TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026: Boston, Nov 4, Tickets

TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 is a one-day startup conference on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at SoWa Power Station in Boston. Registration opens at 9:00 a.m. ET (14:00 UTC), sessions start at 10:00 a.m. ET and the event ends at 6:30 p.m. ET (23:30 UTC). As of October 30, 2026, TechCrunch's ticket page lists passes at $299 for founders, $149 for student founders and $499 for investors. It is in person only, with no online portion or video recording.

Founder Summit date, venue and hours in Boston

The venue is SoWa Power Station, 550 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118, and Fidelity Private Shares presents the event. Hours from the official agenda and attendee guide, in Eastern Time (UTC-5 that day):

Registration and expo: 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ET (14:00-21:30 UTC; 6:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. PT)
Networking lounge (Braindate meetings): 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ET
Stage sessions: 10:00 a.m.-4:20 p.m. ET (15:00-21:20 UTC; 7:00 a.m.-1:20 p.m. PT)
Closing reception: 4:30-6:30 p.m. ET (21:30-23:30 UTC; 1:30-3:30 p.m. PT)

Founder Summit 2026 tickets and prices

The $149 Founder - Student pass is for student or recent-graduate founders. Every pass includes breakouts, roundtables, the expo hall, Braindate networking, and session audio and transcripts.

Buy one, get one free for a co-founder or colleague, a limited-time offer with no end date given. One banner says 50% off a second ticket instead, so check the total at checkout.
Group bundles of four or more passes of one type: 15% off for 4 to 12 passes, 30% off for 13 or more. Group and BOGO savings cannot be combined with other promotions.

The ticket page says the savings end when doors open on November 4, and TechCrunch's October 28 reminder repeats the up-to-$100 offer. The refund window closed on August 7, 2026.

Founder Summit 2026 agenda and speakers

Two breakout stages run side by side for much of the day: Build for early-stage founders and Impact for Series A and later founders. Breakouts are 250-person sessions with first-come, first-served seating. Start times on November 4, in ET:

10:00 a.m., Build: Hunter Worland of NEA on distribution versus technology.
10:00 a.m., Impact: an AMA with Toast co-founder Steve Fredette.
10:35 a.m., Build: a Fidelity Private Shares session on fundraising trends with Kristen Craft, Jennifer Neundorfer and Darren Ross.
10:45 a.m., Impact: Rudina Seseri of Glasswing Ventures on when to scale and when to hold back.
11:30 a.m., Impact: Kent Bennett of Bessemer Venture Partners on product-market fit.
1:30 p.m., Build: Amulya Vishwanath of Techable Ventures on the next AI opportunity and what has not been built yet.
1:30 p.m., Impact: a Fidelity Private Shares panel on enterprise relationships, with Kristen Craft, Yossi Hayut of Wix Ventures, Evan Schnidman of Fidelity Labs and Jennifer van Dijk of Boston Legacy FC.
2:15 p.m., Build: Dave Balter of True Ventures on pitching.
2:15 p.m., Impact: Chase Garbarino of HqO on building a company in Boston.
3:00 p.m., Impact: Tina Tosukhowong of TDK Ventures on spotting category winners.
3:40 p.m., Build: So You Think You Can Pitch?, where three early-stage startups get four minutes each. The agenda lists a six-person panel: Balter, Jonny Boyarsky of FirstGlance, Shruti Gupta of PollSee, Sunmin He of PitchIN, Chirag Shah of Define Ventures and Simran Suri of Maveron.

Roundtables run between 10:00 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. ET, with sessions starting from 10:45 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. They include data room best practices (Riya Ahuja of Fidelity Private Shares), choosing a hard first vertical (Chirag Shah), GraphRAG (Shishir Tewari of Procore), brand (Simran Suri), category creation (Andy Tang of Draper Associates), lean AI teams (Linden Tibbets of IFTTT) and what counts as traction before a raise (Jason Kraus of Prepare 4 VC). Speakers named in earlier previews, such as Lior Div (7AI) and Vineet Edupuganti (Cogent Security), do not appear on the agenda page as of October 30, so check the live agenda before you plan.

Side events during Founder Summit week

The side-events page listed eight events from November 3 to 6 on October 28. Outside companies host them, each has its own registration, and all are 18+ (21+ where alcohol is served). On November 4 three start in the evening: a Harmonic Finance, Fidelity Investments and Baker Tilly happy hour at Barcelona Wine Bar (5:00-8:00 p.m. ET), a Hyperplane VC go-to-market evening (5:30-7:30 p.m. ET) and Deel's Founders After Hours (5:30-9:00 p.m. ET).

Who should go

TechCrunch pitches the day to founders at every stage and to investors meeting early-stage companies, and calls it smaller and more hands-on than Disrupt (October 13-15, 2026, San Francisco). The content is business-first: fundraising, pitching, hiring, product-market fit, brand and enterprise partnerships, with AI in a handful of sessions.

Planning 2027 applications? See our accelerator deadlines. More coverage sits in Funding, Founders and Events, and Startup Battlefield winners covers TechCrunch's larger pitch stage.

Getting there

TechCrunch recommends a rideshare. The Orange Line's Back Bay and Tufts Medical Center stops and the Red Line's Broadway stop are a short walk away. Parking costs $40 a day on site, $30 at the 500 Harrison Avenue lot and $20 at the 324 Albany Street garage. Two food trucks sell meals from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET; coffee, tea and water are free all day.

Frequently asked questions

Is Founder Summit 2026 streamed online?

No. The event is in person only, with no video recordings. TechCrunch says audio and transcripts will be in the event app afterwards.

Can a stealth founder buy a Founder pass?

Yes, per the ticket FAQ. Enter a LinkedIn profile if there is no company website yet. TechCrunch reviews registrations to check pass eligibility.

Can I get a refund or transfer my ticket?

Refunds ended on August 7, 2026. Tickets can be transferred through Manage Registration in the confirmation email. The badge name must match a government-issued photo ID.

What was Founder Summit called before?

Early Stage, then All Stage, which TechCrunch held in Boston on July 15, 2025.