TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 Show Guide
The odds are that most founders will not get into Y Combinator, or be featured on Shark Tank, or be named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, but the savvy startup can get a lot out of attending TechCrunch Disrupt which comes to San Francisco next week, September 5–7, and is accessible to everyone.
Expected to be the largest Disrupt ever, the show is jam-packed with three days of outstanding programming, partying and pitching opportunities.
Hosted by TechCrunch editors Matthew Panzarino & Mike Butcher, the speaker roster includes some of the most exciting founders and funders in tech including Ashton Kutcher, Priscilla Chan, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Mike Judge, Dara Khosrowshahi, Reid Hoffman, Ben Horowitz, Dalton Caldwell, Brian Armstrong, Kyle Vogt, Cyan Banister, Aileen Lee, Megan Quinn, Mike Arrington, Drew Houston, Steve Case, Rob Coneybeer, David Hornik, Doug Leone, Kai-Fu Lee, Anne Wojcicki, Tina Sharkey, Sophia Amoruso, and many more.
Additionally, the show features Startup Battlefield, a competition where fledgling companies have a chance to win $100,000 along with media and investor attention. To date, 763 alumni have raised over $8 billion with 102 exits. Winners have included Dropbox, Mint, Yammer and Zenefits.
Tickets can be pricey but there’s a great exhibitor package for pre-Series A companies which costs $1,995 and includes 2 Founder Passes, a chance to compete in Startup Battlefield, an exhibitor table for a day, the press list, and CrunchMatch, which enables founders to book meetings with investors. Students can attend for $295, and there are volunteer opportunities for those who can’t afford to buy a ticket. You can also watch the show on TechCrunch.com.
The full lineup is here and below are my top picks:
Tuesday, September 3
12–4pm Badge pick up, Moscone West
5:30–7:30pm Badge pick up, WeWork, 44 Montgomery (RSVP)
Wednesday, September 4
9am Matthew Panzarino & Mike Butcher, TechCrunch (main/next stage)
9:05–9:25am Cyan Banister, Founders Fund (main stage)
9:05–9:25am Alan Stern, NASA Moon Express (next stage)
9:25–9:45am John Riccitiello, Unity (main stage)
9:45–10:15am Alan Stern, NASA Moon Express (Q&A 2)
10:05–10:30am Drew Houston, Dropbox (main stage)
10:50–11:15am Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe (main stage)
11:05–11:30am Philip Krim, Casper, Tina Sharkey, Brandless (next stage)
11:15–11:35am Kai-Fu Lee, AI Superpowers (main stage)
11:30–11:50am Getting to Level 5 Autonomy (next stage)
11:35–12 Ashton Kutcher & Effie Epstein, Sound Ventures (main)
1–1:45pm Philip Krim, Casper, Tina Sharkey, Brandless (Q&A 1)
1–1:20pm Sophia Amoruso, Girlboss (main stage)
1:15–1:40pm NVIDIA robots are coming (next stage)
1:35–2:05pm Defending the Future w Lockheed Martin (main stage)
1:40–2:05pm Cars of Tomorrow w TrucksVC, Aurora, Zoox (next stage)
2:05–3:10pm Startup Battlefied, Round 1 (main stage)
2:05–2:30pm New Space Economy w Accion (next stage)
2:30–2:50pm Changing Mobility w Tom Tom (next stage)
2:50–3:15pm Valerie Szczepanik, SEC, Arianna Simpson, ICOs (next stage)
3–3:45pm Kai-Fu Lee booksigning (Q&A 1)
3:10–3:35 Michael Arrington, XRPC, Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple (main stage)
3:35–4 Aileen Lee, Cowboy Ventures, Megan Quinn, Spark Capital, Sarah Tavel, Benchmark (main stage)
