TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
TechCrunch Disrupt is where you’ll find innovation for every stage of your startup journey. Whether you’re a budding founder with a revolutionary idea, a seasoned startup looking to scale, or an investor seeking the next big thing, Disrupt offers unparalleled resources, connections, and expert insights to propel your venture forward.
Disrupt 2025 featured speakers
CEO Slate Auto
Managing Partner and Steward Sequoia Capital
Co-Founder and Managing Partner 01 Advisors
Co-founder Phia
CEO Gil & Co
Founder Khosla Ventures
CEO and Co-Founder Cluely
Co-Founder & CEO Box
Co-CEO Waymo
Founder, MIRROR, and CEO Board
Chief Technology Officer Microsoft
Chief Technology Officer Netflix
Captain of Moonshots X, The Moonshot Factory
NBA Champion and Fintech Entrepreneur
Co-Founder of Solana & CEO of Solana Labs Solana Labs
Slate CEO Christine (Chris) Barman is leading Slate as it develops, executes, and brings to market new vehicles that people can afford, personalize, and love. Chris leads by example to collaborate across sprawling and complicated organizations, delivering success by creating strong teams. Prior to joining Slate, she was Global Vice President of Strategic Business Development and Solutions in transportation for HCL Technologies. Chris also held the role of Chief Technology Officer of the Industrial Sector at Eaton Corporation. During more than 20 years with Chrysler, Chris served in multiple leadership roles, including Vehicle Line Executive, Vice President of Electrical & Electronics and Vice President of System and Component Engineering. She led and mentored teams that achieved industry firsts and developed systems including autonomous driving and driver assistance. Chris holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Oakland University, and an MBA from University of Michigan. Chris an Indiana native, enjoys basketball, running, and home-improvement projects. Mentoring is an important part of her life, and she continues to support women entering the engineering field by staying involved with the Phi Sigma Rho sorority and Purdue University Women in Engineering Programs. She is happily married with two adult children and two precocious Airedale terriers.
Chris's Sessions
Slate Auto’s Electric Truck: See It Here First
Chris Barman, CEO of Slate Auto, brings one of her groundbreaking electric trucks to the Disrupt Stage—literally in the room—before anyone will see it on the road. She’ll share the story of building a next-gen commercial EV, navigating manufacturing hurdles, and scaling a startup in a capital-intensive industry. The Disrupt Stage audience will get an insider look at one of the buzziest vehicles of the year and hear firsthand how Slate plans to redefine the future of mobility.
Roelof is Managing Partner and Steward of Sequoia Capital. He has spent over 25 years building companies in Silicon Valley. He began within the walls of nascent PayPal, where he joined in March 2000 while completing his MBA at Stanford. He became CFO in 2001 and led the company through both its IPO in early 2002 and the subsequent acquisition by eBay. Roelof joined Sequoia in 2003 to help founders build enduring businesses. In 2017, he assumed leadership of Sequoia Capital’s US/Europe business and became a Steward of the Sequoia Partnership. Roelof is a Director of Block, Blues, Ethos, Flow, MongoDB, Natera, Pendulum Therapeutics, and Unity Technologies, among others. Previously, he was a Director of companies that include YouTube, Tumblr, Xoom, Eventbrite, and Evernote. He also led Sequoia’s investment in Instagram.
Roelof's Sessions
What Sequoia Sees Coming Next
As one of the most influential VCs of the modern era, Roelof Botha has seen it all; booms, busts, and billion-dollar breakout bets. In this fireside chat, the Sequoia Capital managing partner opens up about how today’s most ambitious founders are navigating AI, geopolitics, and a shifting capital landscape.
Dick Costolo is a co-founder and managing partner at 01 Advisors, an early growth venture firm leveraging our operating experience to help companies scale. Prior to co-founding 01 Advisors, he was CEO of Twitter from 2010 to 2015 and has been Founder and CEO of multiple startups, including FeedBurner, which was acquired by Google in 2007. The former improv comedian has been a consultant on HBO’s “Silicon Valley” and holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.
Dick's Sessions
Building What’s Next with the Minds Behind Twitter and Meta
Join Adam Bain (former COO, Twitter), Dick Costolo (former CEO, Twitter) and David Fischer (former Chief Revenue Officer, Meta) of 01 Advisors for an insider fireside chat on what it really takes to build, scale, and fund early-stage startups today. From product to growth to fundraising, get candid advice and fresh perspectives from three industry veterans shaping the next wave of tech success.
