Builders Stage Brings Startup Tactics to Disrupt 2025

Startups don’t build themselves. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 (October 27–29, Moscone West), the Builders Stage cuts through the hype and delivers the tactics founders actually need to turn ideas into businesses that work.

What the Builders Stage delivers

This is tactical programming: candid founder stories, investor playbooks, and hands‑on demos. Expect sessions that go beyond theory — how to close your first term sheet, scale a GTM engine, find product‑market fit, hire and retain the right team, and decide where AI actually belongs in your stack.

• Fundraising tactics from pre‑seed to Series A with top VCs and angels
• Go‑to‑market frameworks that scale from first customers to repeatable revenue
• Product‑market fit experiments and metrics that tell you to double down or pivot
• Hiring, equity packages, and how to build teams without overspending
• Practical AI adoption: vibe‑coding, AI agents, and which roles to automate first
• Live demos — including Moxi the humanoid robot in a healthcare use case

Speakers and highlights

The stage features heavy hitters: Elad Gil lays out where smart capital is flowing; Dick Costolo and leaders from 01 Advisors examine product and growth; Jason Citron and other community builders decode network effects; Ryan Petersen shares how to build through macro uncertainty. Panels cover early pitching, seed and Series A playbooks, alternative capital paths, and preparing now for later‑stage raises.

Real outcomes, not buzzwords

Sessions are designed for action. Panels and fireside chats focus on measurable signals — KPIs investors care about, hiring and comp examples tied to retention, GTM metrics that prove channel fit, and step‑by‑step fundraising moves you can replicate. The live Q&A format surfaces the real obstacles founders face and how veterans solved them.

Who should attend and why it matters

Founders at any stage, early operators, product leads, and startup investors will find tactical guidance to apply the week after Disrupt. Whether you need to sharpen a pitch, design an equity plan, choose an AI pilot, or build a GTM experiment, the Builders Stage is a concentrated playbook session with people who’ve built and backed category‑defining companies.

Plus: attendees get to see robotics and AI in action — a reminder that product decisions have operational consequences and real user outcomes.

Register and get tactical

TechCrunch is offering early‑bird savings on Disrupt passes. If you want to scale smarter, this is one of the rare events where you walk away with concrete next steps, not just inspiration. Bring specific challenges and you’ll leave with testable experiments.

QuarkyByte’s approach is to turn conversations like those on the Builders Stage into operational plans: we translate investor signals into fundraising scenarios, convert GTM frameworks into prioritized growth sprints, and map AI adoption to measurable KPIs so teams can test fast and scale with confidence.