User’s Guide to TechCrunch Disrupt 2021

TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 approaches in just three days. Here’s your how-to guide for everything you can expect at Disrupt.

Although the main show kicks off on Tuesday, September 21, there’ll be some sneak peeks and extras going down on Monday. Make sure to log in to Hopin by noon on Monday to catch it all, including a special series of speed networking sessions, where one attendee from each session will be selected to receive a limited edition TechCrunch Disrupt swag bag. All sessions are in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

Networking sessions

Monday, 9/20

• 12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Peer to Peer: Investors:
  Connect with the Disrupt community of investors to share connections, insights and expertise.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Peer to Peer: Early Stage Founders:
  Meet the founders also launching at Disrupt to share insights and grow your support network.
• 1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.: The Full Stack:
  Meet the data analysts, engineers, hackers, data scientists and software developers that power your tech.
• 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.: BIPOC & Women of Disrupt:
  We invite all women and BIPOC (and all allies) attending Disrupt to join us for this roundup to inspire one another and grow your network.
• 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.: B2B2Connect:
  Are you working on products that make it easier for businesses to thrive? Meet and share ideas with the SaaS and Enterprise community.
• 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: DNA/Tech:
  Meet the scientists who are using technology and engineering to produce advancements in health and biology.
• 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Planet/Impact:
  Passionate about making an impact on our planet? Join this networking session focused on sustainability, green tech and clean tech projects.
• 4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: MoneyMatters:
  Network with the power brokers changing the face of financial services, banking and crypto.
• 4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Actuator:
  Discover the builders automating our lives with robotics and hardware alongside the scientists creating the artificial intelligence that powers it all.
• 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.: The Station:
  Share insights with people pushing the boundaries of mobility including drone technology, autonomous vehicles and transportation.

The stages

There are two main stages at Disrupt — the Disrupt Stage and the Extra Crunch Stage. The Disrupt Stage features interviews and panels with the biggest names in tech, plus Startup Battlefield. The Extra Crunch Stage is chock full of how-to lessons specifically for founders. The full agenda is here.

Breakout sessions

Beyond the main stages at Disrupt, you can take in smaller, interactive gatherings that pack a lot of advice, insight and value — with plenty of time to get answers to your pressing questions. Plus, you just need an Expo Pass to get in front of these sessions. Missing your access? Grab an Expo Pass free here until Monday. All sessions are in Pacific Daylight Time.

Tuesday, 9/21

• 9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.: Revolutionizing the Global Metaverse Economy with VCoin.
• 9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.: The $49B Developer Landscape with Dell.
• 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: You Complete Me with Mambu.
• 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: Saving Lives with Precision Biology, Mayfield.
• 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: The Dark Matter of Workflows: Business Technology’s Big Opportunity with Wrike.
• 11:35 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.: Taking Care of the Next Generation with Mayfield.
• 12:00 p.m. – 12:50 p.m.: Powering What’s Next: Insights from the Enterprise Software Market with Vista Equity Partners.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.: Demo Derby — How startups are disrupting the status quo with innovative data analytics, AI and modern app development with Google Cloud.
• 2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.: Thrive with an Untethered Workforce with Velocity Global.

Wednesday, 9/22

• 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.: Belgian Startup Pitch Competition hosted by hub.brussels .
• 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.: TTA Taiwan Pavilion Pitch-Off Session — Healthcare & Enterprise.
• 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.:  Achieve Sustainable IT with Prometheus, Grafana, and Hardware Sentry.
• 11:00 a.m. – 11:33 a.m.: Korea Pavilion Pitch Session – Hosted by KOTRA.
• 11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.: Hacking US Healthcare: How a Simple Platform Can Help Solve Some of America’s Most Complex Healthcare Problems with Cedar Cares.
• 12:00 p.m. – 12:50 p.m.: Accelerate your growth using agile market research throughout the product lifecycle with Momentive.ai.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.: Securing your journey to IPO from the start with Diligent.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.: Accelerating your direct-to-consumer business with Google.
• 2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m.: How to approach fundraising from Corporate VCs with Intuit.

Thursday, 9/23

• 9:00 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: How to build a remote-first engineering culture with Remote.
• 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: TTA Taiwan Pavilion Pitch-off Session — Smart Tech.
• 11:00 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.: The Moore’s law of software — onboarding time, with Flatfile.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.: Top Japanese Startups pitch their exciting new tech! Come watch the live JETRO pitch session.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.: Using Visual Communication to Build Your Startup’s Brand with Canva.

Roundtable sessions

One thing Disrupt attendees have enjoyed the most at our events are meaningful small-group discussions. Join us for these intimate virtual conversations around fundraising, security, hiring and general founder issues. These special sessions have capped attendance limits to keep the conversations small, so make sure to get there early to save a seat.

