Whether by plane, train or autobahn, thousands of early-stage startup founders, investors, tech-heads and entrepreneurs will travel to Germany to attend TechCrunch’s Disrupt Berlin 2018 on November 29-30. But here’s a question specifically for the founders of pre-Series A startups: Why just attend when you can compete — in Startup Battlefield? You can apply right here.
It won’t cost you a thing to apply or participate in our premier pitch competition, but the selection process is highly competitive. Our TechCrunch editors have been choosing early-stage startups for Startup Battlefield since 2007, and they’ve developed an uncanny knack for spotting hot prospects.
They’ll review all applications and select approximately 15 startups to compete. The skilled TechCrunch bunch provides free pitch coaching to the founders of each team, and Battlefield teams will be ready to handle the pressure when they step onto the Main Stage at Disrupt Berlin.
Teams have just six minutes to demo their product and dazzle a panel of judges, which consists of well-known investors and entrepreneurs. Following each pitch, the judges have six minutes to conduct a rigorous Q&A.
Only five teams make the cut and move on to the final round of pitches and questions in front of a new set of judges. And only one will emerge the victor, winning the Disrupt Cup and a $50,000 non-equity cash prize — that’s a nice chunk of change. Possibly even more valuable than cash: a metric ton (give or take) of media coverage and investor interest.
The entire pitch-off takes place in front of a huge, enthusiastic audience consisting of those media outlets and investors we mentioned, along with influential technologists and potential customers. Plus, we live-stream the whole shebang around the world on TechCrunch.com, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter (it’s also available later on demand).
That Startup Battlefield exposure can be a life-changing experience for all the competitors — not just the winner. All participating founders become part of our Battlefield alumni community. We’re talking more than 750 companies that have gone on to collectively raise $8 billion in funding and generate 102 exits. You might recognize some of the names like Vurb, TripIt, Dropbox, Mint, Yammer and more. That’s a rich mine for networking.
Do you love details? Read the Startup Battlefield FAQ.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by competing in the Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2018 on November 29-30. Join us for a chance to launch your startup to a global audience. Apply today.