Jun 24, 2025

Learn what makes a pitch land at Disrupt 2025 Like Read Time: min Perfect your pitch for maximum impact. Investors hear hundreds of pitches, but only a few stand out. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, hear directly from Medha Agarwal, general partner, defy.vc; Jyoti Bansal, CEO and co-founder, Harness; Jennifer Neundorfer, co-founder and managing partner, January Ventures as they share what grabs their attention, what turns them off, and the subtle signals founders often miss. This candid panel reveals the insider strategies to help you build trust, stand out, and win the right checks. Join 10,000+ startup, tech, and VC leaders October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco for high-impact discussions like this. Register here, take advantage of early pricing with up to $675 off tickets before rates go up. Championing founders through every challenge As a General Partner at Defy, Medha Agarwal is fortunate to support exceptional entrepreneurs from day zero through hyper-growth. Whether building her own startups or partnering with founders, she has experienced the highs and lows of company-building, sometimes all within the same hour. It’s one of the hardest, loneliest jobs in the world, which is why she believes founders need trusted partners who can be there for anything, big or small. Agarwal strives to be that person. Before Defy, she spent seven years as a Partner at Redpoint Ventures, focused on early-stage fintech, vertical SaaS, marketplaces, and healthcare. She had the privilege of working with companies like Whatnot, Tend, Proper Finance, LiveKit, and Anvyl—founders who taught her as much as she supported them. Software innovation for a better world Jyoti Bansal is a serial entrepreneur who believes passionately in software’s ability to change the world for the better. He co-founded Harness in 2017 to automate and simplify all software delivery processes, and serves as CEO. In 2018, he co-founded Traceable, the leading API security platform, and venture capital firm Unusual Ventures. In 2008, Bansal founded application intelligence company AppDynamics, which he led to a $3.7B acquisition by Cisco in 2017. The recipient of multiple leadership awards, Bansal has been named Forbes’ “Best Cloud Computing CEO to Work for,” San Francisco Business Times’ “Best CEO,” Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year™ for Northern California,” and more. Operator-turned-investor empowering B2B innovation Jennifer Neundorfer is an operator turned investor who has been investing in early-stage startups for the last decade. She is currently the Managing Partner of January Ventures, a pre-seed focused venture capital firm investing in B2B startups leveraging software to transform legacy industries. She founded January Ventures to rewrite the networks in venture capital and invest in the most ambitious founders regardless of pedigree, network, or access. Prior to January, Jennifer was co-founder of Flashstarts, a startup accelerator focused on software startups outside of Silicon Valley. Unlock savings today, uncover insights at the event The Disrupt 2025 agenda is now LIVE and ready for your eyes! Explore the nearly complete lineups for the Builders and Going Public Stages — and check back often as we continue to add sessions to the AI, Space, and Disrupt Stages, plus roundtables and breakouts. Register now and save up to $675 before prices increase. Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images