Meet the Startup Battlefield 200 judges who’ll decide the winner at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
TechCrunch has announced the panel of judges for the Startup Battlefield 2026 competition. The judges, all founders of venture firms, will evaluate finalists on their pitch, business model, and scalability.
Why it matters
The selection of judges provides insight into current venture capital priorities and the evolving landscape of the startup ecosystem.
Thousands of startups applied. Just 200 made Startup Battlefield . Only 20 will pitch on the Disrupt Stage across all three days. Competition goes from October 13-15 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 . It all comes down to one final decision.
For our Startup Battlefield finalist judges , we set a particularly high bar: Each has founded or co-founded the investment firm they now lead. Collectively, they bring decades of experience backing ambitious founders, building and scaling companies, and making the big bets that can define a venture firm. They know what separates a great pitch from a potentially great company — and they’ll be the five people deciding who becomes this year’s Startup Battlefield champion.
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