Host your own piece of Disrupt: Apply to run a Side Event at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
THE SO WHAT
Side events are becoming the real deal-flow and hiring surface around big conferences. If you’re treating Disrupt as a booth-and-badge exercise, you’re missing the chance to own a room with your exact buyers, candidates, or partners for a fraction of the cost.
READ THE SOURCE
MORE FROM THE WIRE
Startups & VentureVeritas-Backed Firm Begins Year’s Biggest Software Refinancing
A $5.8B software refinancing in a sector underperforming the broader loan market is a reminder that leveraged software balance sheets are being repriced. If you're a PE-backed or debt-heavy software operator, assume tighter covenants and higher scrutiny on cash flow — AI narratives won't offset weak fundamentals in lender conversations.
Startups & VentureAd measurement company VideoAmp laid off ~20% of staff this week, citing AI as a "major platform shift"; sources: 50-60 employees were cut, including its CTO
Calling AI a ‘major platform shift’ while cutting ~20% of staff — including the CTO — is a clear signal that adtech is bracing for margin compression and automation. If you sell into marketing or measurement, expect buyers to push harder on AI-native efficiency and vendor consolidation over the next 12 months.
Michael Burry says he's shorting AI stars Oracle and Nebius
A high-profile short on Oracle and Nebius is less about those names and more about skepticism on AI data center valuations. If your strategy assumes hyperscaler and AI infra multiples stay elevated, build scenarios where capex-heavy stories re-rate and capital for your own infra ambitions tightens.
Startups & VentureThe founder’s guide to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Everything you need to know
When a mainstream conference orients around one question—how to build an enduring company in the AI era—it’s a sign LPs and acquirers are asking the same thing. Founders should treat this as a constraint: every narrative, deck, and roadmap now gets graded on AI-native defensibility, not AI-adjacent features.