Tuesday, 9/21

• 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: How Netflix Saved Cybersecurity with Cyvatar.
• 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.: CISO2CISO: On the Wrong Side of Disruption with Cyvatar.
• 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: The toughest founder problems with Neesha Tambe, TechCrunch.

Wednesday, 9/22

• 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Why Can’t We Stop Ransomware? with Cyvatar.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Startup Hiring Woes with Eric Eldon, TechCrunch.
• 2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.: Fundraising Challenges with Jordan Crook, TechCrunch.

Thursday, 9/23

• 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: Startup Hiring Woes with Eric Eldon, TechCrunch.
• 12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.: Fundraising Challenges with Jordan Crook, TechCrunch.

Partner sessions

With so much going on during the conference, it’s hard to pick what we’re most excited about. Make sure not to miss these super interesting partner sessions on the Extra Crunch Stage. All sessions are in Pacific Daylight Time.

Tuesday, 9/21

• 9:45 a.m. – 10:05 a.m.: Bioplatforms for Saving the Planet with Mayfield.
• 10:45 a.m. – 11:05 a.m.: So You Want to Build a Space Business? With The Aerospace Corporation.
• 12:25 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.: The Inaugural Connection I.T. Superheroes Awards category winners.
• 1:25 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.: How Circle’s $4.5B Public Listing Will Change Startup Fundraising with SeedInvest.
• 2:25 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.: Humanizing AI: How Brands Are Revolutionizing Customer Experience in an increasingly Digital World with Soul Machines.

Wednesday, 9/22

• 9:45 a.m. – 10:05 p.m.: Illuminating the Next Great Entertainment Frontier: The Connected TV Metaverse with Foxxum | rlaxx TV
• 10:45 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. The New Human and Planetary Health Pioneers with Mayfield.
• 12:25 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.: Powering the Small Business Economy with Cloud Technology with Xero.
• 1:25 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.: Why Employers Are Ignoring a Large Candidate Pool That’s Necessary for Growth Today with Checkr.
• 2:25 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.: You’ve Raised Your Seed Round — Now What? Preparing for Your Series A with Samsung Next.
• 2:45 p.m. – 3:05 p.m.: Electric Generation: The Next Frontier For American Business with Ford Motor Company.

Thursday, 9/23

• 9:40 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.: Rewiring the Brain to Improve the Quality of Life with Mayfield.
• 10:40 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Scaling Businesses and Creating Value with the Everywhere Workforce with Upwork.
• 11:35 a.m. – 11:40 a.m.: Esri Hackathon Finalist Presentations.
• 12:20 p.m. – 12:40 p.m.: Eliminating Styrofoam Protective Packaging with Cruz Foam.
• 1:25 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.: The MIssing Block to Bring Crypto to the Masses with KuCoin.

Pitch sessions

There’s nothing TechCrunch loves more than a good startup pitch — and Disrupt has got loads of them. In addition to our renowned Startup Battlefield competition, the startups in the expo get a chance to shine in these sessions. All sessions are in Pacific Daylight Time.

Tuesday, 9/21

• 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Startup Alley Pitch Session.
• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Startup Alley Pitch Session.
• 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.: Startup Alley Pitch Session.

Wednesday, 9/22

• 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.: Belgian Startup Pitch Competition hosted by hub.Brussels.
• 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.: TTA Taiwan Pavilion Pitch-off Session — Healthcare & Enterprise.
• 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.: Startup Alley Pitch Session.
• 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Invite only Investor Networking Session with startups from the Taiwan Pavilion, brought to you by Taiwan Tech Arena.
• 11:00 a.m. – 11:33 a.m.: Korea Pavilion — Startup Pitch Session with KOTRA.
• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.:  Startup Alley Pitch Session.
• 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.:  Startup Alley Pitch Session.

Thursday, 9/23

• 9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.:  Startup Alley Pitch Session.
• 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.: TTA Taiwan Pavilion Pitch-off Session — Smart Tech.
• 11:40 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.: Pitch Deck Teardown (Extra Crunch Stage).
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.: Top Japanese Startups pitch their exciting new tech with JETRO.

Expo and Expo Crawl

Our expo is teeming with early-stage founders launching new and exciting offerings. We’ve carved out some dedicated time in the agenda to catch up with these enterprising entrepreneurs. Search Expo in the agenda to bookmark those sessions.

Fun stuff and prizes

It’s not all serious business at Disrupt. We’ve put together some fun things and games. Download and complete the Disrupt Passport for a chance to win a VanMoof X3 e-bike, Bose noise-canceling headphones or a Sonos Beam Sound Bar.

Session videos and transcriptions

Missed a session? All the Extra Crunch Stage and Disrupt Stage recordings will be posted on the Disrupt event page at the close of the show. Plus, you can read the transcripts with Otter.ai. Otter’s giving attendees free access for a month using promo code: TCDISRUPT2021. See you at Disrupt!