Phoebe Gates
Co-founder, PhiaPhoebe Gates is an entrepreneur, and passionate advocate for women’s reproductive rights and gender equity. She graduated from Stanford University in 2024 with a degree in Human Biology, and with Sophia Kianni, is co-founder of AI shopping assistant, Phia. Phoebe collaborates with global healthcare leaders, activists, and advocates to drive meaningful and lasting social change, and in recognition of her work, was named the 2024 “Rising Reproductive Freedom Champion” by Reproductive Freedom for All (RFFA). Guided by her belief that the freedom to make personal healthcare decisions is key to unlocking educational and economic opportunities, Phoebe strives to be a catalyst for progress and, through Phia, to inspire a new generation of women in business.
Phoebe's Sessions
Storming the Gates: Scaling Consumer AI
Phia has quickly become one of the buzziest AI startups of 2025, capturing attention for how Gen Z shops — and for its high-profile cofounders. Sophia Kianni, climate activist and influencer, and Phoebe Gates, the youngest daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, join us at Disrupt to share how they’re building a new kind of consumer AI brand, what it takes to scale in one of tech’s most competitive markets, and how they’re turning buzz into staying power.
Elad Gil is a serial entrepreneur, operating executive, and investor/ advisor to private companies such as AirBnB, Airtable, Anduril, Coinbase, Figma, Gitlab, Gusto, Instacart, Notion, Pinterest, Retool, Samsara, Square, Stripe, TripActions and others. He has invested in over 40 “unicorn” companies worth $1B or more, 30+ of them at seed or series A. He’s the author of the bestselling book “High Growth Handbook”, about organizational and financial scaling of breakout technology companies. Elad is Co-Founder and Chairman of Color, a digital health company focused on virtualized population care delivery. He is also involved with longevity biotech including BioAge and Spring Discovery. Elad’s an advisor to Electric Capital, a crypto hedge fund, and is involved with various crypto protocols and companies (Coinbase, Opensea, Anchorage, Bitwise, Filecoin, dYdX, IronFish…). Previously, Elad was VP of Corporate Strategy at Twitter, he also ran various product teams (Geo, Search). Elad joined Twitter via acquisition of MixerLabs, where he was co-founder and CEO. MixerLabs ran GeoAPI, an early developer-centric infrastructure product. Elad spent many years at Google, where he started the mobile team. He was involved with 3 acquisitions (including the Android team) and was the original product manager for Google Mobile Maps and Mobile Gmail. Prior to Google, Elad had product management and market seeding roles at a number of Silicon Valley companies. Elad worked at McKinsey & Co. and received a Ph.D. from MIT and BS and BA in Math from UCSD.
Elad's Sessions
A Conversation with Investor Extraordinaire Elad Gil
Before most of the world had experienced ChatGPT, Elad Gil had already written seed checks to startups like Perplexity, Character.AI, and Harvey. This on top of checks into, for example, Airbnb, Airtable, Anduril, Brex, Checkr, Coinbase, Deel, Figma, Flexport, Gitlab, Gusto, Instacart, Notion, Opendoor, Pinterest, Rippling, Square, Stripe … you get the idea.
Vinod Khosla is an entrepreneur, investor, and technology fan. He is the founder of Khosla Ventures, focused on impactful technology investments in software, AI, robotics, 3D printing, healthcare and more. Mr. Khosla was a co-founder of Daisy systems and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems where he pioneered open systems and commercial RISC processors. One of Mr. Khosla’s greatest passions is being a mentor to entrepreneurs, assisting entrepreneurs and helping them build technology-based businesses. Mr. Khosla is driven by the desire to make a positive impact through technology to reinvent societal infrastructure and multiply resources. He is also passionate about Social Entrepreneurship. Vinod holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from IIT, New Delhi, a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Vinod's Sessions
No Filters: Vinod Khosla on the Future of Tech
Few investors speak as bluntly—or think as big—as Vinod Khosla. The Khosla Ventures founder has never shied away from calling out hype, doubling down on moonshots, and pushing founders to think beyond incremental progress. In this candid fireside chat, Khosla will share his unvarnished views on AI, climate, healthcare, and the next generation of transformational startups—and what entrepreneurs need to hear (not just what they want to hear) to build enduring companies in turbulent times.
Roy Lee is the handsome co-founder and CEO of Cluely, the real-time AI meeting assistant. Roy is known for viral marketing stunts, his enormous biceps, how handsome he is, and his unmatched humility.
Roy's Sessions
Cluely’s Roy Lee: Building, Breaking, and Betting Big
Roy Lee isn’t afraid to stir the pot — or seize the spotlight. The Cluely founder takes the stage to share how he’s building one of the most talked-about startups in AI, why courting controversy can be a growth strategy, and what it takes to stand out in a noisy consumer tech market
Aaron Levie is Chief Executive Officer, Cofounder at Box, which he launched in 2005 with CFO and cofounder Dylan Smith. He is the visionary behind the Box product and platform strategy, incorporating the best of secure content collaboration with an intuitive user experience suited to the way people work today. Aaron leads the company in its mission to transform the way people and businesses work so they can achieve their greatest ambitions. He has served on the Board of Directors since April 2005. Aaron attended the University of Southern California from 2003 to 2005 before leaving to found Box.
