Disrupt News

3 founders share strategies for navigating bias and building confidence

Entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups are more likely to face an uphill climb than their white, male counterparts, but their challenges stretch beyond systemic bias and lack of access to capital.

As Apple messes with attribution, what does growth marketing look like in 2021?

Measuring growth is complex and challenging — and it’s only getting tougher. Changes to attribution in iOS 14 have forced growth marketers to rethink how they define their growth analytics engines

Why and when startups should look to diverse sources of capital

Venture capital is a popular source of capital for early-stage startups, but it's not the only one. Debt is an increasingly popular alternative, as is non-dilutive, revenue-based financing.

Reid Hoffman on the evolution of ‘blitzscaling’ amid the pandemic

"Blitzscaling itself isn’t the goal," said Hoffman. "Blitzscaling is being inefficient; it’s spending capital inefficiently and hiring inefficiently; it’s being uncertain about your business mod

Where and when to spend your recently raised dollars

'It’s easier to raise and harder to spend these days, because there’s such a high demand for talent.'

The enormous challenges and abundant opportunities in climate tech

The decarbonization of the planet will be the next major disruption of the century, according to SOSV managing general partner Sean O'Sullivan and Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

And the winner of Startup Battlefield is…

Natasha and Mary Ann and Alex were all aboard this week under the guidance of Chris and Grace, along with TechCrunch’s Neesha Tambe. Neesha is one of our best and is the leading light of

Latin America finds a champion in SoftBank Group International CEO Marcelo Claure

Since first announcing it was planting a stake in the ground in the region in early 2019, SoftBank  -- from its own balance sheet, it says -- has plugged more than $5 billion into the region, and it

How Ryan Reynolds has mastered authentic marketing

Most people know Ryan Reynolds from his movies, but the actor has his hands in a number of entrepreneurial ventures. He owns a majority stake in Mint Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator, which h

WarnerMedia’s Andy Forssell discusses a fascinating first year for HBO Max

Andy Forssell, HBO Max’s head of business operations, joined us on TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 this week to discuss the fascinating 17.5 months of the streaming service's life so far.

Duolingo doesn’t want to disrupt the college degree

CEO and co-founder Luis von Ahn returned to Disrupt this year to explain how the sophistication of public markets impacts the company's strategy.

Peter Beck says Rocket Lab actively prepared for interplanetary missions ‘from day one’

Rocket Lab long ago graduated from underdog launch provider to industry heavyweight (with funding to match). Now the company is planning to go to the moon, Mars and Venus in the next decade.

What Canva CEO Melanie Perkins looks for in a potential acquisition

We sat down with Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins at Disrupt 2021 to talk about how she has approached fundraising, and how she's managed to grow Canva's free and paid user base at a rapid clip.

How Calendly is building a platform by turning scheduling into a center-stage event

The tools you use most often are the ones you think about the least. Calendly, an app that helps people plan, schedule and follow up on meetings, may be a perfect example of that. 

A meeting room of one’s own: Three VCs discuss breaking out of big firms to start their own gigs

One of the more salient trends in the tech world — arguably the engine that propels it — has been the recurring theme of people who hone talents at bigger companies and then strike out on

And the winner of Startup Battlefield at Disrupt 2020 is… Canix

We started this competition with 20 impressive startups. After five days of fierce pitching in a wholly new virtual Startup Battlefield arena, we have a winner. The startups taking part in the Startup

Meet the five startup Battlefield finalists at Disrupt 2020

TechCrunch hosted an unusual Startup Battlefield this week — the founders, judges, audience and moderator (me) were all in different locations, doing our best to interact over WebEx. But the 20 star

Mette Lykke on food waste and building a big startup on a big idea

Food has been an ever-present touchpoint in the world of startups, and I don’t mean the free catered lunches, or expansive canteens that you get in bigger places, to keep startup workers sustain

And the winner of Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2019 is… Scaled Robotics

Startups participating in the Startup Battlefield have all been hand-picked to participate in our highly competitive startup competition. They all presented in front of multiple groups of VCs and tech

Battlefield winner Forethought adds tool to automate support ticket routing

Last year at this time, Forethought won the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield competition. A $9 million Series A investment followed last December. Today at TechCrunch Sessions: Enterprise in San Francis
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