When The Spirit Left the Stage

The Fate of Every Disruptor

Garry Tan's X

"TechCrunch is a total waste of time. I don’t know why anyone goes."
Garry TanCEO of Y Combinator

When Garry Tan spoke out about TechCrunch Disrupt, it sparked debate. Some agreed, others pushed back. But one thing seemed clear: Disrupt no longer shared the core spirit of the startup community it once helped define.

This was weird to me. As a journalist who has been covering startups, VC, and the tech ecosystem in Korea for several years, I have also been a steady reader of TechCrunch.

So when I received an invitation email from the TechCrunch Disrupt team a few weeks ago, I was thrilled. Thrilled to receive a direct invitation to a world I've checked on and read upon daily to keep up with what's happening across the Pacific.

TechCrunch Disrupt entranceThat surreal feeling lasted up until the very first moment I entered the Disrupt event hall. The lines were long, security was tight, and the conference hall sprawled across three floors. It looked and felt like a significant event. Strangely, though, the attendees didn’t seem fully satisfied.

One told me,

"I expected to meet founders at the booth, and listen to their enterpreneurial journey. But almost every staff member in the booths were PR or sales managers."

And this was from the other.

“There are too many government-backed or organization-backed group booths, and they felt more outdated than innovative. I also heard the event was smaller than last year, it definitely isn’t what it used to be.”

Even the startups I spoke with had mixed feelings. One member of a B2B SaaS team said,

"Since we target large enterprise clients, it wasn’t super helpful for lead generation. Though it was interesting, I guess."

TechCrunch Disrupt stageFinally, Garry Tan’s post, which I mentioned at the beginning of this article, made everything click into place. What was once a legendary startup gathering, buzzing with the energy of innovation, now felt more like a corporate expo.

But this is far from what most people imagine TechCrunch Disrupt to be. Jay, one of my coworkers, let out a sigh when he heard the shift in TechCrunch.

"Wait, TechCrunch ended up like that? I remember the Battlefield scenes in 'Silicon Valley.' That used to feel like the dream."

HBO "Silicon Valley"Yes, even now, many people remember the vivid scenes in the HBO series "Silicon Valley." So what caused the once-most-exciting event in tech to turn into a typical big-name conference?

Maybe this is what happens when things that were once small, raw, and risky grow into something polished and monumental. But that doesn’t make the shift of Disrupt any less striking. Digging into its history, we can find some clues.

Disrupt and the New Startup Order

When The Spirit Left the Stage

EO Magazine