Disrupt is where you’ll find innovation for every stage of your startup journey. Whether you’re a budding founder with a revolutionary idea, a seasoned startup looking to scale, or an investor seeking the next big thing, Disrupt offers unparalleled resources, connections, and expert insights to propel your venture forward.
Disrupt 2024 was a success! Join us for Disrupt 2025!
October 28 – 30, 2024
San Francisco
Disrupt 2024 was a success! Join us for Disrupt 2025!
Some of our featured speakers
Mary Barra
Chair and CEOGeneral Motors
A.C. Charania
Agency Chief TechnologistNASA
Denise Dresser
Chief Executive OfficerSlack from Salesforce
Sara Foster
General Partner / Co-FounderOversubscribed Ventures / Favorite Daughter
Colin Kaepernick
Founder and CEOLumi and Super Bowl QB
Vinod Khosla
FounderKhosla Ventures
Ashton Kutcher
Co-Founder and General PartnerSound Ventures
Matt Mullenweg
Co-Founder / Founder and CEOWordPress / Automattic
Mary Barra is chair and chief executive officer of General Motors. She was elected chair of the GM Board of Directors in 2016 and has served as CEO of GM since 2014.
Under Barra’s leadership, GM envisions a world with zero crashes, to save lives; zero emissions, so future generations can inherit a healthier planet; and zero congestion, so customers get back a precious commodity — time.
She is focused on creating the best customer experience and strengthening GM’s core vehicle and services business, while also working to deliver transformative technologies such as electrification, autonomous driving, and software.
Prior to becoming CEO, Barra served as GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, and as senior vice president, Global Product Development. In these roles, Barra and her teams were responsible for the design, engineering, and quality of GM vehicle launches worldwide.
Previously, she served as vice president, Global Human Resources; vice president, Global Manufacturing Engineering; plant manager, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly; and in several other executive engineering and staff positions.
Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a General Motors Institute (Kettering University) co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1985, followed by a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990.
Barra serves on the Board of Directors of the Walt Disney Company, the Duke University Board of Trustees, and the Detroit Economic Club.
Over her decade-long tenure, Chairman and CEO Mary Barra has pushed to transform General Motors into a technological powerhouse — and one that will lead in electrification, software and autonomous driving though their self-driving subsidiary Cruise. We’ll take stock of her progress — including the unexpected speed bumps along the way — and dig into her plans for the future, including where GM is investing capital.
As the Agency Chief Technologist, A.C. Charania serves as principal advisor to NASA’s administrator on technology policy and programs. He also leads technology innovation at the agency and aligns NASA’s agency-wide technology investments with mission needs across the six mission directorates. Charania oversees technology collaboration with other federal agencies and the private sector while coordinating with external stakeholders.
Charania is an experienced leader in entrepreneurial space and aviation ventures, whose private sector work also includes projects under contract for NASA, the Air Force, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). His breadth of experience spans multiple areas, including launch vehicles, hypersonics, human/robotic exploration, lunar landers, planetary defense, small satellites, and aviation autonomy. Before joining NASA, he served as vice president of product strategy at Reliable Robotics.
Cislunar space – the region from Earth out to the Moon – is quickly becoming the next frontier for commercial space activity and a gateway for future space exploration. This panel will explore how the convergence of cutting-edge technology, innovative business models, and strategic partnerships is turning bold visions for the Moon – from space stations to sustainable lunar infrastructure – into reality. Industry leaders will discuss the opportunities and challenges of building a thriving lunar ecosystem and how the commercial sector is positioning itself at the heart of this new era of exploration.
Denise Dresser is the CEO of Slack. For over 20 years, Denise has spearheaded business transformations within many of the world’s largest and most innovative companies. At Slack and as a part of Salesforce, Denise leads the team of Slack technologists, product innovators, marketers, communicators, and customer success professionals who are grounded in Slack’s mission to make people’s working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive. Denise previously served as President of Accelerated Industries Sales at Salesforce, leading the distribution and go-to-market strategy for some of Salesforce’s most strategic accounts and for the company’s industry-leading cloud solutions. Prior to Salesforce, she was a sales leader at Oracle. Denise graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a member of the Ad Council Board of Directors, a passionate mentor to future women leaders and top talent, and the executive sponsor for ALSForce, a Salesforce equality group focused on raising awareness about ALS. Denise is based in San Francisco and is the mom to two amazing teenage boys.
