Procrastinators rejoice — the application deadline for Startup Battlefield, Disrupt San Francisco 2017 has been extended until Monday, July 17 at 12 pm PT. That means you have two extra days to do whatever it takes to give your early-stage startup a shot at presenting on the main stage at Disrupt SF.
Startup Battlefield participants compete for a $50,000 prize and the Disrupt Cup — not to mention the potential to launch their company from obscurity onto a world stage.
Participants each have six minutes to demonstrate their product and to answer questions from a panel of judges consisting of well-known VCs and TechCrunch editors. All of this takes place in front of a live audience of investors, partners and media, and it’s simultaneously streamed to a global audience via TechCrunch.com and social media outlets.
Kevin Rose, a partner at Google Ventures, gets to the heart of the Startup Battlefield main stage experience. “All of your funding is sitting right in front of you.”
Speaking of funding, the 648 companies that have participated in the Startup Battlefields over the years have raised $6.9 billion dollars and racked up a total of 95 exits. Then there’s Vurb. The startup took the top prize at Disrupt NY 2014 and, 15 months later, Snapchat snapped up Vurb for $114.5 million.
But Startup Battlefield also delivers invaluable exposure and business advice — including pitch coaching and training with the TechCrunch team. Plus, a TechCrunch editor will write and post a feature article on each participating company. Other perks include free exhibition space in Startup Alley, tickets to VIP events and, of course, Disrupt swag.
Disrupt SF 2017 takes place September 18-20 at Pier 48 in San Francisco, and you can read all about the Startup Battlefield eligibility requirements here (don’t worry, they’re not too taxing).
Does your idea have what it takes to follow in — or even disrupt — the footprints of past Battlefield participants like Fitbit, Dropbox, Yammer and Mint? Anyone can win, but you can’t win if you don’t apply. So stop procrastinating and apply today.