Thank you to everyone who made this year’s San Francisco event a success. We are grateful to the ten thousand attendees who filled the halls, made valuable connections, and left with more knowledge than they came with. For those who could not attend, the images below offer a glimpse of what you missed. We look forward to seeing you next year.
Vinod Khosla told attendees that he does not accept the argument that powering artificial intelligence will harm climate efforts. He stated that geothermal energy is nearly here, while fusion energy remains further off. He also discussed his alignment with President Donald Trump on deregulation and his disagreement on immigration. Regarding the administration, he said with a grin, “The only thing I will say is this administration won’t last forever.”
Roelof Botha is shown on stage with a crowd hanging on his every word. The Sequoia partner explained how his firm selects winning companies and what government ownership in startups could mean. He warned founders not to be clever with timing, advising them to raise money now if they will need it in six months, because bubbles pop.
Kevin Damoa of Glīd Technologies, the winner of this year’s Battlefield competition, is pictured with Battlefield chief Isabelle Johannessen. She and TechCrunch’s Michael Schick work with dozens of startups for months to prepare them for this stage. The celebratory hug is well-earned.
Roy Lee, the founder of the app Cluely, which is best known for its mantra “cheat at everything,” entertained the crowd with his frank take on how to win at marketing. He said, “Every day, people are doing crazier and crazier things, which is why to stand out, you have to do something even crazier.” Maxwell Zeff is also pictured, holding his own.
If former Cleveland Cavaliers player Tristan Thompson misses the NBA, he is not showing it. He is building a business empire and raising pointed questions about the league he left behind. When asked if players could manipulate Basketball Fun, a web3 platform that turns NBA players into tradable tokens, he offered a counterpoint: “It’s the same question we ask about referees. Are they not gaming the system?” When moderator Rebecca Bellan pressed him on whether he meant NBA referees take bribes, Thompson shrugged and said, “It’s just a question to be asked.”
Our own Sean O’Kane shares a moment with Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall. Kendall may also be smiling because his U.K.-based self-driving startup, whose software acts as “brains for cars,” is in talks to raise a new two billion dollars from SoftBank and Microsoft at an eight billion dollar valuation.
Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, founders of the AI-powered shopping assistant Phia, dazzled the audience with their enthusiasm for making high-quality secondhand clothing easier to find. Gates, the daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, was also a good sport when asked by moderator Amanda Silberling what her famous parents have learned from her. Gates said with a laugh, “Hopefully style. I don’t even consider myself that stylish; I just like building in the consumer space, but now I get random emails from my family asking, ‘Should I wear this to this?'”
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana is shown with TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec, fielding questions about autonomous vehicles. This included a question on whether society will accept deaths caused by self-driving cars. Mawakana said, “I think that society will. The challenge is making sure society has a high enough bar on safety that companies are held to.”
Kevin Rose discussed Digg’s reboot and the future of venture capital. Rose is also a general partner at the early-stage venture firm True Ventures. The author is smiling because that is what you do when someone will not answer your questions about a buzzy, wearable startup that is still in stealth mode.
Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf is shown hydrating between questions about building the future of AI. This included discussion of LeRobot, the Hugging Face project that is trying to democratize robotics with affordable hardware, open source tools, and shared datasets.
Finals judges Marlon Nichols of MaC VC and Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures are pictured during the last stages of the highly competitive Startup Battlefield. Somewhere off-camera, a founder is sweating through their pitch deck.
Aaron Levie of Box is shown in conversation with TechCrunch’s Russell Brandom. Levie has appeared on the Disrupt stage numerous times over TechCrunch’s twenty years at the center of the startup ecosystem, and he always delivers.
Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone spoke about the streamer’s expanded role from simple binge-watching to interactive programming, such as voting on live shows and gaming via your phone. She told a rapt crowd, “It hasn’t changed the way we tell stories.”
TechCrunch’s Dominic-Madori Davis discussed community building with Tade Oyerinde of Campus, who is rethinking community college, and Teddy Solomon of Fizz, the anonymous social app that is spreading across college campuses and occasionally getting banned, which some might view as a badge of honor.
A whiteboard filled with wants is shown, listing developers needed, contacts offered, and deals proposed. We love it when founders lean into old-school tactics, as some still work.
David George, who leads the growth investing team at Andreessen Horowitz, came to the show to talk with Julie Bort about what startups need to consider as they eye the public market. It was his birthday, and the crowd took a moment to celebrate with him.
San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie is shown discussing his call with President Trump regarding a proposal to not send the National Guard to the city, an idea floated by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Lurie said, “What I said to him was what I say to everybody: This is a city on the rise. Three days of Disrupt here should prove that.” When asked if he made any concessions with the deal-making Trump, he was definitive: “No, absolutely not. No ask.”
A lot of people come from around the world for programming on how to build their startups. We covered all the bases on our Builders Stage, which was packed every day, all day.
Post-show elation is shown from TechCrunch’s Jessica Barrera, who handled ticketing for ten thousand attendees. She saves our bacon routinely.
For many more photos from the event, visit our Flickr stream. You can also find our full video coverage for Day One, Day Two, and Day Three.