TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is bringing back its Builders Stage, and the agenda reads like a support group for founders navigating an AI-obsessed market. The event runs October 13-15 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, with more than 10,000 founders, investors, and operators expected. Early registration saves up to $330 before the next price hike.
One session cuts straight to the anxiety keeping founders up at night: ‘What Happens When OpenAI Ships Your Roadmap.’ Michel Tricot of Airbyte, Rob Toews of Radical Ventures, and Webflow CEO Linda Tong will tackle the existential question of whether any startup product can survive becoming a feature of a larger AI player. It’s a conversation that would have felt premature two years ago. Now, with OpenAI and Anthropic shipping at breakneck pace, it’s the defining strategic worry for an entire generation of founders.
Another standout is ‘How to Win When You’re Not Building AI,’ featuring Baillie Gifford’s Shan Shan and General Catalyst’s Yuri Sagalov. The pitch is refreshingly contrarian: efficient growth, retention, and revenue quality still matter more than AI hype. For every founder who’s watched AI startups vacuum up venture dollars while building something decidedly non-AI, this panel is the counter-narrative they’ve been waiting to hear.
Google VP of Product Robby Stein will speak on the less glamorous side of scale — how product decisions shift when updates impact billions of users. Meanwhile, Blackstone N1’s Jas Khaira will discuss what it takes to build the next generation of AI giants, and Gusto CEO Josh Reeves will explore what hiring looks like when AI is effectively a co-founder. The throughline across all six stages is clear: the playbook for building startups changed, and nobody handed out the new edition yet. That’s what this event is trying to write in real time.
