Starting a business involves making choices prior to having complete information. Founders face questions about scaling timing, product market fit, enterprise customers, team building, and investor pitches.

The TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 will gather founders, investors, and operators on November 4 at SoWa Power Station in Boston to discuss those exact topics.

TechCrunch is hosting the event alongside partner Fidelity Private Shares. The day covers customer acquisition, team creation, pitch refinement, founder leadership, and scaling both inside and outside traditional startup areas. A limited BOGO deal allows buyers to save 25% on tickets and bring a colleague for free.

Some of the speakers founders will hear from in Boston

Steve Fredette on building a company that keeps reinventing itself

Local startups have a clear regional example of market discovery and customer evolution.

Toast president, co-founder, and director Steve Fredette will speak on the Impact Stage during the session titled "Building a Company That Keeps Reinventing Itself."

Toast provides a case study on spotting customer pain points, securing product market fit, acquiring users, and transforming a local enterprise into a public company.

Reaching scale does not mean the work ends. Fredette will discuss how to adapt a business as markets, technology, and expectations shift, all while maintaining a connection to the original customer needs.

Kent Bennett on knowing when product-market fit is real

Rapid growth is exciting, but premature expansion carries high costs.

Kent Bennett, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, will host "Finding Product Market Fit Before You Scale." This session addresses whether customers genuinely signal that a startup is ready to grow.

Attendees can critically evaluate key signals prior to hiring more staff, increasing spending, or pushing go-to-market strategies.

This provides a useful balance to startup culture pressure for speed, reminding builders that solid foundations matter most.

Rudina Seseri on when to scale and when to hit the brakes

Glasswing Ventures founder and managing partner Rudina Seseri addresses this exact tension.

Her session, "When to Scale and When to Hit the Brakes," examines how founders identify moments requiring acceleration versus periods where restraint safeguards the company.

Founders constantly weigh growth against discipline, as knowing when to hold back is as vital as going all in.

Lior Div on building for AI from day one

Artificial intelligence alters how new companies view operations and teams, though adding AI later differs from designing a company around it initially.

7AI CEO and co-founder Lior Div will address this topic in "Built for AI From Day One."

Current builders will learn how AI can shape an entire company architecture rather than just serving as a feature.

Chase Garbarino on the Boston founder playbook

The startup world extends far beyond Silicon Valley.

HqO CEO and co-founder Chase Garbarino will present "The Boston Founder Playbook" on the Impact Stage to discuss scaling a business from Boston.

For New England and East Coast teams, the talk offers perspectives on talent, customers, and capital outside the Bay Area.

Alongside the Toast presentation, this gives the event a distinct local focus, showing companies can succeed in Boston without copying Silicon Valley.

Dave Balter on the pitch that gets you another meeting

A pitch does not need to close a deal immediately, but it must secure the next conversation.

True Ventures venture partner and Edisyl CEO Dave Balter will explore this in "Your Pitch Has to Earn the Next Conversation."

The session reminds founders that understanding a business differs from communicating its narrative effectively.

Attendees will see this theory applied later in the day.

Watch founders pitch live

Startups will present their stories live on the Build Stage during the segment titled "So You Think You Can Pitch?"

Balter will join Define Ventures partner Chirag Shah and Maveron principal Simran Suri on the investor judging panel.

Audience members can watch how founders perform under strict time limits and observe real time reactions from investors.

This interactive session highlights both successful pitches and those that leave questions unanswered.

More than one startup conversation

The broader schedule addresses numerous challenges currently facing founders.

Hunter Worland from NEA will discuss distribution as a competitive advantage. Cogent Security co-founder and CEO Vineet Edupuganti will cover 10x team building. TDK Ventures representative Tina Tosukhowong will review hidden indicators for identifying category winners.

Fidelity Private Shares representatives Kristen Craft and Evan Schnidman will address fundraising trends and enterprise relationships.

The agenda focuses broadly on building companies rather than solely chasing funding rounds or artificial intelligence trends.

Join the conversation in Boston

The TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 takes place on November 4 at SoWa Power Station in Boston.

The program includes founder discussions, practical workshops, roundtables, live pitches, networking, and a closing reception sponsored by Fidelity Private Shares.

Registration remains open, and a limited time offer provides 25% off admission tickets.