Scenes from TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Thank you to everyone who made this year’s San Francisco event what it is – and to the 10,000 of you who filled the halls, made connections, and left with more than you brought. Can’t do that? The photos below offer a glimpse of what you’ve missed.

Until next year.

Vinod Khosla told attendees he doesn’t buy the argument that running AI will kill climate efforts. Geothermal energy is close, he said, while nuclear fusion is still far away. He also touched on his alignment with President Donald Trump (deregulation) and disagreement (immigration): “The only thing I will say is this administration is not going to last forever,” he said with a smile.

This is Roelof Botha on stage, and this is the audience who have come to comment on his every word. The Sequoia partner talked about how his company selects the winners and what government ownership can mean in startups, and he cautioned founders to be sensitive to timing, telling them to raise money now if they’ll need the money six months from now. Pop bubbles.

Kevin Damoa of Glīd Technologies, winner of this year’s Battlefield competition, with Battlefield President Isabelle Johannessen. She and TC’s Michael Schick have been working with dozens of startups for months to prepare them for this stage. Hugs are earned.

Roy Lee, founder of Cluely, the app famous for its slogan “Cheat at Everything,” entertains audiences with his colorful take on how to win at marketing. “Every day, people do crazier things, so to stand out, you have to do something crazier.” (Pictured left, Maxwell Ziff, holding hands.)

If former Cleveland Cavaliers Tristan Thompson is missing out on the NBA, he’s not showing it. He’s building a business empire and raising pointed questions about the league he left behind. When asked if players could game Basketball Fun – the web3 platform that turns NBA players into tradable tokens – he offered a counterpoint: “It’s the same question we ask the referees. Aren’t they gaming the system?” When moderator Rebecca Bellan asked if he meant NBA referees take bribes, Thompson shrugged. “It’s just a question to ask,” he added.

Our own Sean O’Kane shares a moment with Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve. Kendall may also be smiling because his UK-based self-driving startup — whose software serves as the “brain of cars” — is in talks to raise a new $2 billion from SoftBank and Microsoft at a valuation of $8 billion.

Phoebe Gates and Sofia Kiani, founders of AI-powered shopping service Phia, wowed the audience at Disrupt with their enthusiasm for making quality used clothing easier to find. Gates, the daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, was also an athlete when moderator Amanda Silberling asked her what her famous parents learned from her. “I hope it’s the style! I don’t consider myself that stylish; I just like building in the consumer space, but now I’m getting random emails from my family asking, ‘Should I wear this to this?'” Gates said with a laugh.

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana with TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec answered questions about self-driving vehicles, including whether society will accept deaths caused by self-driving cars. “I think the community will do that,” Mwakana said. “The challenge is to ensure that the community has high enough standards regarding safety that companies adhere to.”

Kevin Rose talks about rebooting Digg and the future of venture capital (Rose is also a general partner at early stage venture firm True Ventures). I’m smiling because that’s what you do when someone doesn’t answer your questions about a wearable startup and it’s still hidden. (We’ll have more Sandbar almost.)

Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolff navigates questions about building the future of artificial intelligence, including those related to LeRobot, the Hugging Face project that attempts to democratize robotics using affordable hardware, open source tools, and shared data sets.

Finalists Marlon Nichols of MaC VC and Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures during the final stages of the highly competitive Startup Battlefield. Somewhere off camera, there’s a founder sweating through his presentation.

Box’s Aaron Levy in conversation with TC’s Russell Brandom. Levy has graced the Disrupt stage many times over TC’s 20 years at the center of the startup ecosystem, and he always brings it.

Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone on streamers’ expanded remit from simple viewing to interactive programming (think voting on live shows and games via your phone): “It hasn’t changed the way we tell stories,” she told a large crowd.

TC’s Dominic Madori Davis talks about building community with Tade Oyerinde of Campus, which is rethinking community college, and Teddy Solomon of Fizz, the anonymous social app that’s spreading across college campuses and is sometimes banned, which some might consider a badge of honor.

A whiteboard of desires: developers wanted, contacts offered, deals proposed. We love that founders rely on old-school tactics. (Some still work!)

David George, who leads the growth investing team at Andreessen Horowitz, came to the show to talk with Julie Port about what startups need to evaluate as they look to go public. It was his birthday, as it turned out; The audience takes a moment here to celebrate with him.

here San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie discusses his call with President Trump regarding why he should not send the National Guard to the city — a suggestion brought up by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. “What I told him is what I tell everyone: This is a city on the rise,” Lowry said. “Three days of disruption here should prove it. As for whether he compromised with Trump, who made the deals, he was decisive. “No, not at all. Don’t ask.”

A lot of people come from all over the world to code how to put their startups together. We covered all bases on the Builders Stage, which was packed every day, all day long.

Post-show cheer from TC’s Jessica Barrera, who handled ticketing for the 10,000 attendees. She routinely preserves our bacon.

For more photos from the event, visit our website Flickr stream.

You can also find our full video coverage: here First day, The second dayand Day 3.