Browsing: TechCrunch Disrupt

For AI startups, choosing a model isn’t necessarily a one-time architecture decision anymore.

The story begins almost 12 years ago, when Tayo Adesanya started a career working with microchips and AI processors. He mainly helped large manufacturers decide which chips to use in their hardware. Those years, he told TechCrunch, gave him early insight into where demand in the AI computing market was headed. “Starting Lola Vision Systems…

Two years ago, most companies didn’t have a GTM engineer. Now the role is showing up across tech, with practitioners using AI and automation to build revenue systems that once required multiple people, tools, and manual processes.

With all the talk about how AI might one day kill us all, it’s easy to forget that AI has already been life-threatening to some, not through bioweapons, but psychologically.

AI startups can grow at a speed that would have been difficult to imagine a generation ago. But rapid growth comes with another reality: scaling AI can require enormous amounts of capital, and founders have to make financing decisions long before they know whether early momentum will turn into an enduring business.

Exhibit bookings for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 close in less than 24 hours. On October 13–15, 10,000+ founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders will arrive at San Francisco’s Moscone West looking for companies, products, ideas, and people worth knowing. The question is: will they find your startup?

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is built around one question: How do you build an enduring company in the AI era? Our programming and speaker lineup reflect that, based on the feedback we’ve gotten from the community and the reality on the ground.

TechCrunch Disrupt is where the tech community comes together to build, debate, and connect. And during Disrupt Week, that conversation doesn’t stop when the doors to Moscone West close.

An AI demo can look brilliant in five minutes. Then customers start using the product. They push it into workflows you didn’t anticipate. They expect it to work reliably. And they quickly find out whether it solves a big enough problem to become part of how they work — or becomes another AI experiment they…