TechCrunch Founder Summit Adds Six Sessions for Boston Founders

TechCrunch has confirmed that its 2026 Founder Summit will take place on November 4 at the SoWa Power Station in Boston. The one-day event will gather founders, investors, and operators for a schedule that includes live pitching, networking, and a series of small-group roundtables focused on specific operational challenges.

Organizers have designed the roundtables to allow participants to bring their own questions and discuss issues they are facing within their companies. Attendees will work through shared problems with experts and peers. The six scheduled sessions cover topics ranging from enterprise sales and vertical strategy to artificial intelligence and lean team management.

The first roundtable is set for 10:45 a.m. Alexandra Ames, founder and chief event strategist at Blueprint Lab, will lead this session. She will discuss how early-stage companies can approach events strategically before they have the budget for a full-time events team. The conversation will focus on selecting opportunities, defining success metrics, and stretching limited resources.

Two sessions will run concurrently at 11:30 a.m. Chirag Shah, a partner at Define Ventures, will address the difficulties founders face when entering markets with high potential but complex entry barriers, such as regulated industries. At the same time, Shishir Tewari, head of enterprise data engineering at Procore Technologies, will explain how knowledge graphs and GraphRAG can improve the reliability of AI systems in real-world organizations.

The afternoon agenda begins at 1:15 p.m. with Merve Kitapci, managing partner and CGO of ADIN.AI. Her session will examine how founders can win major enterprise customers early in their company's life. She will use her experience closing deals with L'Oreal and Vodafone before a Series A round as a case study, touching on long buying cycles and the value of prominent customer logos.

At 1:55 p.m., Andy Tang, a partner at Draper Associates, will lead a discussion for founders whose products do not fit into established categories. The session will cover how to explain and sell novel products and how to help investors understand the underlying opportunity. The final roundtable is scheduled for 2:35 p.m. with Linden Tibbets, CEO and founder of IFTTT. He will explore how smaller teams can use AI to increase speed and output without adding headcount, focusing on hiring and company structure.

The roundtables are part of a larger program that includes sessions on the Build and Impact Stages. These sessions will cover product-market fit, fundraising, and scaling companies outside the Bay Area. Steve Fredette, co-founder of Toast, is among the leaders scheduled to share founder perspectives. The event also features a live competition called "So You Think You Can Pitch?" and a closing reception presented by Fidelity Private Shares. TechCrunch is currently offering a 25% discount on tickets and a buy-one-get-one deal for a limited time.