\nLogan Farrell, co-founder and CTO of Rugged Robotics, and Austin Yount, partner at Brick & Mortar Ventures, tackle the gap between a flashy robotics prototype and a commercially viable product. The conversation centers on reliability, seamless workflow integration, customer trust, and clear return on investment required before physical AI can achieve widespread adoption.<\/p>\n
![\"Get](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/TC-All-Stage-2025-roundtable.jpg?resize=1200,800\")
<\/figure>\nBeyond Inventory: The Commerce AI Playbook for the Intent Era
\nSrishti Chaudhary, senior product manager at Walmart eCommerce, examines the shifting dynamics of online retail. As commerce transitions from processing keyword searches to interpreting complex human intent, Chaudhary explores the implications of agentic shopping for personalization, transactional infrastructure, large language models, and customer relationships.<\/p>\n
The Quantum Revolution: What Investors Need to Know
\nAs quantum computing inches closer to commercial viability, this session provides investors with a practical grounding in the underlying technology. Attendees will examine emerging market opportunities and the definitive technical milestones necessary to separate genuine breakthroughs from industry hype.<\/p>\n
Healthcare Took 40 Years to Adopt EHRs, Then Adopted Generative AI in Three. What Comes Next?
\nBrian Butler, partner at Questa Capital, investigates the unprecedented speed at which the healthcare sector has embraced generative AI compared to previous technological shifts like electronic health records. Butler explores existing regulatory and systemic barriers while identifying where founders can construct durable value as healthcare providers rethink their software procurement strategies.<\/p>\n
Beyond the Term Sheet: How to Architect a Great Fundraise
\nAlex Li, partner at MVP Ventures, guides participants through the complexities of securing capital. The session moves beyond the mechanics of the pitch to explore how founders can strategically select investors, secure warm introductions, orchestrate a competitive funding process, negotiate favorable terms, and construct a cap table that supports rather than inhibits future scaling.<\/p>\n
From Pilot to Production at Scale: Provable, Trusted Agentic AI for the Enterprise
\nDr. Maha Achour, co-founder and CEO of Kodamai, and Pankaj Kedia, founder and managing partner of 2468 Ventures, discuss why so many enterprise AI deployments remain stalled in pilot phases. The panel explores the necessary conditions for transitioning agentic systems into verifiable, trusted, and scaled production environments.<\/p>\n
Brutal Truth: 12 Critical Mistakes That Nearly Derailed My CISO Career
\nStephen Ward, founder and managing partner of Brightmind Partners, shares candid lessons from his tenure as a Chief Information Security Officer. Ward examines pivotal missteps\u2014ranging from accepting unsustainable risk to premature organizational maturity management\u2014and offers actionable advice for cybersecurity leaders navigating high-stakes corporate environments.<\/p>\n
What Comes After ChatGPT? AI for the Physical World
\nJack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ, and Stacie Calad-Thomson, global business development lead for life science labs and manufacturing at Nvidia, look past text-generation models. The conversation focuses on AI grounded in physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, highlighting emerging commercial opportunities across healthcare, advanced materials, energy systems, and finance.<\/p>\n
The Rise of SoCal Hard Tech: Why VCs and Founders Are Gravitating to Gundo
\nSponsored by the New York Stock Exchange, this session features Kevin Hawkins, head of partnership development and media distribution at the NYSE, alongside El Segundo City Councilmember Drew Boyles. The panel investigates the factors transforming El Segundo into a prominent magnet for aerospace, defense, and hard tech startups, examining how local policy and community design foster resilient tech ecosystems.<\/p>\n
The Founder Playbook
\nSponsored by Signify Business Cash World Elite Mastercard by Wells Fargo, this interactive session is led by Cassie Kozyrkov, founder of Kozyr and former chief decision scientist at Google. Participants are invited to bring active business challenges to the table, exploring decision-making frameworks where machine intelligence can assist alongside human judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Company Is a Rocket Ship.\u201d What Comes After the Landing?
