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May 6, 2026 • TechCrunch Events

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Panel: M&A as Early-Stage Strategy

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Panel: M&A as Early-Stage Strategy TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Panel: M&A as Early-Stage Strategy TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Panel: M&A as Early-Stage Strategy

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, all your M&A questions will be answered

Event Details

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will be held at Moscone West, San Francisco from October 13-15, 2026. A limited-time offer allows attendees to buy one pass and get 50% off a second pass of the same ticket type, ending May 8 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Panel Focus: M&A as an Early-Stage Strategy

The conference will feature an expert panel on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as part of early-stage strategy. This comes amid active acquisition activity in the AI space, including:

  • OpenAI acquiring Hiro
  • Anthropic acquiring Vercept
  • Google taking the team behind Hume AI
  • Databricks acquiring two startups for its security product

The panel aims to equip founders with:

  • Playbook for creating optionality for selling
  • Ways to make startups more enticing to buyers
  • Realities of going through the acquisition process

Panel Speakers

Aklil Ibssa, Head of Corporate Development and M&A, Coinbase

  • Leads acquisition strategy and execution at Coinbase
  • Overseen 14+ acquisitions and nearly 50 early- and later-stage investments
  • One of the first hires on Coinbase's corporate development team
  • Coinbase has completed 40+ total acquisitions
  • Notable deals include Deribit, Liquifi, Echo, and investments like Kalshi
  • Brings buyer-side perspective on how strategic buyers evaluate: technology, talent, licenses, product velocity

Lindsey Mignano, Founder, Mignano Law Group

  • Represents emerging technology companies, SMEs, venture-backed startups, and venture firms as outside general counsel
  • Practice spans SAFE notes, priced rounds, bridge financings, buy-side and sell-side acquisitions, acqui-hires
  • Clients include seed through Series B companies in enterprise SaaS, PaaS, and AI
  • Brings legal and structural expertise on cap tables, contracts, asset sales, and M&A readiness

Karl Alomar, Managing Partner, M13

  • Backs seed and Series A software founders across infrastructure, fintech, developer productivity
  • Former COO of DigitalOcean, helping build from first product to ~$250M ARR and NYSE IPO (valuation peaked at ~$15B)
  • Founder of China Export Finance (grew to ~$140M revenue, acquired 2010) and Clearview Networks (acquired 2000)
  • Brings investor and operator perspective on when to raise, partner, accelerate growth, or pursue acquisition

Key Takeaways

  • M&A is increasingly an early-stage strategy, not just an exit option
  • Acquisitions remain in vogue, especially in the AI sector
  • Being acquired can be part of a founder's early-stage journey
  • Strategic buyers evaluate companies on technology, talent, licenses, and product velocity
  • Early M&A readiness matters: cap tables, contracts, and legal structure
  • Founders must decide when to keep building vs. when M&A creates the best outcome