Embracing Slack’s Evolution Under Salesforce and Vision for the Future
Join us for a one-on-one chat with Slack CEO Denise Dresser, who is approaching her one year anniversary while leading her organization through a time of AI-driven change and continued questions about the return to office. During this session, learn how Slack is innovating with agents to empower teams to work smarter, faster, and more efficiently, and get a glimpse into Slack’s next chapter of innovation and growth in this new era of work.
Industry Stage- SaaS
AI
Sara Foster
General Partner / Co-Founder, Oversubscribed Ventures / Favorite Daughter
Sara Foster is the co-founder of clothing and lifestyle brand Favorite Daughter, now with two of its own stores and sold at Moda Operandi, Nordstrom, and Saks. Sara is also an executive producer on “Nobody Wants This,” a Netflix show to be released in September 2024, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Her and her sister Erin have also launched Oversubscribed Ventures, a venture capital firm aimed at investing in consumer brands and tech. Sara and Erin also have a weekly podcast called The World’s First Podcast, which discusses dating, bettering yourself, and the fights they get into. Sara also has an extensive personal portfolio, investing in companies like Summersalt and Rowan.
Consumer, Culture, and Creators with Erin and Sara Foster
Two of the industry’s most famous sisters sit down alongside business partner Phil Schwarz to talk about consumer investing, culture curation, and what it means to be a creator in the modern age.
Colin Kaepernick is the founder and CEO of Lumi, a groundbreaking platform that empowers creators by providing them with the tools needed to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories both digitally and physically. In 2016, he took a knee during “The Star Spangled Banner” to bring attention to systemic oppressions against Black and Brown people, and quickly became known as one of America’s foremost civil rights activists. As an NFL player, Colin led the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII and is the holder of the all-time NFL record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. He has been awarded a number of prestigious honors, including Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope honor, GQ magazine’s “Citizen of the Year,” the NFL’s Len Eshmont Award, the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, the ACLU’s Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, and the Puffin/Nation Institute’s Prize for Creative Citizenship. Since 2016, he has founded and helped to fund three organizations — Know Your Rights Camp, Kaepernick Media, and Kaepernick Publishing — that together advance the liberation of Black and Brown people through storytelling, systems change, and political education. In 2019, Kaepernick helped Nike win an Emmy for its “Dream Crazy” commercial. In 2021, Colin released Colin in Black & White, a six-episode limited series on Netflix exploring his high school years, which won two NAACP Image Awards. In 2022, he became a New York Times bestselling author for his acclaimed children’s picture book, “I Color Myself Different.” He will release his next children’s book, “We Are Free, You and Me” in October 2024, co-authored with his wife Nessa and published in partnership with Scholastic.
If anyone knows a thing or two about losing control of your own narrative, it’s Colin Kaepernick. Now the former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist runs an AI storytelling platform, Lumi, to help creators tell and own their stories. We’ll chat about the media landscape, how AI can empower storytellers, and biases in today’s AI models.
Vinod Khosla is an entrepreneur, investor, and technology fan. He is the founder of Khosla Ventures, focused on impactful technology investments in software, AI, robotics, 3D printing, healthcare, and more. Mr. Khosla was a co-founder of Daisy systems and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems, where he pioneered open systems and commercial RISC processors. One of Mr. Khosla’s greatest passions is being a mentor to entrepreneurs, assisting entrepreneurs, and helping them build technology-based businesses. Mr. Khosla is driven by the desire to make a positive impact through technology to reinvent societal infrastructure and multiply resources. He is also passionate about social entrepreneurship. Vinod holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from IIT, New Delhi, a master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Vinod Khosla Looks into the Past to See the Future of AI
Join legendary investor Vinod Khosla for an electrifying fireside chat on the future of AI. Khosla will share his perspective on the groundbreaking opportunities AI unlocks — along with the seismic disruptions it will unleash. Given Khosla’s penchant for straight talk and his proven ability over the years to see around corners, you won’t want to miss this conversation.
