Building a company means making consequential choices while the evidence is still incomplete. TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 will bring those questions to SoWa Power Station in Boston on November 4, gathering founders, investors, and operators for a full day of discussion and practical sessions.
Hosted by TechCrunch in partnership with Fidelity Private Shares, the event’s agenda spans customer growth, team building, founder leadership, fundraising, AI, and the challenge of scaling. Several sessions draw on the experience of people who have built companies or invested in them.
Growth decisions start with the right signals
Product-market fit and the timing of growth are central themes. Kent Bennett, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, will lead “Finding Product Market Fit Before You Scale.” The session asks founders to examine whether customers are showing that a business is ready to grow before they add staff, increase spending, or accelerate sales efforts.
That question connects with a session led by Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures. In “When to Scale and When to Hit the Brakes,” she will discuss how founders can tell when to push ahead and when restraint may help protect a company. The two conversations put attention on the choices behind growth, not simply its pace.
Steve Fredette, president, co-founder, and director of Toast, will discuss how a company can keep changing as its customers, technology, and market evolve. “Building a Company That Keeps Reinventing Itself” will draw on Toast’s path from identifying a customer problem and finding product-market fit to scaling from Boston into a public company. The focus is on continuing to adapt while staying connected to the needs that shaped the business.
Building from Boston, and building for AI
For founders considering where to build, Chase Garbarino, CEO and co-founder of HqO, will take the Impact Stage for “The Boston Founder Playbook.” The conversation will examine company building in Boston, including the roles of talent, customers, capital, and community outside the Bay Area.
Alongside Fredette’s account of Toast, Garbarino’s session gives the program a local perspective: ambitious companies can be built in Boston without simply copying Silicon Valley. That point may resonate with founders across New England and the broader East Coast ecosystem.
AI is another part of the agenda, with a focus on what changes when it shapes a company from the outset. Lior Div, CEO and co-founder of 7AI, will lead “Built for AI From Day One.” The discussion will consider AI as more than a feature, looking at how it can influence a company’s products, architecture, and way of operating.
Make the pitch earn the next conversation
Dave Balter, venture partner at True Ventures and CEO of Edisyl, will lead “Your Pitch Has to Earn the Next Conversation.” The premise is that a pitch does not need to close a deal on the spot; it needs to make an investor want to keep talking. Founders who know their business still have to learn how to explain its story clearly.
Attendees will also see pitches tested live during “So You Think You Can Pitch?” on the Build Stage. Balter will join Chirag Shah, partner at Define Ventures, and Simran Suri, principal at Maveron, on an investor judging panel as startups make their cases.
The format gives the audience a chance to watch how founders make an idea connect in limited time and hear investor reactions as they happen. Pitches that land and those that prompt unanswered questions can both offer lessons in how to communicate a company’s value.
A broader agenda for building companies
Other sessions extend beyond fundraising and AI. Hunter Worland of NEA will explore distribution as a possible competitive advantage for startups. Vineet Edupuganti, co-founder and CEO of Cogent Security, will discuss building 10x teams, while Tina Tosukhowong of TDK Ventures will examine signals that may point to category winners.
Fidelity Private Shares will bring perspectives on fundraising trends through Kristen Craft and enterprise relationships through Evan Schnidman. Taken together, these topics address the work of building a company: reaching customers, assembling a team, recognizing opportunity, and forming business relationships.
TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 takes place November 4 at SoWa Power Station in Boston. The day includes founder conversations, practical sessions, smaller roundtables, live pitching, networking, and a closing reception presented by Fidelity Private Shares.