Only 20 will pitch on the Disrupt Stage across all three days. Competition goes from October 13-15 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. It all comes down to one final decision.
For our Startup Battlefield finalist judges, we set a particularly high bar: Each has founded or co-founded the investment firm they now lead. Collectively, they bring decades of experience backing ambitious founders, building and scaling companies, and making the big bets that can define a venture firm. They know what separates a great pitch from a potentially great company — and they’ll be the five people deciding who becomes this year’s Startup Battlefield champion.
And the conversation won’t end with the final pitch. Later that afternoon, all five judges will reunite on the Builders Stage for a live AMA, where the audience can ask them anything — from what stood out in the competition and what they look for in founders to fundraising, company building, and where they’re looking to invest next. Grab your pass now and save up to $100 and get a second pass at 50% off.
Or bring a group of four or more, saving up to 30%. Stacy Brown-Philpot is the founder and managing partner of Cherryrock Capital, a venture fund focused on Series A and Series B software companies built by Black and Latinx founders. Her portfolio includes Coactive AI, a multimodal AI platform for media and entertainment, and Vitable Health, which provides primary care plans for hourly workers.
Brown-Philpot previously served as CEO of TaskRabbit, which was acquired by IKEA, and spent more than a decade in senior roles at Google. She holds an MBA from Stanford University. Chi-Hua Chien is a co-founder and managing partner of Goodwater Capital, where he invests exclusively in consumer technology — including mobile, fintech, e-commerce, digital health, and consumer AI — across the United States and Asia.
With more than 17 unicorns backed across his career, his portfolio includes Spotify, Chime, Monzo, TikTok/Musical.ly, Coupang, Toss, and Udemy. Before co-founding Goodwater, Chien was a general partner at Kleiner Perkins and a principal at Accel. Dayna Grayson is a co-founder and general partner at Construct Capital, a Washington, D.C.-based early-stage fund focused on technology for foundational American industries, including manufacturing, logistics, transportation, supply chain, and defense.
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