All your M&A questions will be answered at Disrupt 2026

The year continues to move quickly, and so does all of our planning TechCrunch Disrupt 2026! We have an exciting new panel for founders who need M&A advice… but first, we have a limited-time ticket offer to share.

Disrupt will once again be held at San Francisco’s Moscone West from October 13-15, and for a limited time, attendees can also bring a colleague, co-founder, investor, or teammate with less money! You can purchase a Disrupt 2026 pass here, and get 50% off a second pass of the same ticket type with a limited-time offer ending May 8 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

As for what kind of programming will keep you locked in throughout the three days of Disrupt, let’s dive into our newest panel on the Builders Stage.

Hear from Disrupt how M&A is now an early stage strategy

If you’ve been following our recent coverage, acquisitions and hiring are still all the rage, especially in the AI ​​scene. Whether it’s OpenAI buying Hiro, Anthropic acquiring Vercept, Google getting the team behind Hume AI, or Databricks landing two startups just for its security product, it’s been a busy year!

And the acquisition is far from the end of a long road for the founders. it can be part of their journey in the early stages. And with these and many other acquisitions in mind, we’ve assembled a team of experts to help arm founders with what they need to know about all the M&A options in front of them.

Their insights will arm you with a playbook for building leads, ways to make your startup more enticing to buyers, and the realities of the acquisition process. And for some background on our panel, let’s learn more about our industry leaders.

Akkil Ibssa, Head of Corporate Development and M&A, Coinbase

Aklil Ivssa he brings a buy-side perspective from one of the largest companies in crypto as he leads the company’s acquisition strategy and execution, helping identify where Coinbase should buy, invest, partner or build. He has overseen more than 14 acquisitions and nearly 50 early- and late-stage investments, and as one of the first hires on Coinbase’s corporate development team, he has contributed to an M&A program that has become one of the most active in the crypto space, with more than 40 completed acquisitions in total.

Most importantly for founders, he has seen first-hand how strategic buyers evaluate new companies: whether on technology, talent, licenses, product velocity and more. And he’ll be able to talk acquisitions including Deribit, Liquifi and Echo, and prominent investments in startups like Kalshi.

Lindsey Mignano, Founder, Mignano Law Group

Lindsey Mignano brings the legal and structuring expertise that often determines whether an early-stage M&A deal can actually go through. As the founder of Mignano Law Group, she represents emerging technology companies, SMEs, venture-backed startups and venture capital firms as outside general counsel. Her practice covers everything from SAFE notes, pricing rounds and bridge financing to buy and sell side acquisitions, recruitment and anything else you can think of.

This uniquely equips her to train founders without knowing how M&A readiness can begin early. Many of its clients are Series B companies, including SaaS, PaaS and AI startups — exactly the kinds of companies now facing strategic interest, and it will be able to ground the conversation in the realities of capital tables, contracts, asset sales and the work needed to make acquisitions happen.

Karl Alomar, Managing Partner, M13

Now it’s time for an investor and an operator to join the conversation. As managing partner at M13, Carl Alomar supports Seed and Series A software founders in infrastructure, fintech, developer productivity and other categories, feeling the brunt of the AI ​​revolution. He has deep insight into the first strategic decisions founders make: when to scale up, when to partner, when to accelerate growth, and when an acquisition path can create the best outcome for the company, team and investors.

As DigitalOcean’s COO, Alomar helped build the cloud infrastructure company from its first product to about $250 million in ARR and an eventual NYSE IPO, peaking at about $15 billion in valuation. But as a founder, he was also part of the acquisition cycle. China Export Finance grew to about $140 million in revenue before being acquired in 2010, and Clearview Networks was acquired in 2000. This combination gives Karl a nuanced perspective on the key question founders face in the public: When should they continue to build with their team, and when is M&A the right way forward?

Get your second pass at 50% off until May 8th

And remember: If you register for Disrupt 2026 by May 8th at 11:59pm PTyou can take advantage of this offer to get your pass with savings of up to $410 and get 50% off a second pass of the same ticket type. All the information that Disrupt has to offer is best shared with a partner or colleague, so don’t miss this opportunity!