Ashton is an entrepreneur, technology investor, actor, and philanthropist. Ashton has been investing in tech for nearly two decades and has co-founded two VC firms, A-Grade Investments in 2010 and Sound Ventures in 2015 alongside Guy Oseary. Ashton’s overarching investment philosophy is to invest in “enduring happiness,” a strategy that has proven to be highly successful. With more than $1 billion under management and 300 portfolio companies, Ashton and his partners have been at the helm of six top quartile venture funds. A-Grade and Sound Ventures’ investments include Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM), Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB), Airtable, Anthropic, Brex, Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL), Gitlab (NASDAQ: GTLB), Hugging Face, OpenAI, SentinelOne (NYSE: S), and Uber (NYSE: UBER). He is an active and sought-after technology investor with proven expertise in product and user experience. Ashton was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and was on the cover of Forbes’ Midas List issue for Tech’s Top Investors. He was also included in Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment List,” which identifies the top 50 of an innovative new breed of buccaneering visionaries, engineering prodigies and entrepreneurs. Ashton studied biochemical engineering at the University of Iowa.
Join Sound Ventures partners Ashton Kutcher, Effie Epstein and Guy Oseary on their firm’s big bet on AI, the influence of celebrity status, and the trends they are tracking right now.
Disrupt Stage
Fundraising
Matt Mullenweg
Co-Founder / Founder and CEO, WordPress / Automattic
Matt Mullenweg is co-founder of the open source publishing platform WordPress, which now powers over 40% of all sites on the web. He is the founder and CEO of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, WPVIP, Day One, Beeper, and Pocket Casts. Additionally, Matt runs Audrey Capital, an investment and research company. He has been recognized for his leadership by Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Inc. Magazine, TechCrunch, Fortune, Fast Company, Wired, University Philosophical Society, and Vanity Fair.
Matt is originally from Houston, Texas, where he attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and studied jazz saxophone. In his spare time, Matt is an avid photographer. He currently splits his time between Houston and San Francisco.
Matt Mullenweg: The Future of WordPress and the Web
Matt Mullenweg is co-founder of WordPress, the ubiquitous open source platform powering much of the web. He’s also CEO of Automattic, which was valued at $7.5 billion in its most recent funding round. Mullenweg will join us to discuss his founder journey and where WordPress and the web go next.
Assaf Rappaport is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wiz, the world’s fastest-growing startup securing everything organizations build and run in the cloud. Wiz serves over 40% of the Fortune 100 and has raised over $1.9 billion at a $12 billion valuation in just four years, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Cyberstarts, Howard Schultz, and others. Before founding Wiz, Assaf was the founder and CEO of the security company Adallom, which was acquired by Microsoft for $320 million in 2015. He then served as Microsoft’s youngest-ever General Manager, overseeing the company’s Cloud Security Group and Israeli R&D Center.
Fresh off a $1 billion funding round, Wiz has shot to fame as one of the fastest-growing, impactful cloud security startups ever. And one of the most sought after: earlier this year it rebuffed a $23 billion M&A offer from Google. Come hear its CEO talk about his journey as a founder and the challenges (and opportunities) ahead.
From idea to IPO, Disrupt charts startups at every stage on the roadmap to their next breakthrough.
Join 10,000 startup and VC leaders
Whether you want to meet founders or investors, get advice, or find your next gig, Disrupt is your can’t-miss opportunity to connect in person with the right people.
Build and scale your business faster
Disrupt goes beyond bootstrapped founders. From sessions on scaling teams and acing sales to networking and roundtables with investors and tech leaders, Disrupt is the essential catalyst for growing your business.
Gain insights from today’s tech pioneers
Lean in and learn from seasoned founders and tech titans. At Disrupt, they’ll share their journeys, best practices, how-tos, actionable tips, and takeaways to help you avoid pitfalls as you build your own roadmap.
Get your startup in front of 10,000 tech leaders at Disrupt 2024. Gain actionable insights from top VCs, network with other founders, and learn how to scale your operations to the next level. Check out the opportunities below to let your startup shine at Disrupt!
There are over 300 sessions to explore at TechCrunch Disrupt across our industry stages, breakouts, and roundtables.
Startups should be sure to attend the sessions on the Builders Stage, specifically designed for founder how-tos and advice.
The roundtables and breakouts are also excellent places to get your startup questions answered by experts.
For Series A to B Startups to exhibit at TechCrunch at a discount.
As a ScaleUp Startups exhibitor, you’ll showcase your company for one exhilarating day on the Disrupt expo floor and receive four startup passes for your team to partake in the entire conference experience. Seize this opportunity to elevate your startup’s trajectory!
For founders (including ScaleUp/Battlefield 200 founders) and Investor pass holders only. This area is a great spot to grab a coffee, relax, and make new connections with other founders and investors.
For all Founder ticket holders.
Get small-group Q&A time with select speakers who are on the Builders Stage to get your questions answered.
