Disrupt 2026 Panel: Winning Pre-Seed Funding Without a Product
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- TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will stage the "Winning Pre-Seed Without a Product" panel on its Builders Stage at Moscone West in San Francisco, October 13-15, as AI-driven MVP development leaves pre-seed founders facing seed-stage investor expectations
- Sandhya Venkatachalam, founder and managing partner of Axiom Partners (a newly launched $52 million early-stage AI fund), joins the panel after stints as a GP at Khosla Ventures and Social Capital, where she was the first investor in Groq and led investments in GalileoAI, ForethoughtAI, and FirefliesAI
- Puneet Agarwal, managing partner at True Ventures since 2008, will draw on the firm's track record of 12 funds, 500+ portfolio companies, 1,050+ founders, 60+ acquisitions, and 7 IPOs
- Austin Clements, managing partner at Slauson & Co., rounds out the trio; the firm is focused on economic inclusion and small business empowerment, and counts Startup Battlefield 2026 winner Glīd among its portfolio companies
- Clements also serves as founding chair of PledgeLA, a diversity-in-tech initiative backed by the Annenberg Foundation and the LA mayor's office
Why it matters: Pre-seed founders without a working MVP now compete in a landscape where AI has compressed product timelines, and the three panelists collectively represent both institutional-scale checks (True Ventures' 12 funds) and inclusion-focused capital (Slauson & Co.), giving attendees a view of how different fund types evaluate conviction-driven pitches.
