Welcome to the third and final day of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 at Moscone West in San Francisco! The excitement here is still at its peak and shows no signs of slowing down.
If you thought it was too late to join, think again. There’s still time to sign up and get in on the action with a 50% discount. You don’t have to wait a year to be in the tech capital of the year.
Today’s agenda features some of the most anticipated on-stage sessions and highlights insights from pioneers such as Rohit Patel, director of the MetaSuperintelligence Institute. Kirsten Green, founding partner of Forerunner. NBA champion and fintech entrepreneur Tristan Thompson, among others. Excitement builds throughout the day as we wait to announce the winners of the Startup Battlefield 200. Explore breakthrough innovations in the Expo Hall, gain valuable knowledge from industry leaders in hands-on sessions, and make meaningful connections that could shape the next big move.
Today’s important announcements at Disrupt
Register at the registration desk any time from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to get your scannable badge.
Don’t forget your ticket and government-issued photo ID. The name on your badge/ticket must match the name on your ID. You cannot receive badges from other participants.
Investor Breakfast Fireside Chat: The Next Decade of Innovation — Next Growth Engines and Financing Models: Location: Deal Flow Cafe (Investor Pass holders only)
Get ready for an action-packed day — here’s what’s in store for Day 3 of Disrupt 2025.
tech crunch event
san francisco
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October 27-29, 2025
today’s session
A strong lineup of industry leaders will take to the stage to close out Disrupt 2025. See the full agenda for timing and session information.
AI stage
From Advertising to Movies: Created with Code: Alejandro Matamala Ortiz (Runway Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer)
The million dollar AI trust bet: Can you really trust the AI agents running your influencer marketing?: Francis Yang, Aha co-founder and chief product officer
How Google is building Agentic Cloud: Will Grannis, CTO, Google Cloud
AI in the Dust: Building Trusted Models for the Physical World: Fahad Khan (Senior Director, Product Management, Platforms, Blue River Technology (John Deere)) and Jeff Mills (President and Head of Revenue Operations, iMerit Technology)
Forming the AI stack with Hugging Face: Thomas Wolf (Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Hugging Face)
Love, Lies, and Algorithms: The Truth About AI in Matters of the Mind: Dr. Amanda Gesselman (Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute), Mark Cantor (Tinder Product Director), and Eugenia Kuida (Replika Founder)
Smarter streets: How AI is driving the future of transportation: Dave Ferguson (Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Nuro) and Sachin Kansal (Chief Product Officer, Uber Technologies)
AI and national security in a high-stakes innovation race: Justin Fanelli (Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Department of the Navy), Kathleen Fisher (Director, AI and Cybersecurity Initiatives, RAND Corporation), Chris Morales (Point72 Ventures Partner)
Talking back AI: Featured Character.AI: Karandeep Anand (CEO, Character.AI)
builder’s stage
Seed money secrets every founder should know: Gabby Cazeau (Partner, Harlem Capital), Marlon Nichols (Co-Founder and Managing General Partner, MaC Venture Capital), Maria Palma (General Partner, Freestyle Capital)
Rethinking startup capital without VC: Erik Allebest (Chess.com CEO), Louwee Shibashi (Founder and Partner, Next Gen, KALDOS Capital), Gale Wilkinson (Managing Partner, VITALIZE Venture Capital)
Global Recruitment Doesn’t Have to Be Creepy! Paying in Cryptocurrency Shouldn’t Be Either: Francoise Brougher (Pebl CEO) and Aileen Lee (Cowboy Ventures Founder and Managing Partner)
With Vibe Coding, do early-stage startups still need to hire 10x more engineers?: David Cramer (Co-founder and CPO of Sentry), Zach Lloyd (CEO and Founder of Warp), Lauri Moore (Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners)
Get ready for a late-stage raise now: Lila Preston (Head of Growth Equity, Generation Investment Management), Sadi Khan (Aven Co-Founder and CEO), Zeya Yang (Partner, IVP)
Pros and cons of hiring AI agents as early employees: Jaspar Carmichael-Jack (Co-founder and CEO of Artisan), Sarah Franklin (CEO of Lattice), Caleb Peffer (Co-founder and CEO of Firecrawl)
Creating long-lasting communities and companies: Tade Oyerinde (Founder and President of Campus) and Teddy Solomon (Co-Founder and CEO of Fizz)
disrupt stage
Reinventing cities for startups: Daniel Lurie, Mayor of San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco
A conversation with investor extraordinaire Elad Gil: Elad Gil (Gil & Co.)