4:10–4:30pm David Baszucki, Roblox (main stage)
4:15–4:35pm Healthspan AI (next stage)
4:30–4:50pm Jina Choi, SEC regulating ICOs (main stage)
4:30–4:55pm Tony Xu, DoorDash (next stage)
4:50–5:55pm Startup Battlefield, Round 2 (main stage)
Thursday, September 6
8–9am United Airlines Breakfast: Women of Disrupt
9am Matthew Panzarino & Mike Butcher/TechCrunch (main/next stage)
9:05–9:25am Michael Rubin, Fanatics (next stage)
9:05–9:25am Chat Dieter May, BMW (main stage)
9:25–9:45am Doug Leone, Sequoia Capital (main stage)
9:30–10:30am Vikrum Aiyer, Postmates, Mike Matthews, FB (workshop2)
9:45–10:10am Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble (main stage)
10:10–10:30am Priscilla Chan, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (main stage)
10:15–10:40 Rob Coneybeer, Shasta Venturess, Tess Hatch, BVP (next stage)
10:50–11:20am Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber (main stage)
11:20–11:40am JD Vance & Steve Case (main stage)
11:25–11:45am BumbleBizz Women VCs (next stage)
11:30–12pm Women VCs AMA (workshop1)
11:40–12pm Reid Hoffman, Greylock (main stage)
1:40–2pm Baiju Bhatt, Robinhood (main stage)
1:45–2:15pm Brian Behlendorf, Hyperledger (Q&A 2)
2–3:05pm Startup Battlefield, Round 3 (main stage)
2–2:30pm Secure Everything with Alex Stamos, Stanford (Q&A 1)
2:25–3:30pm Colin Angle, iRobot (next stage)
2:45–3:05pm John Foley, Peloton (next stage)
3:05–3:30pm Joe Lubin/ConsenSys (main stage)
3:30–3:55pm Chris Anderson, 3DR, Arnaud Thiercelin, DJI (next stage)
3:30–4pm Creating with CRISPR (Q&A 2)
3:40–4pm Kyle Vogt, Cruise (main stage)
3:55–4:15pm Google Voice (next stage)
4–4:20pm Dave Gilboa, Warby Parker (main stage)
4:15–4:40pm Sanjay Dastoor, Skip Scooters, Emily Warren, Lime (next stage)
4:20–4:40pm Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz (main stage)
4:40–5:05pm Brian Behlendorf, Hyperledger (next stage)
4:40–4:55pm Brynn Putnam, Mirror (main stage)
4:55–6pm Startup Battlefield, Round 4 (main stage)
8–11pm Afterparty @ The Midway
Friday, September 7
9am Matthew Panzarino & Mike Butcher, TechCrunch (main/next stage)
9:05–9:25am Emily Weiss, Glossier (main stage)
9:30–9:50am Quantum Supremacy with Dario Gill, IBM (main stage)
10:10–10:35am Joseph DeSimone, Carbon, Eric Liedtke, Adidas (main stage)
10:10–10:35am Dalton Caldwell, Y Combinator (next stage)
10:45–11:15am Dalton Caldwell, Y Combinator (Q&A 1)
10:55–11:15am Jason Robins, DraftKings (main stage)
11:15–11:35am Mike Judge, Silicon Valley (main stage)
1:15–1:40pm David Hornik, August Capital, Eric Ries, Lean Startup (next)
1:30–2:30 Jacob Mullins, Shasta, Erika Perez, IBM Blockchain (workshop1)
1:35–3:20pm Startup Battlefield, Final Round (main stage)
1:40–2pm Diversity with Bo Young Lee, Uber (next stage)
1:45–2:15pm David Hornik, AugustCapital, EricRies, Lean Startup (Q&A 1)
3:20–3:40pm Brian Armstrong, Coinbase (main stage)
3:50–4:15pm Timnit Gebru, Google AI, Ken Goldberg, UCB (next stage)
4:15–4:35pm StartUp Battlefield Awards Ceremony (main stage)
Wednesday evening, I’ll be at the Crypto Finance Conference covering the Chris Larsen (Ripple) and Tim Draper keynote, and Thursday evening I’ll be at the Commonwealth Club covering the Naval Ravikant (AngelList) and Balaji Srinivasan (Coinbase) program.
Follow me on Twitter @contentnow for all of the shenanigans.
It’s going to be quite a week!
