Highlights from TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco.

2 days ago7 min read

The energy at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco was a tangible force, a kind of collective caffeine rush humming through the Moscone Center that you could feel in your bones. Having attended this spectacle for years, I’ve come to see it as less a simple tech conference and more the annual pilgrimage for the global startup ecosystem, a place where the abstract ideas sketched on whiteboards in countless co-working spaces collide with the hard realities of venture capital, market fit, and technological possibility.This year’s gathering of 10,000 souls wasn't just about the latest SaaS platform or a marginally improved AI model; it was a snapshot of an industry in a profound state of recalibration. The hallways, buzzing with a polyglot mix of accents from Tel Aviv to Shenzhen, Tokyo to Berlin, told a story of a world cautiously re-embracing physical connection after years of digital-first interaction.The connections made here—the frantic exchange of LinkedIn QR codes, the impromptu pitch sessions over lukewarm coffee—are the raw material from which the next unicorn, or perhaps the next industry-standard protocol, will be forged. It’s fascinating to observe the thematic shifts from year to year.If 2021 was the zenith of the 'everything remote' boom and 2023 was the unhinged carnival of speculative crypto and NFTs, then 2025 felt different, more grounded. The conversations I overheard and participated in were less about disrupting entire sectors overnight and more about practical applications, sustainable growth, and the often-unglamorous work of integrating AI into legacy systems.There was a palpable sense of builders building again, of a focus on defensible technology and real revenue, a welcome departure from the hype cycle that so often defines this space. You could see it in the Startup Alley, where the most compelling booths weren’t just selling a dream but demonstrating a working product solving a genuine, often boring, business problem.The shadow of the recent venture capital winter loomed large, acting as a natural selector for resilience and substance over flashy marketing and bloated valuations. It reminded me of the period after the dot-com bubble, where the survivors weren't the Pets.com of the world, but the companies that had quietly been building foundational infrastructure. This isn't to say the ambition was gone; far from it.The ambition has simply been refined, sharpened by economic headwinds into a more potent and focused instrument. The international contingent was stronger than ever, a testament to how the startup gene has truly gone global.I spoke with founders from Kenya deploying blockchain for agricultural supply chains, teams from Estonia reimagining digital governance, and engineers from South Korea pushing the boundaries of robotics. San Francisco, for all its well-documented problems, remains the magnetic north for this global ambition, the place where you come to be tested, to find your tribe, and to see if your idea can withstand the scrutiny of the most demanding and well-connected audience on the planet.For those who couldn't make it, the photos of packed keynote halls and buzzing networking sessions only tell a fraction of the story. They can't capture the nervous excitement of a first-time founder moments before their pitch, the weary but satisfied look of a venture partner who has just spotted a diamond in the rough, or the silent intensity of a coding workshop where the next generation of developers is being shaped.The real story of Disrupt 2025 is one of maturation. The tech industry, often accused of living in a bubble, is showing signs of growing up, of learning from its past excesses and failures.It’s moving from a adolescence of boundless, sometimes reckless, optimism into a more complex adulthood, one that balances world-changing vision with operational discipline and a deeper consideration of its societal impact. The connections forged in those San Francisco halls over those few days will ripple outwards, influencing product roadmaps, investment theses, and technological trends for the next twelve months, until we all gather again, a little wiser, to take the temperature of the future once more.

#TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

#San Francisco

#tech conference

#startup event

#networking

#innovation

#featured

Stay Informed. Act Smarter.

Get weekly highlights, major headlines, and expert insights — then put your knowledge to work in our live prediction markets.

Comments

It’s quiet here...Start the conversation by leaving the first comment.