Get hands-on: The full lineup of interactive roundtables at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

The full lineup of interactive roundtables at Disrupt 2026 | TechCrunch

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Get hands-on: The full lineup of interactive roundtables at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is seven days away, bringing 10,000+ founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 13-15 for three days of conversations, connections, and ideas shaping what comes next.

Included in your Disrupt pass, which you can currently save $100 on, plus 50% off a second, you’ll have the opportunity to take part in a series of interactive, deep-dive roundtables, where you’ll join founders, investors, operators, and industry experts tackling the same challenges you are. Bring your questions, share your experience, and get practical perspectives on everything from fundraising and AI to hiring, enterprise software, physical AI, and scaling a company.

Don’t miss the chance to spark meaningful connections in roundtables and throughout the event. Register now to save up to $100 on your pass and get a second pass at 50% off.

Explore the full roundtable agenda lineup

This year’s sessions run across two dedicated roundtable spaces throughout Disrupt. Here’s the full lineup currently on the agenda. Explore the Disrupt agenda to learn more about all the sessions.

Image Credits:Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Arm Wrestling Your Data: The Physical AI Challenge

Radha Basu, Founder and CEO, iMerit

Physical AI needs more than bigger models. Basu explores the data challenges behind robotics and autonomous systems, including edge cases, multimodal data, and building pipelines that can operate reliably in the real world.

Is SaaS Dead? AI Is Exposing What Enterprise Software Got Wrong

AI isn’t necessarily replacing SaaS — it’s exposing the fragmentation underneath it. Rajeev Singh explores why orchestration, organizational context, and intelligence across workflows could define the next generation of enterprise software.

Can AI Take You Public? The New Playbook for IPO-Ready Finance

Eléonore Crespo, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Pigment; and Sofia Fatakhova, Senior Vice President, Finance and Capital Markets, Chime

IPO readiness starts earlier than it used to. Learn how AI-enabled finance teams can automate, document, and build the financial discipline needed well before a company files to go public.

Specialty Post-Training Data: Powering the Next Wave of AI

Dani London, Investor, Base10 Partners

As models improve, specialized data is becoming an increasingly important differentiator. Explore where valuable datasets come from, which applications need them most, and the businesses emerging around this new layer of the AI stack.

Join these sessions and more at Disrupt. Register now to save up to $100 on your pass and get a second pass at 50% off.

AI’s Next Frontier: Modernizing Legacy Industries

Rob Biederman, Managing Partner, Asymmetric Capital Partners

Some of AI’s biggest opportunities may lie outside traditional tech. Biederman explores where outdated workflows and underserved industries are creating room for a new generation of startups.

The Science of Powerful Introductions: How to Be Remembered in an AI world

Cal Amir, Keynote Speaker and Founder, Introduction Lab

Your first minute with an investor, customer, or potential hire matters. Learn what makes an introduction memorable, which common approaches fall flat, and how to stand out without immediately launching into a pitch.

Atoms vs. bits: Physical AI for the Physical World

Jackson Feder, VP, Investment, MetaProp

AI is moving from digital workflows into construction, property, infrastructure, and energy. Explore where physical AI creates opportunities — and why building for the physical world requires a different approach from traditional software.

Beyond the Demo: Building Physical AI That Actually Works

Logan Farrell, Co-founder and CTO, Rugged Robotics; and Austin Yount, Partner, Brick & Mortar Ventures

A great robotics demo isn’t the same as a useful product. This conversation gets into reliability, workflow integration, trust, ROI, and what physical AI needs to deliver before customers adopt it at scale.

Beyond Inventory: The Commerce AI Playbook for the Intent Era

Srishti Chaudhary, Senior Manager, Product, Walmart eCommerce

Commerce is moving from understanding search terms to understanding intent. Explore what agentic shopping means for personalization, transactions, LLMs, and ultimately who owns the relationship with the customer.

The Quantum Revolution: What Investors Need to Know

Speaker details to be announced

Quantum computing is getting closer to commercial relevance. This session gives investors a practical grounding in the technology, emerging opportunities, and the milestones that matter when separating genuine progress from hype.

Healthcare Took 40 Years to Adopt EHRs, Then Adopted Generative AI in Three. What Comes Next?

Brian Butler, Partner, Questa Capital

Healthcare’s adoption of generative AI has moved unusually fast. Butler explores why, what barriers remain, and where founders can build durable value as healthcare organizations rethink the way they buy technology.

Beyond the Term Sheet: How to Architect a Great Fundraise

A fundraise is more than a pitch. Learn how to choose the right investors, secure introductions, manage a competitive process, negotiate terms, and build a cap table that helps rather than hinders future growth.

From Pilot to Production at Scale: Provable, Trusted Agentic AI for the Enterprise

Dr. Maha Achour, Co-founder and CEO, Kodamai; and Pankaj Kedia, Founder and Managing Partner, 2468 Ventures

Why do so many enterprise AI projects stay stuck in pilot mode? Explore what needs to change to move agentic systems into trusted, verifiable, scaled production environments.

Brutal Truth: 12 Critical Mistakes That Nearly Derailed My CISO Career

Stephen Ward, Founder and Managing Partner, Brightmind Partners

Ward shares lessons from mistakes made during his CISO career, from taking on unsustainable risk to approaching organizational maturity too early — and what other leaders can do differently.

What Comes After ChatGPT? AI for the Physical World

Jack Hidary, CEO, SandboxAQ; and Stacie Calad-Thomson, Global BD Lead, Life Science Labs and Manufacturing, Nvidia

The next wave of AI won’t just generate text. Explore AI grounded in physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics — and the opportunities opening across healthcare, materials, energy, finance, and industrial systems.

The Rise of SoCal Hard Tech: Why VCs and Founders Are Gravitating to Gundo

Kevin Hawkins, Head of Partnership Development and Media Distribution, New York Stock Exchange; with Drew Boyles, El Segundo City Councilmember

Sponsored by New York Stock Exchange

Why has El Segundo become such a magnet for space, defense, and hard tech startups? Hear what’s attracting founders, capital, and talent — and how a city can create an environment where hard tech companies can thrive.

Cassie Kozyrkov, Founder, Kozyr and former Chief Decision Scientist, Google

Sponsored by Signify Business Cash World Elite Mastercard by Wells Fargo

Bring a real business challenge. Kozyrkov leads an interactive discussion about making better founder decisions, where AI can help, and where human judgment remains essential.

“My Company Is a Rocket Ship.” What Comes After the Landing?

Vishal Kumar and Tushar Kumar, Private Wealth Advisors and Co-founders, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors

Sponsored by Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors

An IPO, acquisition, or tender offer creates a new set of decisions. Explore tax, concentration risk, lockups, liquidity, and how founders can protect what they have spent years buil