Meet the first batch of VCs set to judge Startup Battlefield 200 at Disrupt 2025

From Dropbox to Cloudflare, alumni of the startup battlefield have re -defined industries. Who will win this year $ 100,000 and spotlights?

Startup Battlefield 200 TechCrunch crown gemstone disrupted – and this year’s competition promised to be unforgettable. From the thousands of applicants, will only take the top 20 stage Disruption 2025 (2 27-29, San Francisco) Live Visitors to create their vision on top level VCS panels. Each competitor is chasing game-changing influence-and we are here for drama, epoch and big manifestation.

We will be thrilled to declare the first wave of our first judges who will keep these startups in the exam with strict, no-holds-barred Q&A. Their clear response provides a rare window on how world-class investors shape a company-what makes them excited, what worries and what they want to take on their next meeting.

Winning Startup Battlefield has launched companies such as Dropbox, Mint, Verb and Cloudflare-and with a $ 100,000 equity-free award on the line, the next big name could be born on October this October.

Do not miss this high-startup pitch-off at the global level. Learn from emerging founders what it takes to provide a winning pitch and listen directly from investors by judging competitors. Register now for regular bird savings.

First look: Meet the VCS with the judges’ seats

Here are the first five VCS startup Battlefield 2025 champions to help the crown – more top investors will come soon.

Philip Clark, investor, capital of success

Philip Clark This is the investor SuccessWhere he is part of the top software and hardware companies, including AI and Robotics Engineering Breakthors Progress and Anduril, Cursor, Neurally, Physical Wisdom and Wiz. He had earlier invested in Bridgewater. Philip received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Management Science and Engineering from Stanford. He has been advising the Hoover Institution on various topics of emerging technology.

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Madison Faulkner If partner Nea In the early stages, he also leads data and AI platforms to invest in data, infrastructure, developed equipment, data science and AI and improve investment decisions. Throughout his investment career, he has worked with World Labs, Factory, Ceramic, Metabes, Dataphold, Delfina, MindTrip, Fixify and others. Before investing, Madison was the head of Data Science and Machine Learning at the head of Madison Gocruft’s Data Science, and led a data science team on Facebook and focused on deep education. Madison received BS in Engineering from Stanford and grew up starring Rhodiaso in Colorado.

Leslie Finzig, founder and general partner, Graham and Walker VC

Leslie Finzig Founder and General Partner Graham and WalkerAt an early stage Venture Fund supports extraordinary founders and ideas that break the mold, whose goal is to change the appearance of public markets by supporting the founder and the new guard of the CEO. Before launching the funds, Mrs. Fainegig was a 2X startup executive with 8- and 10-film departure, who started her career under HBS Professor Clayton Cristansen, author of the disrupted seminal theory.

Ilya Kiranos, founding partner and CTO, Signalfire

Eliaia Kiranos Co-founder, Management Partner, and CTO ~ 3 billion Aum early-stage initiative firm’s CTO SignalfireThe He led the development of Signalfire’s in-house Bacon AI Data Platform, which he has been making with AI PhD, engineer and data scientists’ farm team for a decade. Beacon is high -quality founders and rapid growing companies track more than 60600 million employees and 5 million companies to guide the investment of the funds and helps to recruit its portfolio companies and acquire customer. As an investor, Eliaia Enterprise focuses on supporting Series B companies in infrastructure and developing equipment. He supports highly technical startups in Signalfire’s portfolio, including Horizon 3 (autonomous pen-testing), onsignal (notification infrastructure), and a planetskel (scalable database).

Dog pepper, partner, iconic

Dog pepper A general partner of iconic growth. He joined Iconic growth In 2019. Dog Airtable, guild education, rif and others have helped lead to investing iconic growth. Prior to joining iconic growth, Doug Prasa was the managing director of the premiere initiative of a premiere initiative of Venture. Earlier, he was a general partner of the InterWest Partners for 15 years, where he was the first investor in the market and served as his board of directors for 10 years. He started working at Goldman Shut and Amazon.com.

Register now to join the pitch-off action in October

TechCrunch Disruption 2025 Marks 20 years as a launchpad for technology innovation. The startup landscape has developed, but the disrupted place remains where the industry leaders shape the future. From priceless sessions and game-changing connections to the startup battlefield, it all happens here this October. Lock your ticket now.