VCs at Index Ventures, Serena Ventures, NEA and Volition Capital be part of Startup Battlefield judges • TechCrunch

We’re stoked for what’s shaping as much as be a wonderful Startup Battlefield competitors at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco. Twenty of essentially the most promising and artistic early stage startups — chosen from the elite Startup Battlefield 200 — will go toe-to-toe for bragging rights and $100,000.

This yr’s contenders should work arduous to impress the seasoned VCs who will hear their pitches and observe up with a tricky Q&A. We’re excited to announce that we’ve added a fifth tranche of judges — be sure you take a look at the opposite Startup Battlefield VCs judges in rounds one, two, three and 4.

Wait, do you know? Startup Battlefield isn’t simply thrilling to look at; it’s additionally a masterclass in how buyers suppose. The judges’ suggestions supplies perception into the factors they use to find out whether or not an organization is viable or not. Watch and study what buyers search for, what motivates them and what pushes them to schedule a gathering.

With out additional ado, listed below are 4 extra skilled VCs prepared to assist decide the subsequent Startup Battlefield champion:

Ann Bordetsky, a companion at New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

Bordetsky, who joined NEA as a companion in 2021, focuses on shopper and enterprise applied sciences with specific curiosity in the way forward for work, commerce and platforms. She has helped construct a few of Silicon Valley’s most iconic expertise firms in a wide range of enterprise, technique and working government roles, and she or he’s a number one drive in catalyzing range in tech as an operator, angel investor and advisor to January Ventures.

Previous to NEA, Bordetsky served as COO at Rival, a contemporary enterprise platform for dwell occasion commerce (acquired by Reside Nation) and an lively operator angel investing in early-stage SaaS, market and shopper digital startups. Beforehand, as director of enterprise growth and strategic initiatives at Uber, she led progress initiatives, strategic partnerships and new vertical formation.

Earlier than becoming a member of Uber, Bordetsky was the top of commerce and shopper product enterprise growth at Twitter, and she or he held a wide range of business-development and GTM roles at early-stage market and mobility startups (Wheelz and Higher Place).

Bordetsky holds an MBA from Stanford College and a BA in environmental science, coverage and administration from the College of California, Berkeley.

Bryan Offutt, a companion at Index Ventures

In 2018, Offutt joined Index, the place he focuses on enterprise investments with an emphasis on design. He’s notably within the consumerization of enterprise and using design to enhance the approachability of extremely technical merchandise. Offutt can also be one of many hosts of Index Enterprise’s new podcast collection, “Fingers On.”

Previous to becoming a member of Index, Offutt labored as product supervisor at MemSQL, the place he targeted on deployability and person interfaces. He started his profession at Palantir Applied sciences, the place he served as an engineer and product supervisor on work that spanned federated search, knowledge ingestion, knowledge collaboration and entry management.

Offutt graduated from Stanford College with a BS in pc science, specializing in synthetic intelligence.

Alison Rapaport Stillman, the founding and managing companion at Serena Ventures (SV)

Stillman oversees portfolio administration and sourcing new investments at SV. Along with rising the attain and impression of the SV portfolio, she is the individual founders flip to once they want pointed recommendation, detailed suggestions and difficult love.

Stillman holds a BS from the College of Pennsylvania’s Wharton College and an MBA from Harvard Enterprise College, and she or he is a CFA constitution holder.

TechCrunch Disrupt takes place on October 18–20. Purchase your cross at the moment, and discover out why Disrupt is the place startup founders go to develop.

Is your organization considering sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022? Contact our sponsorship gross sales group by filling out this type.