Aaron's Sessions
Survive, Scale, Reinvent: Lessons from a Cloud OG
Aaron Levie built Box before cloud was cool and the company is still thriving while competitors have come and gone. Known for his sharp takes and startup instincts, Levie joins us to unpack how to keep innovating inside a public company, the possibilities AI and agents bring to enterprise software, and why reinvention is the name of the game in tech right now. Expect real talk and a playbook for building companies that last in the world of AI.
Tekedra N. Mawakana is the co-CEO of Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company. As co-CEO, Tekedra oversees the company’s strategy for the wide adoption of the Waymo Driver. She boasts 20+ years of experience advising consumer technology companies to advance their business interests globally. Tekedra currently serves on the Board of Directors for Intuit and the Advisory Council for Boom Technology. She is a social impact-focused angel investor and an Advisor and LP with the Operator Collective.
Tekedra's Sessions
The Self-Driving Reality Check
Autonomous vehicles have been “just around the corner” for years—until now. Tekedra Mawakana, Co-CEO of Waymo, takes the Disrupt Stage to talk about where AVs actually stand, what it’s taken to get to real deployments, and why the race isn’t just about tech, it’s about trust. From regulation to rider experience to competition with Tesla and Tesla-adjacent hype, this conversation gets real about what’s next in mobility.
Brynn Putnam is the founder and CEO of Board, a first-ever face-to-face game console launching Fall 2025. She is the former CEO of Mirror, a connected fitness start-up that launched in 2018 and was acquired in 2020 for $500 million by lululemon, representing its first acquisition. MIRROR was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, TIME’s Best Inventions and Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups. Brynn has been recognized by Inc’s 30 under 30, Crain’s 40 under 40, and EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Brynn was a professional ballerina with The New York City Ballet and founder of the renowned NYC fitness chain Refine Method. Brynn has a B.A. from Harvard College and is a member of New York City Ballet’s Board of Directors. Brynn is a native New Yorker and lives on the UES with her husband, Kevin Thau, and two children, George and Agnes.
Brynn's Sessions
From MIRROR to What’s Next: Brynn Putnam Returns to Disrupt
In 2018, Brynn Putnam unveiled MIRROR on the Disrupt stage, launching one of the most talked-about connected fitness products of the decade — and ultimately selling it to Lululemon for $500 million. Now she’s back, and she’s chosen TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 to reveal her brand-new, never-before-seen product. Join us for an exclusive conversation with Putnam as she shares her founder journey, the lessons she’s carried forward, and to get a first look and live demonstration of her new product.
Kevin Scott
Chief Technology Officer, MicrosoftKevin Scott is Microsoft’s chief technology officer. He is an innovative leader driving the technical vision to achieve Microsoft’s mission, and is passionate about creating technologies that benefit everyone. He focuses on helping make the company an exceptional place for engineers, developers and researchers to work and learn. Scott’s 20-year career in technology spans both academia and industry as researcher, engineer and leader. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was senior vice president of engineering and operations at LinkedIn, where he helped build the technology and engineering teams and led the company through an IPO and six years of rapid growth. Earlier in his career, he oversaw mobile ads engineering at Google, including the integration of Google’s $750 million acquisition of AdMob. At AdMob, Scott was responsible for engineering and operations for the world’s leading platform for mobile monetization. Before joining AdMob, Scott held numerous leadership positions at Google in search and ads engineering and helped with the company’s early efforts establishing remote engineering centers. Scott is the host of the podcast Behind the Tech , which features interviews with technology heroes who have helped create the tech industry of today. He also authored the book “ Reprogramming the American Dream ,” which explores how artificial intelligence can be realistically used to serve the interests of everyone, not just the privileged few. As co-inventor on several patents around search and information extraction, he has also authored several publications on dynamic binary rewriting that collectively have been cited hundreds of times in other scholarly research. He has received a Google Founder’s Award, an Intel Ph.D. Fellowship and an ACM Recognition of Service Award. He is a member of the board of directors of Shopify, an adviser to several Silicon Valley startups, an active angel investor, the founder of the non-profit organization Behind the Tech, an emeritus of the Anita Borg Institute’s board of trustees and a trustee of The Scott Foundation. He also serves on the Leadership Council for Harvard’s Technology for Public Purpose (TAPP) program. Scott holds an M.S. in computer science from Wake Forest University, a B.S. in computer science from Lynchburg College, and has completed most of his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Virginia.
