TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Side Events: Your Backstage Pass to the Bay Area’s Biggest Tech Gathering

Less than two months out, and the buzz is building. On October 13–15, over 10,000 founders, VCs, engineers, and industry heavyweights will flood into San Francisco for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. But here’s the thing — the real action doesn’t stop when the main stage lights go down.

That’s where the Disrupt Side Events program comes in. It’s your chance to host your own gathering — from October 10–16 — and get it promoted directly to Disrupt’s massive audience. The catch? Deadline is September 4. Yes, that’s soon. So if you’ve been toying with an idea, now’s the time to move.

Why Host a Side Event? The Perks Go Beyond the Party

Hosting a Side Event isn’t just about throwing a happy hour. It’s about taking control of your narrative. You decide who’s in the room, what gets discussed, and how your brand is perceived. That’s powerful, especially when the room is filled with the sharpest minds in tech.

• Direct access: Engage with thousands of attendees — no filters, no middlemen.
• Real relationships: Skip the superficial schmoozing. Build genuine connections with potential partners, investors, and collaborators.
• Own your story: Showcase your expertise on your terms. Whether you’re a VC sparking debate or a startup unveiling a breakthrough, the floor is yours.
• Lasting buzz: The momentum doesn’t end when your event wraps. Approved Side Events get featured on the official Side Events calendar and promoted across TechCrunch’s marketing channels — reaching audiences well beyond the conference floor.

And yes, it’s completely free to apply and participate. Zero cost. Just your time and your vision.

What Kind of Events Actually Get Approved?

Short answer: almost anything that aligns with your vision and adds value. Past Disrupt side events have ranged from intimate VC office hours and industry roundtables to hands-on workshops and casual networking happy hours. Even private dinners have made the cut.

The format is yours to design. The only requirements? It should be open to both Disrupt attendees and the broader public, and you need to bring the energy.

One pro tip from the organizers: consider scheduling your event in the evenings during the main conference days (October 13–15). There’s less competition for attendees’ time, and the post-conference excitement is prime fuel for meaningful conversations with a captive audience.

How to Apply for a Side Event at Disrupt 2026

Ready to jump in? The application form is live, but a little prep goes a long way. Here’s what you’ll want locked in before you start:

1. Secure a venue in the Bay Area — this is all about in-person experiences, so location matters.
2. Draft your event details — a catchy title, a clear description, and the venue info ready to go.
3. Read the fine print — check the Side Events Host Guide and the Side Event Host T&Cs so you know exactly what’s expected.

Got questions? The side events team is just an email away. They’re happy to help you shape your idea before you hit submit.

What the Organizers Are Looking For

TechCrunch prioritizes events that deliver real value to founders, investors, and the startup ecosystem. But beyond that, they’re trusting you to know your community. What do your people need? What conversations are missing? If you can answer that, you’re already halfway there.

So, what’s your vision? Whether it’s a deep-dive on AI regulation, a founder speed-dating session, or a laid-back rooftop mixer, the team wants to hear it. Apply by September 4 — tell them your goals, your logistics, and what you need to pull it off. They’ll handle the support and exposure.

San Francisco is about to get very crowded. Make sure your voice is part of the conversation. Learn more about hosting a TechCrunch Disrupt Side Event and get your application in before the deadline.

Why AI chatbots make your homelab harder than it needs to be

You ask ChatGPT how to set up a simple NAS share. It hands you a 14-step guide with Docker, Kubernetes, and a reverse proxy. You just wanted to share files between two computers.

This is the dirty secret of AI assistants. They’re brilliant at giving you a solution—but rarely the simplest one. And when you’re building or maintaining a homelab, complexity is your enemy. More moving parts means more failure points, more maintenance, and more late nights staring at logs.

The good news? You can train yourself to get simpler answers. It takes a bit of prompting discipline, but it works.

Start with the problem, not the tool

The biggest mistake people make is asking “How do I set up X?” That invites the AI to show off everything it knows about X. Instead, describe your actual situation.

Try this: “I have two Ubuntu machines on the same network. I want to share a folder between them. What’s the simplest way?”

Notice the difference. You’ve constrained the problem. You’ve told it your environment and your goal. The AI has less room to wander into enterprise-grade solutions you don’t need.

Add constraints to every prompt

Constraints are your best friend. Include three things every time:

• Your hardware (e.g., “a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB RAM”)
• Your skill level (e.g., “I’m comfortable with the command line but new to Docker”)
• What you’re NOT willing to do (e.g., “no Kubernetes, no cloud services”)

That last one is gold. AI models love to suggest Kubernetes for everything. Explicitly banning it forces them to find alternatives.

Ask for the ‘dumbest possible solution’

Here’s a trick that works surprisingly well: ask for the dumbest solution that still works.

Literally say: “Give me the simplest, dumbest solution that does this job. I don’t care about best practices. I care about getting it working in 30 minutes.”

