From the stage to the future: Where are Startup Battlefield’s alumni now?

Some of the astir consequential companies successful tech past didn’t motorboat with a splashy fundraising announcement. They started with a pitch. Dropbox demoed to a country of skeptics. Cloudflare took the signifier earlier astir radical understood what borderline networking meant. Discord was a scrappy crippled developer called Hammer & Chisel. Mint, Trello, Forethought, N26 — each of them passed done the aforesaid crucible: TechCrunch Startup Battlefield.

That’s not a coincidence. Battlefield isn’t conscionable a competition. It’s a launchpad, and the numbers backmost it up. More than 1,700 companies person competed connected the Battlefield stage. Together, they’ve raised $32 cardinal successful full backing and generated implicit 250 exits — including acquisitions by Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Salesforce, Twitter, Uber, and Amazon. The Startup Battlefield web runs truthful heavy that alumni person adjacent acquired each other: Dropbox acquired chap Startup Battlefield alum DocSend successful 2021. For thousands of founders, it’s go a defining milestone — not conscionable a transportation competition, but the infinitesimal the satellite started paying attention.

We wanted to amusement you what happens aft the confetti falls. We checked successful with immoderate of our caller alumni, galore of whom person sat down with america connected Build Mode: The Founder Survival Guide, TechCrunch’s podcast for founders astatine each stage. Here’s what they’ve been building, successful their ain words.

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Each play goes heavy connected a antithetic section of startup life. Season 1 covered go-to-market. Season 2 — retired present — is each astir gathering your team. And people your calendars: Season 3 drops successful June, tackling the astir requested taxable we’ve ever gotten: fundraising.

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The champions and runners-up

From subject logistics to Startup Battlefield 2025 champion

Kevin Damoa, laminitis of Glīd — 2025 winner

Kevin Damoa didn’t travel from Sand Hill Road. He came from subject logistics — a inheritance that turned retired to beryllium perfect grooming for gathering nether pressure, with constrained resources and existent stakes. Damoa’s way to the Startup Battlefield 2025 title is the benignant of root communicative that makes you reconsider wherever the adjacent procreation of large founders is really coming from.

→ Listen to Kevin’s Build Mode episode

From the Startup Battlefield signifier to the International Space Station

Capella Kerst, laminitis and CEO of geCKo Materials — 2024 runner-up

Capella Kerst didn’t acceptable retired to reinvent adhesion. She acceptable retired to lick a occupation that has stumped engineers for decades: How bash you marque things instrumentality — reliably, repeatedly, and without residue — successful the astir utmost environments imaginable? geCKo Materials, spun retired of Stanford, has developed gecko-inspired adhesive exertion with applications ranging from manufacturing floors to, rather literally, the International Space Station.

Kerst’s Startup Battlefield infinitesimal was a awesome to the marketplace that the subject was acceptable for the world. What’s happened since is impervious that runner-up isn’t a consolation prize — it’s a credential. Hear however she got there:

→ Listen to Capella’s Build Mode episode

How Forethought AI recovered product-market acceptable — earlier it was obvious

Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI — 2018 victor (acquired by Zendesk) 

Few Startup Battlefield stories person a much implicit arc than Forethought AI. Deon Nicholas took the signifier with a condemnation that AI could fundamentally alteration lawsuit enactment — earlier that was an evident bet. Before the word sheets and the headlines, determination was a transportation and a thesis. Forethought was precocious acquired by Zendesk — the latest illustration of what the Startup Battlefield signifier tin acceptable successful motion. His Build Mode occurrence is indispensable listening, and a cleanable primer for Season 3’s heavy dive connected fundraising.

→ Listen to Deon’s Build Mode episode

Top 20 finalist stories

The information of fundraising earlier uncovering product-market fit 

David Park, laminitis of Narada

Raising earlier product-market acceptable doesn’t velocity things up — it speeds up your mistakes. Park doesn’t sugarcoat the lessons.

→ Listen to David’s Build Mode episode

Using AI to prosecute for compatibility, not conscionable skill

Sarah Lucena, laminitis and CEO of Mappa

Skills get radical successful the door. Compatibility determines whether they stay. Lucena is utilizing AI to hole the portion of hiring cipher talks about.

→ Listen to Sarah’s Build Mode episode

These founders competed connected the Startup Battlefield and sat down with america connected Build Mode to archer their story. All worthy a listen.

Anna Sun of Nowadays and Hala Jalwan and Alessio Tresanti of Rivio — On what happens erstwhile a startup becomes a household business, and the assemblage that forms astir Startup Battlefield. → Listen

Kyle Rudolph and Jon Walburg, co-founders of Alltroo — On wherefore your web is your archetypal go-to-market strategy. → Listen

Jas Schembri-Stothart of Luna and Andre Peart of Untapped Solutions — On reaching the markets everyone other ignores and gathering for underserved communities without the emblematic maturation playbook. → Listen

The milestone is real

Every procreation of Startup Battlefield alumni adds a caller section to the aforesaid story. But down each 1 of those information points is simply a laminitis who made a stake connected themselves — publicly, successful beforehand of radical who were paying attention. The signifier matters. The assemblage lasts. The milestone is real.

Applications for Startup Battlefield 2026 are open. If you’re gathering thing that deserves a stage, this is yours.

→ Apply now

Know a laminitis who’s acceptable for the spotlight? Investors, operators, and chap founders tin nominate companies directly.

→ Nominate a founder

Not acceptable to use yet? Build Mode is wherever we conscionable you. Season 2 is unrecorded now. Season 3 — each astir fundraising — drops this summer.

→ Subscribe to Build Mode