Introducing the 6 stages at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 — built for today’s tougher startup market

The biggest risk for founders and investors right now isn’t moving too slowly. It’s reacting too late to where the market already shifted.

The new stages at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 help founders and investors make faster, more informed decisions in today’s highly complex, volatile markets.

From October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, Disrupt brings together 10,000+ founders, investors, and operators for 250+ sessions across six stages focused on the operational pressures reshaping startup innovation, from AI-native competition and infrastructure bottlenecks to changing venture dynamics and enterprise adoption.

Explore the six stages planned for 2026 and secure your pass before prices increase. Right now, save up to $410 with Early Bird rates, plus 50% on a second ticket.

Explore all six stages at Disrupt

Without further ado, get to know the six stages at Disrupt, designed for a hands-on approach to launching, building, and selling in today’s tech industry.

Disrupt Stage: See where the market is headed

The Disrupt Stage remains the center of gravity for TechCrunch Disrupt, bringing together headline founders, major technology leaders, and top-tier investors to discuss the broader shifts reshaping the market.

Startup Battlefield 200 also takes place here, giving attendees direct visibility into which startups investors and media believe have breakout potential before the rest of the market catches up. Think your startup has what it takes to compete? Nominate and apply by May 29.

Conversations focus on:

• The future of AI and technology.

• How companies get built and funded now.

• Leaders shaping global industries.

• What’s next across tech’s biggest shifts.

For founders, investors, and operators alike, it brings to light the signals shaping opportunity: where attention is concentrating, which categories are accelerating, and how successful companies are positioning themselves in a much tougher market.

For a limited time, bring your community to Disrupt and save up to 30% on tickets. Register here.

Builders Stage: Tactical answers for founders under pressure

The Builders Stage at Disrupt focuses on the operational realities of building a company right now: fundraising, hiring, product-market fit, go-to-market execution, and scaling in a more demanding environment.

Unlike traditional founder content, these sessions are built around current pressure points having a real impact.

Sessions like “How to Win When You’re Not Building AI” tackle one of the defining challenges in today’s market: how non-AI startups compete for attention and capital while investors chase AI-first companies.

Other programming explores:

• Fundraising before product-market fit.

• Moving from seed to Series A.

• AI-native hiring strategies.

• The new expectations around growth and revenue.

Speakers include Nina Achadjian, partner at Index Ventures; Rajeev Dham, managing partner at Sapphire Ventures; Josh Reeves, CEO and co-founder of Gusto; Grant Lee, CEO and co-founder of Gamma; Robby Stein, head of product at Google; and Mo Jomaa, partner at CapitalG.

For founders trying to move faster with fewer mistakes, this is one of the most tactical environments at Disrupt.

Lock in your Disrupt ticket so you can tackle your biggest growth challenges.

Smart Money Stage: Follow where capital is going

As fintech markets mature and investor scrutiny increases, startup success hinges on knowing which financial technologies are still creating durable growth and which models are losing momentum.

The Smart Money Stage at Disrupt focuses on how financial infrastructure is evolving beyond the hype cycle and toward digital financial systems.

Sessions examine where real-time payments are gaining traction, why some embedded finance models struggled, and where founders are still building durable fintech businesses despite tighter investor scrutiny.

Programming centers on:

• Stablecoins.

• Embedded finance.

• Payments infrastructure.

• Fraud prevention.

• Modern fintech systems.

These conversations are grounded in what’s actually surviving in a more skeptical market, not speculation. Speakers on this stage include Jack Zhang, founder and CEO of Airwallex, and Lotti Siniscalco, general partner at Emergence Capital.

For fintech founders and investors, the value is understanding where capital still sees long-term opportunity and where market enthusiasm is starting to disappear.

Register for Disrupt and get direct access to the investors, founders, and operators shaping the next generation of financial infrastructure.

Smart Systems Stage: The infrastructure powering AI

As AI expansion accelerates, demand for data center capacity, energy, grid connectivity, and industrial systems is increasing just as quickly.

The Smart Systems Stage at Disrupt focuses on one of the biggest constraints facing the technology industry: physical infrastructure needed for energy, climate, and industrial systems.

This stage focuses on the operational systems that modern software companies increasingly depend on but often overlook. Sessions explore:

• The AI data center energy crisis.

• Grid infrastructure bottlenecks.

• Infrastructure automation.

• Robotics and industrial systems.

• Climate and energy scalability.

A couple of leaders in this sector to take center stage include Jeff Lawson, co-founder and CEO of Inertia, and David Kirtley, CEO of Helion.

For founders and investors building in energy, robotics, logistics, infrastructure, or climate tech, this stage offers a clearer understanding of where physical-world constraints could create the next major opportunities — or new barriers.

Get your Disrupt ticket to see where infrastructure innovations are becoming the next competitive advantage.

AI in the Real World Stage: Where AI has to work

Once AI enters physical systems, reliability becomes a business issue, not just a technical one.

The AI in the Real World Stage at Disrupt tackles what happens when AI systems move beyond demos and into environments where reliability matters, from robotics and autonomous systems to manufacturing and drug discovery.

Programming explores how AI is being deployed across:

• Robotics.

• Autonomous systems.

• Manufacturing.

• Defense.

• Industrial operations.

The focus on this stage shifts away from AI hype and toward operational reality, including how trustworthy systems are built, what happens when cloud access is limited, how physical AI products scale, and where deployment failures create real financial and operational risk.

For founders and investors evaluating the next generation of AI companies, this stage offers a clearer picture of which businesses can actually survive the transition from prototype to production.

Explore the Disrupt ticket options for founders, investors, operators, and startup teams.

AI Stage: How AI is rewriting software in real time

The AI Stage at Disrupt, presented by Google Cloud, focuses on how generative AI and AI agents are changing software companies at every level.

Programming on this stage, like “Rewriting SaaS: Why AI Breaks the Old Business Model,” reflects a growing reality across the software industry: Traditional SaaS advantages are eroding quickly as AI changes user expectations and product economics.

Sessions explore:

• AI-native SaaS models.

• LLM applications.

• Enterprise AI adoption.

• AI agents and automation.

• DevSecOps and AI security.

• How software pricing and workflows are changing.

For founders and operators, the value is understanding how software companies are adapting right now — and where competitive advantages are likely to disappear next.

Find your ticket match and experience Disrupt in person before prices increase.

Save up to $410 and gain insights from today’s top tech leaders

Three jam-packed days featuring 200+ sessions across six stages, led by 250+ tech leaders shaping the industry today, only at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Save up to $410 on your pass and get 50% off a second ticket so you can bring a plus-one and experience Disrupt together. Register now.