TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 in Boston on Nov. 4 to feature six roundtable discussions
Tech publication TechCrunch will host its Founder Summit 2026 for startup founders in Boston on November 4. The agenda includes six small roundtables on enterprise sales, AI and lean teams.
Technology news outlet TechCrunch will hold Founder Summit 2026 on November 4 at the SoWa Power Station venue in Boston. The event gathers startup founders, investors and operators for talks, practical sessions, live pitching, networking and smaller roundtables designed for deeper discussion.
Organizers are offering 25% off tickets, plus a limited buy-one-get-one deal that lets attendees bring a colleague for free.
Six roundtable discussions
Participants can ask questions and compare experiences with experts and other founders. The planned topics are:
- Events strategy at an early stage (10:45–11:15 a.m.): Alexandra Ames, founder of Blueprint Lab, discusses how young companies can use events strategically before they can afford a dedicated team.
- A first vertical that is also the hardest (11:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.): Chirag Shah of venture firm Define Ventures talks about difficult markets, such as regulated industries.
- GraphRAG and hallucinations (11:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.): Shishir Tewari, head of enterprise data engineering at Procore Technologies, explains how knowledge graphs can make AI systems more reliable.
- Landing large customers before a Series A (1:15–1:45 p.m.): Merve Kitapci, managing partner and CGO of ADIN.AI, covers how to win major enterprises such as L’Oreal and Vodafone early.
- A category without a name (1:55–2:25 p.m.): Andy Tang of Draper Associates discusses how to explain and sell a product when the market lacks vocabulary for it.
- Lean teams and AI (2:35–3:05 p.m.): Linden Tibbets, CEO and founder of automation service IFTTT, explores how small teams can use AI to increase speed and output without adding headcount.
The rest of the program
The Build and Impact stages will also cover product-market fit, hiring, leadership, fundraising and building companies outside the Bay Area. Toast co-founder Steve Fredette is among the speakers, and founders will compete in the live "So You Think You Can Pitch?" contest. A closing reception is presented by Fidelity Private Shares.