Get exclusive access to the Disrupt investors attendee lists to make networking that much easier. All list inclusions are only from investors who opt in to be listed.
Then create/attend your own Braindate session to meet with like-minded founders and leaders and/or find investors.
For early-stage, pre-Series A startups to exhibit at TechCrunch for FREE and get a chance to win $100K!
Top-tier expert judges. World-renowned past winners. Free and open participation. The world’s top early-stage startups together on one stage to compete for the equity-free $100K prize money and the attention of media and investors worldwide.
With over 1200 VCs in attendance along with over 3000 founders, Disrupt is the place to be for all investors to increase deal flow and uncover the latest trends. See below for a taste of what’s in store for you as an investor pass holder!
If you’re not familiar with the Startup Battlefield 200, it’s our meticulously vetted, hand-picked cohort of early-stage startups on the fast track to making a huge impact in the world. You’ll find them exhibiting on the expo floor, and of those 200, the top 20 will go head-to-head in the Startup Battlefield competition. They’ll pitch on the Disrupt Stage to TechCrunch editors, top-tier VCs and entrepreneurs for an equity-free $100,000 prize.
This is an unparalleled opportunity for investors eager to fund early-stage startups with the TechCrunch stamp of approval. Startup Battlefield alumni include more than 1300 companies with over $29 billion raised.
For All Investor Ticket Holders
Get small-group Q&A time with select speakers who are on the Builders Stage to get your questions answered.
Swing by one of the many Startup Pavilions on the expo floor to connect with hundreds of early-stage startups from around the world and across multiple verticals.
Our newest startup program, ScaleUp, allows Series A and B companies to join in on the Disrupt fun, and you the opportunity to get in on companies that have already gained traction.
For All Investor Ticket Holders
Join the exclusive StrictlyVC session with Silicon Valley insiders right at Disrupt. Price of admission is included in your Disrupt ticket.
For All Investor Ticket Holders
For founders and investor pass holders only. This area is a great spot to grab a coffee, relax, and make new connections with other founders and investors.
For All Investor Ticket Holders
Catchup with your investor peers over a drink right at Disrupt to talk shop, exchange notes, and increase deal flow.
Get exclusive access to the Disrupt investors/founder attendee lists to make networking that much easier. All lists inclusions are from attendees who opt-in to be listed only.
Then, create/attend your own Braindate session to meet with like-minded leaders, founders, and investors on topics your care about.
Gain industry insights and trend alerts from today’s top investors across one of the stages, breakouts, or roundtable sessions.
Whether you work at a five-person startup or a Fortune 500 or you’re a student just figuring things out, Disrupt is where you want to be if you’re interested in tech, startups, or venture capital. See below for a sample of what’s in store for you as an attendee!
Disrupt is the place to look for a new job, recruit, or discover a new industry. With 10,000 attendees, a robust networking app, and invite-only receptions, you’ll have no trouble making meaningful connections.
Create/attend your own Braindate session to meet with like-minded leaders, founders, and investors on topics your care about in 1:1 or small-group sessions.
Come and join 100+ events hosted by our partners during “Disrupt Week” throughout San Francisco. From meetups to parties and workshops to happy hours, you’ll be right in the thick of Disrupt.
Head to the Expo Hall for nonstop tech action, networking, and engagement with partners, service providers, and startups.
Discover industry-specific insights on the AI, SaaS, Fintech, and Space Stages. Check out founder how-tos on the Builders Stage and the biggest names in tech on the Disrupt Stage.
Go deep on topics your care about with 100+ breakout sessions and roundtables, and get your questions answered directly from today’s top leaders.
Get access to session transcripts and slides for you to reference for your own business goals.
Hundreds of top media outlets cover Disrupt each year. From independent journalists to established TC presenters, Disrupt brings the best and brightest. Follow the directions below to apply for a free media pass.
TechCrunch offers many ways for partners to engage directly with our attendees before, during, and after the event. Get in touch with us to learn more.
More than 1,200+ AI leaders, VCs, and innovators will meeting June 5 in Berkeley for an immersive experience with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere and more. Explore the AI ecosystem through main stage sessions, breakouts, and live demos of the latest AI innovations.
More than 1,200+ AI leaders, VCs, and innovators will meeting June 5 in Berkeley for an immersive experience with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere and more. Explore the AI ecosystem through main stage sessions, breakouts, and live demos of the latest AI innovations.
TechCrunch offers many ways for partners to engage directly with our attendees before, during, and after the event. Get in touch with us to learn more.
