What Top Vcs Want From Ai Founders: Inside The Investor Lens With Jon Mcneill, Aileen Lee, And Steve Jang At Techcrunch Disrupt 2025

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TechCrunch Disrupt Aileen LeeImage Credits:Steve Jennings / Getty Images

8:00 AM PDT · September 25, 2025

From exemplary infrastructure to niche applications, AI is producing a caller breed of founders and a caller group of investor expectations. In this candid speech connected nan AI Stage, astatine TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 — taking spot connected October 27-29 successful San Francisco — apical VCs will stock what’s catching their oculus (and what’s not), really they’re reasoning astir defensibility successful a world of AI monopolies, and what founders request to show to get that adjacent word sheet.

If you are scaling aliases readying to scale an AI startup, you cannot miss this session. Learn what it really takes to build a viable AI company. Register now and prevention up to $668 earlier savings extremity connected September 26 astatine 11:59 p.m. PT.

Or, are you an investor who backs AI breakthroughs? See what an Investor Pass tin do for you.

TechCrunch Disrupt Aileen Lee, Steve Jang, Jon McNeill

Who’s speaking

  • Jon McNeill, CEO and co-founder, DVx Ventures — Jon has launched 12 companies done his task studio, built and scaled businesses delivering multifold returns, and led operations astatine Tesla and Lyft during periods of melodramatic growth.
  • Aileen Lee, laminitis and managing partner, Cowboy Ventures — Aileen invests successful early-stage endeavor and user package companies for illustration Dollar Shave Club, Drata Security, Guild, and Ironclad. She is nan personification who coined nan word “unicorn,” co-founded All Raise, and is simply a longtime sound for women successful tech.
  • Steve Jang, laminitis and managing partner, Kindred Ventures — Steve is simply a Midas List investor successful AI, decentralized systems, infrastructure, and frontier tech. His portfolio includes early bets successful Uber, Coinbase, Perplexity, Fal, and PlayAI.
 (L-R) Accel Partner Sara Ittelson, Kindred Ventures Founder & Managing Partner Steve Jang, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures Partner Libby Wayman speak onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 astatine Moscone Center connected September 19, 2023 successful San Francisco, California. (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch)Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images

What you’ll learn

This session goes beyond transportation decks to uncover what investors are watching. Expect insights on:

  • What makes an AI startup defensible successful 2025.
  • Signals investors look for earlier penning nan check.
  • How to separate yourself successful a crowded landscape.

Investor clarity for AI innovation

Join 10,000+ startup and VC leaders October 27-29 astatine San Francisco’s Moscone West. From heavy method sessions to laminitis stories, Disrupt 2025 is wherever you summation clarity for maturation and opportunity. Register now to prevention up to $668 earlier prices summation aft tomorrow, September 26.

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