Building a startup means making decisions before you have all the answers.
When should you scale? How do you know you’re truly achieving product-market fit? What does it take to win enterprise customers? How do you build the right team? And how can you make sure your pitch is talked about again when you finally stand in front of investors?
TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026, taking place on November 4th at Boston’s SoWa Power Station, will bring together founders, investors, and executives who have been tackling these questions from different sides of the table.
This day-long event, hosted by TechCrunch in partnership with Fidelity Private Shares, goes beyond funding and AI to explore the realities of finding customers, building a team, honing a pitch, developing founder leadership, and scaling companies inside and outside of traditional startup hubs. Now you can save 25% on tickets and bring a colleague for free with our exclusive BOGO sale.
Some of the founder’s speakers in Boston
Steve Fredette talks about building a company that keeps reinventing itself
The Boston founder doesn’t have to look far for an example of what can happen when a startup finds a market and continues to evolve with its customers.
Steve Fredette, President, Co-Founder, and Director of Toast, will be on the Impact Stage for “Building a Company that Continues to Reinvent Itself.”
Mr. Toast’s story provides founders with a compelling case study for identifying customer problems, finding product-market fit, acquiring customers, and ultimately growing a Boston startup into a publicly traded company.
But reaching scale doesn’t mean the work is done. Fredette’s conversation explores what it takes to keep your company evolving as customer expectations, technology, and markets change, while staying connected to the needs that helped create your business in the first place.
Kent Bennett talks about knowing when product-market fit is achieved
Growth can be exciting. Growing too quickly can be costly.
Kent Bennett, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, will lead “Finding Product-Market Fit Before You Scale,” focusing on one of the most important questions early-stage founders can answer: “Are your customers really telling you they’re ready for growth?”
This session provides founders with an opportunity to think more critically about important signals before adding headcount, increasing spending, or accelerating go-to-market efforts.
This is a useful counterpoint to startup culture’s constant pressure to move faster. In some cases, the wisest next action is to verify that the foundation is actually present.
Rudina Ceceli talks about when to scale up and when to hit the brakes
The same tension is front and center for Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures.
In “When to Scale and When to Brake,” Ceceli explores how founders can differentiate between moments when acceleration is needed and moments when restraint could protect the business.
Founders are constantly making trade-offs between growth and discipline. Knowing when to scale up is just as important as knowing when to go all in.
Lior has been building for AI since day one
AI is reshaping the way new companies think about their products, operations, and teams, but adding AI to existing processes is different from building a company around AI from the beginning.
Lior Div, CEO and Co-Founder of 7AI, addresses that feature with “Built for AI From Day One.”
For founders building in today’s technology landscape, this conversation provides an opportunity to think beyond AI as a feature and how it can impact the company’s overall architecture and operating model.
Chase Garbarino talks about Boston founder’s strategy
The world of startups doesn’t start and end in Silicon Valley.
Chase Garbarino, CEO and co-founder of HqO, joins us on the impact stage of “The Boston Founder Playbook” to explore what it means to start and scale a company from Boston.
For founders across New England and the broader East Coast ecosystem, this conversation provides a particularly relevant perspective on talent, customers, capital, and communities outside of the Bay Area.
Combined with Fredette’s toast story, this will give this year’s summit a strong local feel. Ambitious companies can be founded in Boston, and Boston founders don’t need to copy Silicon Valley to do it.
We’ll see Dave Balter on the pitch again.
An offer does not have to result in a deal. You need to make someone want to have the next conversation.
Dave Balter, venture partner at True Ventures and CEO of Edisyl, explores that idea in Your Pitch Has to Earn the Next Conversation.
For founders who are used to explaining their company every day, this session is a reminder that knowing your business and telling its story are different skills.
Later in the afternoon, participants will see the theory in action.
A complete list of Founders Summit speakers can be found here.
Watch founder pitches live
“So You Think You Can Pitch?” features founders testing their stories live during the build stage.
Balter will be joined by Define Ventures partner Chirag Shah and Maveron principal Simran Suri as the startup makes its case before an investor review board.
For participants, it’s an opportunity to see what happens when founders have limited time to connect ideas, and hear in real time how investors react.
This is one of the most interactive parts of the Founder Summit program, an opportunity to learn from both the suggestions raised and the questions left unanswered.
Multiple startup conversations
The rest of the program spans many of the decisions founders are currently facing.
NEA’s Hunter Worland explores why distribution is the next competitive advantage for startups. Vineet Edupuganti, co-founder and CEO of Cogent Security, talks about building a 10x team. TDK Ventures’ Tina Tosukhowong investigates the hidden signals that can identify category winners.
Fidelity Private Shares will also bring that perspective to conversations about its fundraising trends with Kristen Craft and its corporate relationship with Evan Schnidman.
This combination of topics creates a day that’s not just about raising your next round of funding or tracking the latest AI trends, but also about building your company.
Join the conversation in Boston
TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 will be held on November 4th at SoWa Power Station in Boston.
The day will feature candid founder conversations, hands-on sessions, small roundtables, live pitching, networking, and a closing reception hosted by Fidelity Private Shares.
As the event approaches, there are only a few spots left, so register early. Take advantage of our limited time offer now and save 25% on Founder Summit tickets.
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