Special Announcement by Esri
From August 23 to September 13, developers from around the world are joining Esri and TechCrunch for Hack for a Sustainable Future—a hackathon to imagine and build new apps to take on global challenges like climate, equity, and public health. With big ideas and market-leading location services from Esri, participants are creating some truly innovative solutions that highlight the power of mapping technology for purpose-driven problem solving. Tune in to this special announcement to find out who the winner is to the hackathon.
Esports Everywhere
The pandemic not only spurred the growth of gaming as a hobby, but gave an extra boost to the world of esports. Hear Evil Geniuses’ CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson outline where esports is headed, how data and technology are driving the players, teams, leagues and beyond, and what opportunities lie in this ever-growing industry.
Eliminating Styrofoam Protective Packaging
Over 380 million tons of plastic are produced every year and 50% of that for single-use purposes such as product packaging. Until now, companies have been hard-pressed to find a replacement for styrofoam for protecting fragile items like electronics and appliances. John Felts of Cruz Foam will discuss the development of bio-benign, compostable alternative materials. Tom Chi of At One Ventures, will talk about the importance of investing in environmental and climate entrepreneurs. Moderator, Scott Cassel of PSI will lead the discussion on how the packaging value chain can create a truly circular economy.
Stream On
HBO Max launched in May 2020 – in the early months of the pandemic. As more users have turned to streaming content to fill the hours, the service has grown to a user base of 67.5 million, through a combination of exclusives and original content. EVP & GM of Direct-to-Consumer at WarnerMedia, Andy Forssell will discuss HBO Max’s growth strategy and differentiation in a world full of streaming choices.
Far From Deadpool
Though he’s never been on the Midas List, everything he touches seems to turn to gold. Famed actor, comedian and investor Ryan Reynolds has been sharpening his entrepreneurial toolkit over the past several years. He took a majority stake in Mint Mobile, bought and sold (for an impressive margin) Aviation Gin, and has run an ultra successful advertising agency all the while. We’ll talk with him about his investment appetite, thesis, and how he’s used fast-vertising to generate brand buzz.
How to Use Customer Feedback and Data Analysis to Iterate Your Product
Everyone has an opinion on product changes. Customers complain, NPS scores are calculated, and internal leaders have their own vision on what comes next. Then there are all the people who are silent — including future customers who may not even know a startup exists yet. How do you find signal from all the noise and build a compelling product roadmap that properly calibrates every tradeoff? Jean-Denis Greze of Plaid, Stephanie Mencarelli of InVision, and Pete Thompson of eBay offer their perspectives as product leaders on how to keep a bold perspective in product while getting the details right.
Top Japanese Startups pitch their exciting new tech! Come watch the live JETRO pitch session 9/23 at 1PM PST
Top Japanese Startups pitch their exciting new tech! Come watch the live JETRO pitch session 9/23 at 1PM PST. Learn about the latest advancements from Japan in fields like Environment, Entertainment, Wellness, and Fitness. Companies include AC Biode, AMATELUS, everblue, hemVR, NeuralX, PJP Eye, R’s KOSO, Samaria, SpoLive Interactive, and XPAND.
Using Visual Communication to Build Your Startup’s Brand
In today’s increasingly visual world, visual communication is the new currency between brands and their customers. So what are the opportunities startups and their clients can use to enhance brand connection? Join Canva’s Strategic Account Executive, Spencer Llewellyn, to learn how the visual economy has transformed the tech industry and powered the evolution of branding and customer experiences.
The Business of Climate Tech
The frequent and extreme flooding, hurricanes and drought caused by climate change has prompted activists and governments to take action. It’s also spurred a growing number of entrepreneurs to launch technology startups focused on the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. We’ll hear from Carmichael Roberts, who co‐leads the investment committee at Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Sean O’Sullivan, managing general partner at SOSV, about the current state of climate tech, the startups that have promise and the potential risk and opportunities of investing in them.
The Missing Block to Bring Crypto to the Masses
With the emergence of concepts such as NFT and GameFi, socialization prosperities are bringing new energy to the crypto world. Known as the People’s Exchange, KuCoin is committed to exploring disruptive technologies and genius ideas to bring crypto closer to the masses. In this session, you will hear from KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu on what is the outlook of the evolving crypto market and how to achieve better trading experience for cryptocurrency investors.
Social Renaissance
The last couple of years have shown that there’s still room for social startups to take a slice of the pie. Hear serial entrepreneur Ben Rubin (founder of Meerkat and then Houseparty, which was acquired by Epic Games) share his thoughts on how Web 3.0 can shape the next year of social startups, what investors are looking for in this space, and tell us about what he’s working on with his newest startup Slashtalk.
Disrupt Desk
Industry experts and TechCrunch editors break down the panels you missed with analysis, insight, and likely a laugh or two. Including an interactive demo of an exciting new product from D-ID.
Connection IT Super Hero Awards Announcement
To nominate someone you know for the Connection IT Superhero Awards, go to https://www.connection.com/content/it-superhero-awards
THIS WEEK ONLY: Founder & Investor Bundle Deals
- Founder Bundles (4–9 passes) save 15% — Only available this week.
- Investor Bundles (4–9 passes) save 20% (up from 15%).
- Act fast — group deals end Oct 3.
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