From no-code to AI-assisted development environments, a new approach known as “vibe coding” is changing how early-stage startups build their products and who they need to hire. The once-standard idea of landing a legendary “10x engineer” as your first critical hire is getting a serious reality check. This transformation will be a central topic at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, happening from October 27 to 29 in San Francisco’s Moscone West.
The event will feature a session titled “Vibe Coding: Hype or New Reality?” with Lauri Moore, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and David Cramer, co-founder and chief product officer at Sentry. They will hold a candid conversation on the Builder Stage about how modern developer tools are fundamentally reshaping early product development.
Lauri Moore brings deep expertise in AI, infrastructure, and developer tooling from both the investor and founder perspectives. David Cramer offers firsthand insights from launching Sentry as an open source side project in 2012 and scaling it into a platform used by over four million developers. Together, they will explore how the right tools and the right hires can accelerate product velocity without leading to overbuilding.
This session will dig into what today’s founders actually need from their first engineering hires. It will address what AI-enabled tooling can and cannot replace and how the entire go-to-market and product lifecycle is adapting to this new development world. Whether you are a founder, a CTO, or just curious if code is still king, this panel will get into the messy, tactical details of modern startup building.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 brings together over ten thousand startup founders, venture capital leaders, and tech innovators to tackle what is next in technology. It is a chance to join the conversation and shape the future with the people who are building it. Passes are available now with potential savings.