You voted — they made it onto the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 agenda!
After reviewing hundreds of standout Call for Content submissions and opening the vote to the TechCrunch audience, we’ve locked in the top five roundtables and top five breakout sessions.
Without further ado, meet the exceptional tech voices — and the sessions they’ll lead — that will shape the conversation at Disrupt 2025, taking place October 27-29 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Visit the agenda page for full session and speaker details.
Grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices increase.
Breakout session winners
From Vibes to Velocity: How AI Tools Can Help You Achieve Your Development Goals
With vibe coding on the rise, devs are looking to move faster and ship smarter. In this breakout, GitHub PM Tim Rogers dives into Copilot — the AI-powered peer programming tool used by more than 15 million — and how it’s reshaping workflows in an autonomous world.
How to Get Acquired in Tech (Without Selling Out): M&A Tips for Founders and Builders
Aklil Ibssa
Head of Corporate Development and M&A
Coinbase
Coinbase just pulled off crypto’s biggest acquisition. In this no-BS session, learn how to make your project irresistible — from product-market fit to community traction — and position for M&A, investment, or partnership without compromising decentralization. If you’re an investor, you’ll get a cheat sheet for spotting teams building toward high-value outcomes.
AI at the Brink: Strategic Playbook for National Security
Advanced AI brings risks like bioweapons and cyberattacks amid global competition. This session explores strategic frameworks for AI safety, covering technical checks, non-proliferation, and supply chain security with Dan Hendrycks and key experts.
Embracing AI for a Better Digital Future
AI is at a crossroads, shaping whether it is additive or addictive, inclusive or harmful. Matt shows how Pinterest uses AI for positivity, personalization, and productivity, offering a responsible approach that drives innovation while prioritizing user well-being.
Agentic AI for Startups: Automate, Adapt, and Accelerate Growth
Anmol Rastogi
Head of Product Management, AI & ML
Amazon Business Amazon
Agentic AI is transforming startups by enabling automation, personalized experiences, and data-driven agility. This session covers identifying AI opportunities, building workflows, and measuring impact using real case studies to help founders accelerate growth and outpace competition.
Roundtable session winners
Join Kindred co-founders Justine Palefsky and Tasneem Amina as they reveal how they transformed home swapping into a community-led movement. Learn their blueprint for building trust, turning members into ambassadors, and driving growth through authentic, values-driven community building.
How to Train Your Model: Taming AI Agents Without Breaking Them
This interactive session dives into balancing AI safety and usefulness, covering constitutional AI, red-teaming, and steering methods. Attendees will gain frameworks and strategies to build AI models that are both helpful and harmless without losing personality.
Future of Space Economy in the Low Earth Orbit
Abhi Kumar
Lecturer, Investor, and Advisor
UC Berkeley
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is evolving beyond satellites into manufacturing, energy, and data infrastructure. This session covers the emerging LEO economy, regulations, and investments, offering insights on partnering with space startups and leveraging orbital platforms for Earth industries.
Scaling Search and AI for Millions: Lessons from Reddit Search
Explore how Reddit builds AI at scale, balancing relevance, safety, and bias for millions of users. This session tackles community expectations, ethical tradeoffs, and real-world challenges, inviting startups to join a candid discussion on trusted AI development.
AI Evaluation 101: Addressing Challenges to Real-World AI Applications
This session breaks down how neural networks generate language and the challenges of deploying GenAI. Learn why evaluation matters and compare automated, judge-based, and human-rated methods to build tests that measure AI versus human performance for your use case.
Join these sessions — and much more — live at Disrupt 2025
These 10 sessions are just a glimpse of the 250+ speakers and talks at Disrupt. Keep an eye on the agenda page for new updates, and grab your ticket now to save up to $675 before prices rise.
