TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 'da Startup Battlefield 200 yarışmacılarını yargılayan bir sonraki VC dalgası ortaya çıktı

Disrupt 2026: OpenAI, Anthropic, Replit, and more take over 6 industry stages. 25% off tickets now

A great pitch doesn t win Startup Battlefield 200 . A great company does.

That’s why the VCs sitting in the judges’ seats matter so much. They aren t looking for polished presentations or clever demos — they re looking for founders solving real problems with businesses that can endure. Every question they ask is designed to uncover what slides and rehearsed answers can t: conviction, clarity, execution, and whether this company has the potential to become the next category leader.

For more than 15 years, Startup Battlefield has helped launch companies that went on to define entire markets, and every year a new group of founders earns the chance to join that legacy.

Today, we re introducing the next wave of judges who ll take their seats at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 , happening on October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. They ll spend each day evaluating ambitious startups across industries, asking the tough questions founders hope for — and sometimes fear. If you want to understand how experienced investors really evaluate early-stage companies, there s no better place to watch than Startup Battlefield, live on the Disrupt Stage.

Be sure to snag savings of up to $200 on your Disrupt 2026 ticket before rates increase on September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Register here .

Now, without further ado, meet the next five judges joining this year s Startup Battlefield, the ultimate startup pitch competition.

Aditi Maliwal is a general partner at Upfront Ventures , where she invests at the pre-seed and seed stages in fintech, enterprise SaaS, AI applications, and developer tools. Her portfolio includes Clair, Writer, Arcade, and General Translation. Maliwal previously held roles at Google and Deutsche Bank and led the Series A investment in Chime during her tenure at a prior firm. She is Upfront s first San Francisco-based partner.

Michael Palank is a general partner at MaC Ventures , a majority Black-owned venture firm that backs seed-stage consumer and enterprise companies through a culturally driven investment thesis, with a focus on AI, fintech, healthcare, media, entertainment, and aerospace and defense.