Scenes From Techcrunch Disrupt

Thanks to everyone who made this year’s San Francisco event what it was — and to nan 10,000 of you who filled nan halls, made nan connections, and near pinch much than you came with. Couldn’t make it? The images beneath show portion of nan story. Until next year.

Vinod Khosla, telling attendees he doesn’t bargain nan statement that powering AI will punishment ambiance efforts. Geothermal power is astir here, he said, while fusion remains further out. He besides touched connected his alignment pinch Trump (deregulation) and his disagreement (immigration): “The only point I will opportunity is this management won’t past forever,” he said pinch a grin.

That’s Roelof Botha connected nan stage, and that’s nan crowd that came to bent connected his each word. The Sequoia partner talked done really his patient picks winners, what authorities ownership successful startups could mean, and warned founders not to get tiny pinch timing, telling them to raise now if they’ll request money six months from now. Bubbles pop.

Kevin Damoa of Glīd Technologies, victor of this year’s Battlefield competition, pinch Battlefield main Isabelle Johannessen. She and TC’s Michael Schick activity pinch galore dozens of startups for months to hole them for this stage. The hug is earned.

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

Roy Lee, nan laminitis of Cluely, nan app champion known for its mantra “cheat astatine everything,” entertains nan crowd pinch his f-bomb-laden return connected really to triumph astatine marketing. “Every day, group are doing crazier and crazier things, which is why to guidelines out, you person to do thing moreover crazier.” (Pictured left, Maxwell Zeff, holding his own.)

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images

If erstwhile Cleveland Cavalier Tristan Thompson misses nan NBA, he’s not showing it. He’s building a business empire and raising pointed questions astir nan convention he near behind. When asked astir whether players could manipulate Basketball Fun — a web3 level that turns NBA players into tradable tokens — he offered a counterpoint: “It’s nan aforesaid mobility we inquire astir referees. Are they not gaming nan system?“ When moderator Rebecca Bellan pressed whether he meant NBA referees return bribes, Thompson shrugged. “It’s conscionable a mobility to beryllium asked.”

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images

Our ain Sean O’Kane shares a infinitesimal pinch Wayve co-founder and CEO, Alex Kendall. Kendall whitethorn besides beryllium smiling because his U.K.-based self-driving startup — whose package acts arsenic “brains for cars” — is successful talks to raise a caller $2 cardinal from SoftBank and Microsoft astatine an $8 cardinal valuation.

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, founders of nan AI-powered shopping adjunct Phia, dazzled nan assemblage astatine TechCrunch pinch their enthusiasm for making high-quality, secondhand clothing a batch easier to find. Gates, girl of Bill and Melinda, was besides sporting erstwhile asked by moderator Amanda Silberling what her celebrated parents person learned from her. Said Gates pinch a laugh, “Hopefully style! I don’t moreover see myself that stylish; I conscionable for illustration building successful nan user space, but now I get random emails from my family, asking, ‘Should I deterioration this to this?’”

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana pinch TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec, fielding questions astir autonomous vehicles, including whether nine will judge deaths caused by self-driving cars. “I deliberation that nine will,” Mawakana said. “The situation is making judge nine has a precocious capable barroom connected information that companies are held to.”

Kevin Rose talking Digg’s reboot and nan early of task superior (Rose is besides a wide partner astatine nan early-stage task patient True Ventures). I’m smiling because that’s what you do erstwhile personification won’t reply your questions astir a buzzy, wearable startup that’s still successful stealth. (We’ll person much connected Sandbar soon.)

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images

Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf hydrating betwixt questions astir building nan early of AI, including arsenic it relates to LeRobot, nan Hugging Face task that’s trying to democratize robotics pinch affordable hardware, open-source tools, and shared datasets.

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

Finals judges Marlon Nichols of MaC VC and Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures during nan past stages of our highly competitory Startup Battlefield. Somewhere off-camera, a laminitis is sweating done their transportation deck.

Aaron Levie of Box successful speech pinch TC’s Russell Brandom. Levie has graced nan Disrupt shape galore times complete TC’s 20 years astatine nan halfway of nan startup ecosystem, and he ever brings it.

Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone connected nan streamer’s expanded remit from elemental binge-watching to interactive programming (think voting connected unrecorded shows and gaming via your phone): “It hasn’t changed nan measurement we show stories,” she told a rapt crowd.

TC’s Dominic-Madori Davis talking organization building pinch Tage Oyerinde of Campus, who’s rethinking organization college, and Teddy Solomon of Fizz, nan anonymous societal app that’s spreading crossed assemblage campuses and occasionally getting banned, which immoderate mightiness position arsenic a badge of honor.

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

A whiteboard of wants: developers needed, contacts offered, deals proposed. We emotion it erstwhile founders thin into old-school tactics. (Some still work!)

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

David George, who leads nan maturation investing squad astatine Andreessen Horowitz, came to nan show to talk pinch Julie Bort astir what startups request to measurement arsenic they’re eyeing nan nationalist market. It was his birthday, arsenic it turns out; nan crowd takes a infinitesimal present to observe it pinch him.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie connected his telephone pinch President Trump astir sending nan National Guard to nan metropolis — a connection floated by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “What I said to him was what I opportunity to everybody: this is simply a metropolis connected nan rise,” Lurie said. “Three days of Disrupt present should beryllium that.” On whether he made concessions pinch nan deal-making Trump, he was definitive. “No, perfectly not. No ask.”

Post-show elation from TC’s Jessica Barrera, who handled ticketing for 10,000 attendees. She saves our bacon routinely.

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

For galore much photos from nan event, sojourn our Flickr stream.

You tin besides find our afloat video coverage: present is Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.