The final Disrupt Stage lineup: Three days of conversations you won’t hear anywhere outside of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
TechCrunch TechCrunch Events ● Covered by 3 sources
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 just locked its main-stage lineup for Oct. 13–15 in San Francisco. It’s got AI, robotics, VC, and even Mark Wahlberg on the same stage.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, TechCrunch Events — read the original for the full story.
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TechCrunch has filled out the Disrupt Stage for its 2026 event, and the pitch is simple: if you want to hear what Silicon Valley thinks comes next, this is the room. The main stage runs October 13 to 15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, with founders, CEOs, investors, and Startup Battlefield 200 competitors cycling through in front of the same audience.
The lineup leans hard into the big arguments hanging over tech right now. Rivian’s RJ Scaringe will talk about turning an ambitious idea into a company that can design, manufacture, and scale complex physical products. Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman is set to take on the question that keeps coming up around AI: can it keep scaling as models demand more compute, energy, and capital? And Science Corporation’s Max Hodak is looking past screens to technology that works directly with the human body, while Flock Safety’s Garrett Langley will discuss AI, surveillance, and public safety.
There’s also a rare sight on the schedule: all five Benchmark partners — Jack Altman, Peter Fenton, Chetan Puttagunta, Everett Randle, and Eric Vishria — appearing together. Ricursive Intelligence co-founders Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini will go even further out on the edge, with a discussion about AI systems designing the hardware they run on. On Thursday, Amazon’s Panos Panay will ask what comes after the smartphone and bring new tech with him. Bluesky’s Toni Schneider and Rose Wang will also dig into whether social media can start over, while Replit’s Amjad Masad will argue through what happens to software when AI makes building it much easier.
Then there’s the celebrity turn. Mark Wahlberg will appear with Keebeck’s Bruce K. Lee to talk about how he’s moving from fame and dealmaking into serious investing. It sounds like a side quest, but it fits the broader Disrupt formula: a mix of product, capital, spectacle, and people trying to convince everyone they know where the future is headed.
Startup Battlefield still has its own draw. Founders will compete across space and physical AI, energy and manufacturing, health tech and life sciences, and enterprise and security, then the 2026 finalists take over the stage for the final round. Cellino co-founder and CEO Nabiha Saklayen, who won in 2021, is returning with a new product, and three former Battlefield founders — Piotr Byrski of Molecule.one, Demetri Maxim of Nephrogen, and Kevin Damoa of Glīd — are coming back to talk about what happened after the pitch.
The winner gets $100,000 in equity-free funding and the Disrupt cup. But the bigger prize is the one TechCrunch is selling all over this lineup: access to the people shaping what the next wave of tech looks like, before it becomes obvious.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is TechCrunch doing what TechCrunch does best: putting the loudest arguments in tech on one stage and charging admission to the theater. The smart bit is the mix of builders, investors, and Battlefield alumni, because the industry loves pretending those worlds are separate right up until the term sheet lands. Celebrity investor cameos are garnish; the real meal is the recurring Silicon Valley habit of treating every new platform shift like a moral emergency and a fundraising memo at the same time.
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