From Dropbox to CloudFlare, startup Battlefield alumni have redefine industry. Who will win the $100,000 and the spotlight this year?
The Startup Battlefield 200 is a jewel of TechCrunch's Crown Jewell, and promises that this year's competition will never be forgotten. Thousands of applicants will take the stage in 2025 (October 27-29, San Francisco) to pitch their vision for the top-tier VC panel before the live audience. All candidates are chasing game-changing impacts. And we're here for drama, breakthroughs and big releases.
We are excited to announce the first wave of judges that will lead these startups to test with strict and unprotected Q&A. Their candid feedback provides an unusual window into how world-class investors size up their company. What excites them, what relates to them, and what they want to attend the next meeting.
The startup Battlefield victory has brought companies like Dropbox, Mint, Vurb and CloudFlare into the spotlight. And this October, he won an equity-free prize of $100,000.
Don't miss out on this high stakes startup pitch-off on the global stage. Learn from emerging founders what it takes to provide a winning pitch and hear directly from investors who judge candidates. Sign up now about regular bird savings.
At first glance: Meet VCS who takes the judges' seat
Here are the first five VCs that will help you win the Startup Battlefield 2025 champion.
Philip Clark, Investor, Thrive Capital
Philip Clark partners with leading software and hardware companies that are developing advances in AI and robotics engineering, including Anduril, Cursor, Neuralink, Physical Intelligence, and Wiz. He had previously invested in Bridgewater. Philip graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Computer Science and Management Science and Engineering. He continues to advise Hoover institutions on a variety of topics in emerging technology.
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Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA
Madison Faulkner is a NEA partner investing in early stage data, infrastructure, developer tools, data science and AI, and also internally leads data and AI platforms to improve investment decisions. Throughout her investment career, she has worked with startups including WorldLab, Factory, Ceramics, Metabase, DataFold, Delphina, Mindtrip, Fixify and more. Before investing, Madison was head of data science and machine learning at Thrasio's growth startup, head of data science and machine learning, leading the Facebook data science team, focusing on ad auctions and deep learning. Madison received an engineering BS at Stanford University and grew up in Colorado, performing at the rodeo.
Leslie Feinzaig, founder and general partner of Graham & Walker VC
Leslie Feinzaig is the founder and general partner of Graham & Walker. Graham & Walker is a future partner, an early stage venture fund supporting extraordinary founders and ideas that are sought to change the face of the open market by supporting new security guards for founders and CEOs. Before launching the fund, Feinzeig was a double startup executive with eight- and ten-digit exits and began his career under the guidance of the author of disruptive innovation, Professor Clayton Christensen, Professor HBS.
Ilya Kirnos, Founding Partner & CTO, Signalfire
Ilya Kirnos is an early stage venture company Signalfire, co-founder, managing partner and CTO. He leads the development of Signalfire's in-house beacon AI data platform, building with the company's team of AI PhDS, engineers and data scientists for 10 years. Beacon tracks over 660 million employees and 80 million companies, helping fund investments and recruit and acquire customers by emerging quality founders and burgeoning companies. As an investor, Ilya focuses on backing seeds to Series B companies in enterprise infrastructure and developer tools. He supports highly technical startups in Signalfire's portfolio, including Horizon3 (autonomous pentest), Onesignal (notification infrastructure), and PlanetScale (scalable database).
Doug Pepper, Partner, Iconiq
Doug Pepper is the general partner of Iconiq Growth. He took part in the growth of Iconiq in 2019. Doug has led Iconiq Growth's investments in Airtable, Guild Education, Reify and more. Prior to joining Iconiq Growth, Doug was the managing director of Shasta Ventures, the best early stage venture capital firm. Previously, he was a general partner of InterWest Partners for 15 years, Marketo's first investor and served on the board of directors for 10 years. He began his career with Goldman Sachs and Amazon.com.
Sign up now and take part in the pitch-off action in October
TechCrunch will mark its 20th anniversary in 2025 as Tech Innovation's Launchpad. The startup landscape has evolved, but it remains a place where industry leaders shape the future. From valuable sessions and game-changing connections to startup battlefield, everything happens here this October. Lock your tickets at a low price now.