Survive, Expand, Reinvent: Lessons from Cloud OG: Aaron Levie, Box Co-Founder and CEO
Startup Battlefield Alumni Update: Dr. Capella Kerst (CEO and Founder of geCKo Materials)
The Startup Battlefield Final: Kirsten Green (Founding Partner, Forerunner), Kevin Hartz (General Partner, A*), Aileen Lee (Founder and Managing Partner, Cowboy Ventures), Kevin Rose (Founder, Digg)
The next chapter in Crypto with Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko: Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana Co-Founder, Solana Labs CEO)
From Digg to trading: Kevin Rose on reinventing and investing: Kevin Rose (Founder, Digg)
Roy Lee of Cluely: Build, Break, and Bet Big: Roy Lee (Co-Founder and CEO, Cluely)
From Courtside to Code: Tristan Thompson on AI, Sports, and Startups: Tristan Thompson, NBA Champion and Fintech Entrepreneur
Announcing the winners of Startup Battlefield 2025
round table session
Join us for these 30-minute collaborative sessions. Please note that Expo+ passes do not allow access to these roundtables.
AI Assessment 101: Addressing challenges to real-world AI applications: Rohit Patel (Meta Superintelligence Labs Director, Meta)
Consumer AI and Gen Z Technology: Piyush Shah (Co-Founder, InMobi)
Scaling Search and AI for Millions: Lessons from Reddit Search (Encore): Rachel Miller, Product Manager, Reddit
Continuous progress: Building products that never stall: Papi Menon, Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Outshift by Cisco
Raising a Seed Round in San Francisco as an Outsider: Alice Bentinck, CEO and Co-Founder, Entrepreneurs First
Beyond the Model: Building an Infrastructure for Intelligence: Ben Braverman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Saga Ventures
AI Assessment 101: Addressing Challenges to Real-World AI Applications (Encore): Rohit Patel (Director, Meta Superintelligence Labs, Meta)
expo hall
Our vibrant Expo Hall will host more than 300 startups from all stages, industries, and regions around the world. Engage with them and explore the groundbreaking innovations they’re excited to unveil. Opens at 8am
breakout stage
These 50-minute, first-come, first-served sessions are designed to provide insight and get your burning questions answered. Located right next to the Expo Hall, available for all ticket types.
Voices of the AI era: Qianwen Chen (EchoHer CEO), Fay Kallel (Headspace Chief Product and Design Officer), Chenxi Wang (Rain Capital General Partner)
Powering AI: The race to scale new energy gigawatts: Mike Schropfer (Founder and Partner, Gigascale Capital) and Garth Sheldon-Coulson (Co-Founder and CEO, Panthalassa)
AI and agents: Shaping the way we build, live, and connect: Thomas Foley (Revenue Leader at Composio), Patrick Murphy (CEO and Co-Founder at Maket), Jeremiah Owyang (General Partner at Blitzscaling Ventures), Alyx van der Vorm (Founder and CEO at Clyx)
From Discovery to Disruption: Turning Research into Venture-Backable Companies: Pratik Nimbalkar (CEO of Plaid Semiconductors), Jared O (Co-founder and CEO of SirenOpt Inc.), Chon Tang (Managing Partner of Berkeley SkyDeck Fund), and Asad Tirmizi (CEO of T-robotics)
SOSV: Where Deep Tech is headed (not just AI): Sierra Brooks (SOSV Senior Scientist and Analyst), Po Bronson (SOSV General Partner, IndieBio SF Managing Director), Westley Dang (SOSV Principal), Philipp Sander (SOSV Investment Analyst)
pitch showcase stage
Watch exhibitors make their fast pitches on the Pitch Showcase Stage located in the Expo Hall.
9:30am – 12:00pm: Startup Battlefield 200 Health Pitch
1pm – 3pm: Startup Battlefield 200 Policy + Protection Pitch
Unparalleled Networking: Where Conversations Spark Innovation
In addition to casually interacting with other Disrupt attendees, improve your networking experience through Braindate. Create or explore topics on the app to have deeper conversations and make the right connections to achieve your goals. Braindate provides a networking lounge where you can discuss one-on-one or in small groups any time between 9am and 3:30pm.
side event
The excitement for Disruption continues to grow this week with more than 80 company-sponsored side events across San Francisco. Here’s what happened today: Please RSVP and visit the side event page for more information.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025’s final call to magic — don’t miss the finale
Today is the last day of the conference. Today, startups are pitching breakthrough ideas, connections are being made across the Expo Hall, and industry giants are sharing their innovative insights on stage. We really don’t want to have to wait another 365 days for next year’s conference. Don’t miss out on energy, innovation and opportunity. Register here to save 50% on your pass and head to Moscone West for your tickets.
