Disrupt is where you’ll find innovation for every stage of your startup journey. Whether you’re a budding founder with a revolutionary idea, a seasoned startup looking to scale, or an investor seeking the next big thing, Disrupt offers unparalleled resources, connections, and expert insights to propel your venture forward.
Panos Panay joined Amazon in October 2023 as Senior Vice President, Devices, Alexa & Leo. He leads Amazon’s consumer electronics devices and the services behind them—including Alexa+, Echo, Kindle, Fire TV, tablets, Ring, eero, Blink, Bee, Amazon Photos, and more—as well as other initiatives such as Amazon Leo and Zoox.
Previously, Panos served as Executive Vice President & Chief Product Officer at Microsoft, where he led the Windows + Devices businesses.
Panos holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Science from California State University, Northridge.
Panos's Sessions
What Comes After the Smartphone?
For nearly two decades, the smartphone has been the center of our digital lives. But as AI transforms how we interact with technology, the next generation of products may look — and behave — very differently. Join Amazon’s Panos Panay for a conversation about AI, ambient computing, and the future of the devices we’ll use every day.
RJ Scaringe founded Rivian in 2009 to redefine the future of transportation through high-performance electric vehicles designed to enhance grid stability and long-term energy efficiency. He has led the company to establish vertically integrated technology platforms, build multi-program manufacturing capabilities, and set forth a strategic vision that will drive profound change in the transportation industry.
Today, Rivian’s consumer products include the software-defined R1S, R1T, R2, and Rivian Commercial Van. In the commercial space, Rivian is fulfilling Amazon’s historic order for 100,000 electric delivery vans and recently partnered with Uber to deploy up to 50,000 autonomous robotaxis.
In 2025, RJ expanded this vision beyond traditional automotive by founding Mind Robotics, an AI-enabled industrial robotics company building a world model and robot platform capable of performing complex industrial and manufacturing tasks at scale. Earlier in 2025, he co-founded ALSO, an electric mobility company spun out of Rivian to build right-sized vehicles for the autonomous delivery era.
Across these organizations, RJ operates from the belief that the only way to build the kind of world our kids’ kids deserve is by building teams obsessed with tackling hard problems and fostering collaboration across industries and society.
RJ's Sessions
Building the Impossible
Building a breakthrough software company is hard. Building one that also designs, manufactures, and delivers world-class hardware is even harder. Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe joins us to discuss what it takes to build an enduring company at the intersection of AI, software, robotics, manufacturing, and transportation.
Garrett Langley is a technology entrepreneur who has dedicated the last decade of his career to the bold mission of eliminating crime and building thriving communities. Garrett founded and leads Flock Safety, the first all-in-one technology platform pioneering a new way for communities to think about public safety — with efficacy, affordability, transparency, and accountability in mind.
Flock Safety was founded following Garrett’s own experience with crime in his neighborhood. Upon approaching law enforcement to provide evidence and secure justice, he learned how existing neighborhood security solutions were simply not effective in providing actionable evidence that solves crime. An electrical engineer and serial technology entrepreneur, Garrett, along with co-founders Matt Feury and Paige Todd, founded Flock Safety in 2017 to transform the nascent public safety technology space with the most advanced technology, unwavering ethical commitments, and an inclusive community-forward approach.
Flock Safety’s transformative mission follows from Garrett’s experience growing successful companies that reimagined traditional sectors: Clutch, a monthly car subscription service that allowed consumers to swap their vehicle for any occasion, and Experience, a mobile-first fan experience platform that allowed users to upgrade live events. Overseeing the engineering, design, product, data science, and customer support groups at Experience, Garrett led the sale of the company to Cox Enterprises for $200 million in 2014.
Outside of work, Garrett dedicates his time to inspire future engineers to build technology that serves as a force for good. Garrett sits on several boards through his alma mater, the Georgia Institute of Technology, including the Advisory Board for the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Georgia Tech Athletic Association Alexander Tharpe Board, and the Board of Directors of Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures (GATV), which supports Georgia Tech’s economic development and innovation initiatives. He also serves on the Metro Atlanta Chamber 2023 Board of Directors, the Board of the High Museum, and the Board of the Atlanta History Center.
Garrett lives in Atlanta with his wife, Megan, his children, and his dog.
Garrett's Sessions
AI, Surveillance, and the Future of Public Safety
As AI moves from the cloud into the real world, few companies sit at the center of the debate quite like Flock Safety. Join founder and CEO Garrett Langley for a conversation about privacy, security, public safety, and the difficult trade-offs that emerge when AI becomes part of the infrastructure of everyday life.
Amjad Masad is CEO and co-founder of Replit, a company that makes coding accessible to billions on the planet, from children creating school projects to enterprises running their business. Prior to Replit, Amjad worked at Meta, where he led the JavaScript infrastructure team and contributed to popular open source developer tools. In addition, he played a key role as a founding engineer at Codecademy, a prominent online coding school.
Amjad's Sessions
Everyone Can Build Software Now. What Happens Next?
AI is making it possible for millions of people to create software for the first time. Replit sits at the center of that shift. Join founder and CEO Amjad Masad for a conversation about the future of programming, entrepreneurship, and what happens when anyone can turn an idea into a product.
Arvind Jain is the founder and CEO of Glean, the Work AI platform connected to all your data that allows you to find, create, and automate anything. He oversees the overall direction and strategy of the company, aiming to transform the way knowledge workers interact with AI to enhance their productivity and creativity.
Prior to Glean, Arvind co-founded and led R&D at Rubrik, one of the fastest-growing companies in cloud data management. Arvind also spent over a decade at Google as a distinguished engineer, where he led teams in Google’s Search, Maps, and YouTube products. Earlier in his career, Arvind held leadership positions at Akamai and Microsoft.
He earned his BTech in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and his master’s in computer science from the University of Washington.
Arvind's Sessions
Rewriting SaaS: Why AI Breaks the Old Business Model
Is the SaaS playbook dead, or is it just evolving? This session brings together founders and platform leaders who are grappling with that question in real time — and coming away with real answers. Walk away with a sharper understanding of how to price AI products sustainably, how to build defensible moats when models are commoditizing, and how to make SaaS work in the AI era.
Practical insights for founders on fundraising, company building, scaling operations, and maintaining a founder-first approach while growing a business.
AI & the Physical World
Focus on how AI is expanding in software and beyond such as robotics, autonomous systems, industrial operations, energy, climate tech, and scientific discovery.
Digital Finance
Discover how stablecoins, embedded finance, and digital payment infrastructure are transforming the future of money movement.
Machines, Infrastructure & Energy
Learn how the next generation of founders is rebuilding physical-world infrastructure across energy, climate, manufacturing, and industrial systems.
Tickets
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I would say that Disrupt is a pivotal experience when we’ve been fundraising.
Startup that gained massive investor inbound from connections made at Disrupt
First time I pitched to investors — they corrected my pitch and reviewed my presentation. It was super insightful for me.
Founder who left with new investors and actionable feedback
As an investor, I would say my experience at Disrupt has been outstanding. The hospitality in the founder and investor room was also great. I bumped into a lot of people there without planning anything.
An investor who connected with founders in the Deal Flow Cafe
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Top-tier expert judges. World-renowned past winners. Free and open participation. The world’s top early stage startups together on one stage to compete for equity free prize money, and the attention of media and investors world wide.
