Meet the first batch of VCs set to judge Startup Battlefield 200 at Disrupt 2025

From Dropbox to Cloudflare, Startup Battlefield alumni have redefined industries. Who will win $100,000 and the spotlight this year? 

Startup Battlefield 200 is the crown jewel of TechCrunch Disrupt — and this year’s competition promises to be unforgettable. From thousands of applicants, only the top 20 will take the Stage at Disrupt 2025 (October 27-29, San Francisco) to pitch their vision to panels of top-tier VCs in front of a live audience. Every contender is chasing game-changing impact — and we’re here for the drama, the breakthroughs, and the big reveals.

We’re thrilled to announce our first wave of judges who will put these startups to the test with rigorous, no-holds-barred Q&A. Their candid feedback offers a rare window into how world-class investors size up a company — what excites them, what concerns them, and what makes them want to take the next meeting.

Winning Startup Battlefield has launched companies like Dropbox, Mint, Vurb, and Cloudflare into the spotlight — and with a $100,000 equity-free prize on the line, the next big name could be born on the Disrupt Stage this October.

Don’t miss this high-stakes startup pitch-off on a global stage. Learn from emerging founders what it takes to deliver a winning pitch, and hear directly from the investors judging the contenders. Register now for Regular Bird savings.

First look: Meet the VCs taking the judges’ seats

Here are the first five VCs ready to help crown the Startup Battlefield 2025 champion — with more top investors to come soon.

Philip Clark, Investor, Thrive Capital

Philip Clark is an investor at Thrive Capital, where he has partnered with leading software and hardware companies that are engineering breakthrough advancements in AI and robotics, including Anduril, Cursor, Neuralink, Physical Intelligence, and Wiz. He previously invested at Bridgewater. Philip graduated from Stanford with degrees in Computer Science and Management Science and Engineering. He continues to advise the Hoover Institution on various topics in emerging technologies.

Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA

Madison Faulkner is a partner at NEA investing in early-stage data, infrastructure, developer tools, data science, and AI, and she also leads the data and AI platform internally for improved investment decision-making. Across her investing career, she has worked with startups including World Labs, Factory, Ceramic, Metabase, Datafold, Delphina, Mindtrip, Fixify, and others. Prior to investing, Madison was head of data science and machine learning at a growth startup, Thrasio, head of data science at Greycroft, and led a data science team at Facebook focused on the ad auction and deep learning with FAIR. Madison received a BS in Engineering from Stanford and grew up in Colorado performing in rodeos.

Leslie Feinzaig, Founder & General Partner, Graham & Walker VC

Leslie Feinzaig is the founder and general partner at Graham & Walker, an early-stage venture fund backing extraordinary founders and ideas that break the mold, whose mission is to change the face of public markets by backing a new guard of founders and CEOs. Prior to launching the fund, Ms. Feinzaig was a 2x startup exec with eight- and 10-figure exits who started her career under the tutelage of HBS Professor Clayton Christensen, author of the seminal theory of disruptive innovation. 

Ilya Kirnos, Founding Partner & CTO, SignalFire

Ilya Kirnos is the co-founder, managing partner, and CTO of ~$3 billion AUM early-stage venture firm SignalFire. He leads the development of SignalFire’s in-house Beacon AI data platform, which he’s been building for a decade with the firm’s team of AI PhDs, engineers, and data scientists. Beacon tracks more than 660 million employees and 80 million companies to guide the fund’s investing by surfacing high-quality founders and fast-growing companies, and assists its portfolio companies with recruiting and customer acquisition. As an investor, Ilya focuses on backing seed to Series B companies in enterprise infrastructure and developer tools. He supports highly technical startups in SignalFire’s portfolio, including Horizon3 (autonomous pen-testing), OneSignal (notification infrastructure), and PlanetScale (scalable databases).

Doug Pepper, Partner, ICONIQ

Doug Pepper is a general partner at ICONIQ Growth. He joined ICONIQ Growth in 2019. Doug has helped lead ICONIQ Growth’s investments in Airtable, Guild Education, Reify, and others. Prior to joining ICONIQ Growth, Doug was a managing director at Shasta Ventures, a premier early-stage venture capital firm. Previously, he was a general partner at InterWest Partners for 15 years, where he was the first investor in Marketo and served on its board of directors for 10 years. He began his career working at Goldman Sachs and Amazon.com. 

Register now to join the pitch-off action in October

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 marks 20 years as the launchpad for tech innovation. The startup landscape has evolved, but Disrupt remains the place where industry leaders shape the future. From invaluable sessions and game-changing connections to Startup Battlefield, it all happens here this October. Lock in your ticket at low rates now.

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