TechCrunch Sets Six Roundtables for Boston Founder Summit

TechCrunch announced plans for six small-group roundtables at its Founder Summit 2026. These sessions will take place on November 4 at the SoWa Power Station in Boston. The event will also include main stage talks, live pitching, and networking opportunities for founders, investors, and operators.

The roundtables are designed for detailed discussion. Participants will bring their own questions and describe current challenges within their companies. They will work through these issues with experts and fellow founders. Topics range from enterprise sales and vertical strategy to artificial intelligence and lean teams.

The schedule begins at 10:45 a.m. with a session led by Alexandra Ames. Ames is the founder and chief event strategist at Blueprint Lab. She will discuss how early-stage companies can use events strategically before hiring a full-time events team. The session will cover selecting opportunities, defining success, and managing limited resources.

Two sessions will run simultaneously at 11:30 a.m. Chirag Shah, a partner at Define Ventures, will address the difficulties of entering markets with high potential but complex buyers, 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 AI reliability in real-world organizations.

The afternoon programming starts at 1:15 p.m. Merve Kitapci, managing partner and CGO of ADIN.AI, will lead a discussion on winning major enterprise customers early. She will reference closing deals with L'Oreal and Vodafone before a Series A round. The session will touch on long buying cycles and the value of prominent customer logos.

Andy Tang, a partner at Draper Associates, will speak at 1:55 p.m. He will guide founders whose products do not fit into established categories. The conversation will cover how to explain these products to investors and how to sell them. Linden Tibbets, CEO and founder of IFTTT, will lead the final roundtable at 2:35 p.m. He will explore how smaller teams can use AI to increase speed and output without adding headcount.

The roundtables form part of a larger program. The Build and Impact Stages will cover product-market fit, hiring, fundraising, and scaling companies outside the Bay Area. Steve Fredette, co-founder of Toast, is among the leaders scheduled to share perspectives. Attendees will also participate in a live pitch competition called So You Think You Can Pitch? A Networking Lounge with Braindate and a closing reception presented by Fidelity Private Shares will provide additional connection opportunities. TechCrunch currently offers a 25 percent discount on tickets and a limited buy-one-get-one deal.