Elizabeth Stone was named Chief Technology Officer in October 2023. She joined Netflix in 2020, serving first as Vice President, Product Data Science & Engineering and more recently as Vice President, Data & Insights. Elizabeth previously worked in finance as a trader at Merrill Lynch and economist at Analysis Group before transitioning to the tech industry, where she served as Chief Operating Officer at Nuna and Vice President, Science at Lyft. She is a graduate of MIT and Stanford University.
Elizabeth's Sessions
What's Next for Netflix and for Streaming Itself
As CTO of Netflix, Elizabeth Stone is steering the future of entertainment for hundreds of millions of users. In this fireside chat, Stone will break down how Netflix is evolving its product and technology strategy—from personalized discovery to global growth, from ad tiers to gaming. We’ll explore how Netflix is adapting to a shifting content landscape, what it means to innovate at massive scale, and what design surprises Netflix has up its sleeve. For anyone building consumer experiences, this will be a masterclass.
Dr. Astro Teller currently oversees X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory for building breakthrough technologies and businesses designed to help tackle huge problems in the world. Before joining Google / Alphabet, Astro was the co-founding CEO of Cerebellum Capital, Inc, an investment management firm whose investments are continuously designed, executed, and improved by a software system based on techniques from statistical machine learning. Before his tenure as a business executive, Dr. Teller taught at Stanford University and was an engineer and researcher for Phoenix Laser Technologies, Stanford’s Center for Integrated Systems, and The Carnegie Group Incorporated. Dr. Teller holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Stanford University, Masters of Science in symbolic and heuristic computation, also from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a recipient of the Hertz fellowship.
Astro's Sessions
Moonshots, AI, and the Future of Alphabet
From self-driving cars to internet balloons to AI-fueled breakthroughs, Astro Teller leads the lab where Alphabet incubates the nearly impossible. In this rare Disrupt stage appearance, he shares what’s actually working inside X, why “failing fast” isn’t just a mantra, and how moonshots may evolve in the AI age. If you think your startup is ambitious, wait until you hear what he’s launching next.
Tristan Thompson
NBA Champion and Fintech EntrepreneurTristan Thompson is building a multidimensional legacy that extends far beyond basketball, emerging as a powerful force in tech, design, and social impact. Since NBA All-Star Weekend, he has stepped into a new chapter as a tech entrepreneur and impact-driven leader, holding four C-suite titles at leading Web3 and FinTech platforms: Chief Digital Equity Officer at World Mobile, where he’s leading a campaign to bring affordable, community-owned internet to underserved U.S. neighborhoods; Co-Founder of Basketball Fun, an immersive sports-driven expereince designed to reshape how fans engage with basketball in the digital age; Chief Content Officer at Tracy AI, the first sports analytics platform of its kind, recently unveiled on the NYSE and featured in Forbes; and Chief Advisory Officer at AxonDAO, an AI-powered medical research platform inspired by his brother’s journey with epilepsy. A vocal advocate for Web3 and crypto, Tristan has been spotlighted by CNBC Crypto World, CoinDesk, and took the stage at Bitcoin 2025. He’s also a champion for health equity, using his platform to drive athlete-centered wellness and improved healthcare access through advisory roles with Polymath Network and World Mobile. From lighting up the NASDAQ Tower in Times Square to launching his podcast, Courtside Crypto, Tristan continues to push the boundaries of innovation, purpose, and global connectivity—cementing his impact across sports, tech, wellness, and finance.
Tristan's Sessions
From Courtside to Code: Tristan Thompson on AI, Sports, and Startups
NBA champion and investor Tristan Thompson has built a portfolio that bridges sports, culture, and technology. At Disrupt, he’ll share how he’s channeling his competitive drive into ventures like World Mobile, Basketball Fun, Axon Dao, and Somnia — and why he believes athletes have a unique edge in building the next generation of consumer and Web3 companies.
Anatoly Yakovenko is the CEO of Solana Labs and a co-founder of Solana, an open, interoperable and decentralized high performance blockchain network powering internet capital markets, payments, and crypto applications. Prior to founding Solana, he spent over a decade at Qualcomm. Anatoly has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Anatoly's Sessions
Crypto’s Next Chapter with Solana's Anatoly Yakovenko
Solana’s co-founder takes the stage to share where crypto goes from here, from the memecoin frenzy to real-world finance, and why he’s betting big. He’ll dig into Solana’s breakout year, the challenges of scaling a blockchain for mainstream use, and how builders can seize the moment as crypto edges closer to mass adoption.
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