You’ll be amazed at what comes back. Suddenly the AI stops suggesting Proxmox clusters and starts mentioning samba or rsync. That’s what you wanted all along.

Use follow-up prompts to strip away extras

Even with good initial prompting, the first answer might still be bloated. Don’t accept it as-is. Push back.

Try these follow-ups:

• “Remove any step that isn’t strictly necessary.”
• “What can I cut if I only need this for two devices?”
• “Is there a one-line command that does this?”
• “What’s the minimum viable version of this setup?”

Each of these forces the model to prune its own suggestion. It’s like asking a chef to remove the garnish—you get the meat, not the frills.

Check the answer against your actual needs

Before you copy-paste a single command, ask yourself one question: does this solve my problem, or does it solve a hypothetical enterprise problem?

If the answer involves more than two new services, a database, or a container orchestration platform, you’re probably in overkill territory. Step back and re-prompt.

Remember: your homelab is yours. It doesn’t need to impress anyone. A simple homelab setup that runs for months without touching it beats a complex one that needs weekly babysitting.

When to ignore the AI entirely

Sometimes the best answer is no AI at all. If you already know the basics, skip the chatbot and check the official docs. They’re often simpler and more accurate.

Use AI as a starting point, not an authority. Cross-check anything that looks suspicious. And if a solution feels overcomplicated, it probably is.

Your homelab should serve you—not the other way around. A little prompting discipline goes a long way toward keeping it that way.

Windows admin tasks have always been a chore

Ask anyone who juggles both Linux and Windows daily, and they’ll tell you the same thing: running something as administrator on Windows is needlessly awkward. You either hunt for the right-click menu, pick “Run as administrator,” or keep a separate elevated Command Prompt window open at all times. It works, but it’s clunky.

Linux users have had it better for decades. A simple sudo prefix in front of any command grants temporary elevated rights, right there in the same terminal. No extra windows, no context menus. Just type, hit Enter, and move on.

Windows 11 finally closed that gap with a native Windows sudo command. And here’s the kicker — most people still don’t know it exists.

What exactly is sudo on Windows?

Microsoft introduced sudo for Windows 11 in 2024, starting with Insider builds and rolling out to stable versions since. It works almost exactly like its Linux counterpart: prefix any command with sudo, and it runs with administrator privileges.

No separate elevated window. No right-click gymnastics. You type sudo net start some-service or sudo del stubborn-file.txt and it just works. For anyone tired of the old dance, this is a genuine quality-of-life upgrade.

There are a few differences, of course. Windows sudo can run in three modes, and you’ll want to pick the right one before you start relying on it.

The three sudo execution modes

• Force new window — runs the command in a fresh elevated window. Simple, but you lose the current context.
• Input closed — runs elevated in the same window but closes the input stream, so you can’t type further commands until it finishes.
• Inline — the closest to Linux. Runs the command elevated right in your current terminal, allowing subsequent commands in the same session. This is the one you want.

Without picking inline mode, you’re not getting the full benefit. Head to Settings → System → For developers, find the sudo section, and switch it to “Inline.” That single change makes the feature feel native.

Why you should bother enabling it

If you’re a developer, a power user, or anyone who spends time in the Windows terminal, the Windows sudo command saves real time. Instead of opening an admin PowerShell instance every time you need to tweak a service or edit a protected file, you just prepend sudo.

It also reduces the chances of running a command in the wrong window. With the old workflow, you’d sometimes type a command into a non-elevated prompt, get an access denied error, and have to restart the whole process. With sudo, you know exactly what you’re getting.

For those who already use Windows Terminal tips and tricks, adding sudo to your muscle memory is a natural next step. It pairs especially well with tools like PowerShell automation scripts.

How to enable sudo on Windows 11

Enabling it takes less than a minute. Here’s the quick path:

1. Open Settings (Win + I).
2. Go to System → For developers.
3. Toggle “Enable sudo”.
4. Under “How sudo runs commands,” choose Inline.

That’s it. Once enabled, open any terminal — Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Windows Terminal — and try sudo whoami. You’ll see the elevation prompt, and the command runs with admin rights.

If you’re using an older Windows 11 build and don’t see the option, make sure you’ve installed the latest updates. The feature hit stable versions in late 2024, so most current systems should have it.

Is sudo on Windows as good as Linux’s?

Not quite. Linux sudo is deeply integrated, with per-user permissions, session caching, and a rich ecosystem of configuration. Windows sudo is simpler — it just elevates the current command, with no fine-grained control.

But for everyday use, it’s close enough. The syntax is identical, the behavior is predictable, and it removes the biggest friction point in Windows admin work.

If you’re coming from Linux and miss the old workflow, or if you’re a Windows loyalist who never understood why people complained, give it a try. You’ll wonder why it took Microsoft this long.

For more on getting the most out of your system, check out Windows 11 hidden features you might have missed.