Get hands-on: The full lineup of interactive roundtables at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
TechCrunch TechCrunch Events ● Covered by 6 sources
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 starts Oct. 13 in San Francisco with interactive roundtables. They’re built to turn big startup topics into real advice, not just stage talks.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, TechCrunch Events — read the original for the full story.
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TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is coming to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 13-15, and the roundtables are the part that looks most useful if you actually want answers, not applause. The event says 10,000+ founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders will show up. The roundtables are included with a Disrupt pass, and there’s currently $100 off plus 50% off a second pass.
That matters because these sessions are built for back-and-forth, not passive listening. TechCrunch says attendees can bring questions, compare notes with people at the table, and get practical perspectives on fundraising, AI, hiring, enterprise software, physical AI, and scaling a company. In other words: fewer polished keynote lines, more messy reality.
The agenda leans hard into the same few themes the startup world keeps circling. There are sessions on physical AI, from robotics data challenges to whether AI can actually work in construction, property, infrastructure, and energy. There’s enterprise software too, with talks about AI exposing SaaS fragmentation, the role of agentic AI in ops and GTM, and whether AI-native tools can work in Fortune 500 environments without ripping out the systems companies already depend on.
Finance gets a full lane of its own. Speakers from Pigment, Chime, Upfront Ventures, and others will cover IPO readiness, fundraise design, first institutional checks, and what happens after an exit. TechCrunch is also slotting in sessions on open-weight models, quantum computing, healthcare’s rush into generative AI, and how to make introductions that people remember. The vibe here is pretty clear: if you’re building or backing startups, this is meant to be the part of Disrupt where the useful stuff happens between the big names.
The roundtables run across two dedicated spaces throughout the conference, and TechCrunch says this is where the agenda becomes a conversation. That’s probably the right pitch. Stage talks are nice. But the real value at a startup conference is usually in the awkward, specific question you finally get to ask someone who’s already made the mistake.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the rare conference format that sounds less like theatre and more like work. Good — the startup world has enough panels where everyone politely agrees with everyone else and calls it insight. Roundtables are better because they force the awkward bits out into the open, where the useful advice usually lives.
Read more about this at: TechCrunch