\nSponsored by Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors, this session features private wealth advisors and co-founders Vishal Kumar and Tushar Kumar. The discussion addresses the complex financial decisions triggered by major liquidity events such as an initial public offering, acquisition, or large tender offer, covering tax strategy, asset concentration risk, lockup periods, and wealth preservation.<\/p>\n
When Frontier Models Are Not Enough: How to Make AI Capable of Breakthrough Scientific Discoveries
\nPiotr Byrski, CEO and co-founder of Molecule.one, explores the frontier of autonomous experimentation. By discussing how machine learning systems can evaluate thousands of parallel scientific hypotheses rather than a handful, Byrski examines the potential acceleration of research and development across scientific disciplines.<\/p>\n
How to Land Your First Institutional Check (From the Person Who Writes Them)
\nAditi Maliwal, general partner at Upfront Ventures, offers an insider\u2019s perspective on early-stage institutional venture capital decision-making. The discussion outlines the behavioral signals investors look for prior to formal traction, effective narrative construction, and common missteps that can prematurely end investment discussions.<\/p>\n
Grow Like a Founder, Think Like a CFO: Balancing Growth and the P&L
\nMarshall Egger, founder and COO of Spacemilk, leads a practical session on financial discipline. Designed for early-stage operators, the discussion covers forecasting models, inventory management, retail terms, cash flow optimization, and strategies for achieving top-line growth without eroding the profit and loss statement.<\/p>\n
Agentic AI in the Enterprise: Separating Signal From Noise for GTM and Ops Leaders Open-Weight Models and the New AI Stack The $100 Billion Entry Fee: Can Anyone Still Compete in AI? VC Insights for Founders: How to Raise Your First VC Round FDE: The Best Commercial Motion in Enterprise Software You\u2019ve Never Heard Of Doing More With Less: Raising Venture Capital in an AI-First World I Built Before the Internet. AI Is Different. Autonomous Intelligence: Investing in the Companies Redefining Work AI-Native Won\u2019t Work for the Enterprise Berkeley Connect: Experience the World\u2019s #1 Startup Ecosystem Take Your Seat at the Disrupt 2026 Roundtables<\/p>\n TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is designed to transform theoretical discussions into tangible business relationships. By participating in these structured roundtables, attendees have the opportunity to directly address operational challenges, compare strategic approaches with peers, and gather actionable insights. <\/p>\n The conference takes place from October 13 to 15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Registration remains open, with special pricing allowing attendees to save up to $100 on their primary pass and receive 50% off an additional ticket for a colleague or co-founder before the doors open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is officially just seven days away, preparing to transform Moscone West in San Francisco into the epicenter of the global startup ecosystem. From October 13 to 15, more than 10,000 founders, investors, operators, and technology leaders will converge for three days of high-level conversations, networking, and exploration of the ideas that will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[317],"tags":[333,903,898,899,318,902,321,901,320,401,900,897,319],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology-and-fintech","tag-ahead","tag-conference","tag-disrupt","tag-extensive","tag-fintech","tag-francisco","tag-innovation","tag-lineup","tag-payments","tag-reveals","tag-roundtable","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amercanfirstfinance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAnkita Mehta, senior product manager at Databricks, addresses enterprise demand for agentic workflows. The session helps go-to-market and operational leaders determine where agents deliver measurable value, why pilot initiatives stall, and how to rigorously evaluate AI tooling prior to committing core infrastructure.<\/p>\n![\"Get](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/roundtable.jpg?w=680\")
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\nMercedes Bent and Vanessa Larco, co-founders and managing partners at Premise, analyze the expanding array of open-weight models available to software builders. The panel evaluates the strategic trade-offs concerning cost, operational security, performance, control, and the potential structural advantages open models offer emerging startups.<\/p>\n
\nHarrison Rolfes, senior research analyst for private company coverage at PitchBook, examines market concentration in the artificial intelligence sector. Amid historic capital infusions into frontier labs, the session questions whether the market is consolidating prematurely and analyzes what capital density means for independent founders and investors.<\/p>\n
\nSponsored by Silicon Valley Venture Corp., this session features Itamar Novick, founder and general partner at Recursive Ventures, and Brian Sparkes, CEO of Silicon Valley Venture Corp. The panelists provide a roadmap for navigating early institutional fundraising, including timing, narrative development, momentum generation, and closing terms.<\/p>\n
\nKevin Bai, a member of the technical staff at Anthropic, breaks down the role of forward-deployed engineers. Sitting at the intersection of software engineering, product design, and customer-facing consulting, the session examines when early-stage startups should adopt this commercial motion to drive enterprise retention and expansion.<\/p>\n
\nNeil Sequeira, founder and partner at Defy.vc, cautions against the perils of overfunding. Sequeira explores dilution dynamics, investor alignment, and how founders can secure adequate capital to execute their vision without creating misaligned expectations or incentives down the road.<\/p>\n
\nJames Joaquin, co-founder and managing director of Obvious Ventures, draws upon decades of experience across multiple technological cycles. Joaquin explains why he views the artificial intelligence shift as fundamentally distinct from previous paradigms, detailing where real-world applications are taking root and how operators can adapt to accelerated innovation cycles.<\/p>\n
\nParul Singh, investment partner at 645 Ventures, examines the commercial shift toward autonomous enterprise software. The discussion highlights market categories poised to benefit from systems capable of executing entire workflows autonomously rather than merely assisting human workers.<\/p>\n
\nNaren Krishna, CEO and co-founder of Balerion, and Travis Skelly, partner at Pruven Capital, discuss enterprise software integration. The panel explores why Fortune 500 organizations often prefer modular intelligent agent layers over replacing established systems of record, presenting a near-term opportunity for enterprise-focused startups.<\/p>\n
\nSponsored by the UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET), this session features Maryanne Alhallak, co-founder and CEO of Lumeria; Anthea Guo, co-founder and CTO of Lumeria; and Keith McAleer, chief marketing officer at UC Berkeley SCET. The panel highlights the entrepreneurial methodologies originating from Berkeley’s academic ecosystem and outlines pathways for investors and founders to engage with the network.<\/p>\n