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TechCrunch’s October 3, 2024 announcement listed six sessions for the Space Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, held October 28–30 at Moscone West in San Francisco. The program covered dual-use startups, government and defense markets, launch technology, orbital operations, ground infrastructure and space investing.
This is a historical record of the announced agenda—not a current event-registration guide. The announcement identified speakers and broad themes, but it did not provide a complete time grid, room assignments or post-event outcomes.
Quick agenda
| Session | Announced participants | Main focus |
|---|---|---|
| Startups in Dual-Use | John Gedmark, Even Rogers, Melanie Stricklan and Tim Solms | Building and selling products for government and defense customers |
| Future of Space Operations Startup Challenge | Cody Bronkar, Debra Emmons and Justin Krauss | A pitch competition for technologies intended to improve commercial space operations |
| Peter Beck Takes the Space Industry by the Fins | Peter Beck | Rocket Lab’s strategy for expanding beyond the Electron launch vehicle |
| The Future of Launch | Kelly Hennig and Muhammad “Mo” Shahzad | Next-generation launch systems, software, automation and operations |
| Bridgit Mendler on Moving from Disney Star to Startup Founder | Bridgit Mendler | Ground-station infrastructure and data connections between Earth and orbit |
| Riding the Wave: The Future of Space Investing | Lewis Alun Jones, Katelin Holloway and Jordan Noone | Funding conditions, valuations and opportunities in commercial space |
Source: TechCrunch’s October 3, 2024 agenda announcement.
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The lineup suggested that commercial space was no longer being framed only as a race to build rockets. Its sessions also addressed the businesses around launch and orbit: government procurement, defense applications, satellite operations, ground stations, data links, automation and specialized venture capital.
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That made the stage relevant to more than aerospace engineers. Founders could examine how startups compete with established primes and contractors. Investors could assess which parts of the space economy appeared crowded or underfunded. Journalists and attendees could see how commercial companies, government-linked organizations, research institutions and financial firms fit into the same ecosystem.
Full session-by-session agenda
1. Startups in Dual-Use
Speakers: John Gedmark of Astranis; Even Rogers of True Anomaly; Melanie Stricklan of Space Workforce 2030; and Tim Solms of Slingshot Aerospace.
This panel focused on the difficulties startups face when entering regulated government and defense markets. Those challenges include long procurement cycles, compliance requirements, established relationships held by major contractors and competition with aerospace primes.
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The term “dual-use” is important: the discussion concerned companies whose technologies can serve both civilian and national-security customers. For founders, the subject was not simply how to build a space product, but how to turn that product into a sustainable business when government and defense buyers may be central customers.
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2. Future of Space Operations Startup Challenge
Presented by: The Aerospace Corporation.
Announced participants: Cody Bronkar of SpaceWERX; Debra Emmons of The Aerospace Corporation; and Justin Krauss of J.P. Morgan.
This session was described as a pitch competition for startups developing technologies intended to transform commercial space operations. Its focus extended beyond launch vehicles to the systems needed to operate spacecraft, manage missions and support activity in orbit.
The announcement said applications were closed when it was published. It did not identify the competing startups in the agenda information summarized here, and it did not establish a winner. The presence of SpaceWERX, The Aerospace Corporation and J.P. Morgan also showed the competition’s intended connection between government-linked innovation, aerospace expertise and capital.
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Speaker: Peter Beck of Rocket Lab.
Beck’s session was centered on Rocket Lab’s strategy of expanding beyond its Electron launch vehicle toward a more vertically integrated space business. The agenda positioned that strategy as an example of how a launch company might broaden its products and services.
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The larger business question was whether launch providers can rely on a single vehicle or need to participate in more parts of the space value chain. TechCrunch’s agenda copy characterized the direction in terms of becoming a more integrated, one-stop provider; that is a description of the strategy discussed, not a settled rule for the entire industry.
4. The Future of Launch
Speakers: Kelly Hennig of Stoke Space and Muhammad “Mo” Shahzad of Relativity Space.
This session examined the next generation of launch technology and the opportunities surrounding launch-related software, automation and operations. It therefore treated “launch” as more than the rocket hardware itself.
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5. Bridgit Mendler on Moving from Disney Star to Startup Founder
Speaker: Bridgit Mendler of Northwood Space.
The session focused on Northwood Space’s effort to improve ground-station infrastructure and create a data connection between Earth and orbit. Ground stations are a terrestrial part of the space economy: they help spacecraft communicate with networks and move data between orbital assets and users on Earth.
The title highlighted Mendler’s transition from entertainment to entrepreneurship, but the underlying business topic was technically specific. It concerned the infrastructure required to support satellite communications and a growing number of space-based services—not merely her previous public profile.
6. Riding the Wave: The Future of Space Investing
Speakers: Lewis Alun Jones of Seraphim Space; Katelin Holloway of Seven Seven Six; and Jordan Noone of Embedded Ventures.
This panel addressed the state of private investment in commercial space. The agenda named several questions for investors: which segments might be oversaturated, which might be undervalued, how higher interest rates were affecting funding, what turbulent space-stock performance meant for the sector, and how geopolitical uncertainty was changing the opportunity set.
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It also framed the period as a possible make-or-break moment for space startups. That framing reflected the panel’s intended debate rather than a verified prediction. For founders, the session’s practical relevance was understanding what investors might demand as capital became more selective. For investors, it offered a lens for separating durable infrastructure and customer demand from enthusiasm around crowded categories.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the sessions fit together
- Government and dual-use markets: “Startups in Dual-Use” addressed procurement, regulation and competition with established defense contractors.
- Space operations: The Space Operations Startup Challenge focused on companies trying to improve how commercial missions are run.
- Launch and launch-adjacent technology: Peter Beck’s session explored vertical integration, while “The Future of Launch” covered vehicles as well as software, automation and operations.
- Ground infrastructure: Northwood Space’s session highlighted the Earth-based systems needed to connect orbital assets with terrestrial networks.
- Capital: The investing panel addressed funding conditions and where investors might find opportunity or excess.
Taken together, the announced program presented commercial space as an ecosystem of products, services and financing—not just a market for launch vehicles. That interpretation comes from the mix of sessions and participants; it should not be read as a claim that every speaker endorsed the same industry strategy.
What the announcement did not establish
The agenda announcement was useful for identifying the lineup, but it was not a complete archival event record. It did not provide:
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- Exact start times, session durations or a day-by-day schedule.
- A room, floor or other detailed location for the Space Stage inside Moscone West.
- The names of Space Challenge finalists or a confirmed winner.
- Recordings, transcripts or post-event takeaways.
- Independent confirmation that every announced participant appeared in person.
- Evidence that the running order or speaker list did not change later.
- Verified attendance figures. TechCrunch said more than 10,000 startup and VC leaders were expected, which was a promotional forecast rather than confirmed attendance.
Accordingly, the six sessions above are best described as the six named sessions in TechCrunch’s October 3 announcement. They should not automatically be treated as proof that no later agenda changes occurred or that the event proceeded exactly as advertised.
Event context
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 was scheduled for October 28–30, 2024, at Moscone West in San Francisco. The Space Stage was one of the event’s industry-focused stages, alongside Fintech, SaaS and AI. The announcement was published on October 3, 2024.
Because those dates have passed, references in the original promotion to registering or securing tickets are historical. Readers looking for actual session outcomes, attendance, recordings or the Space Challenge result would need separate post-event records rather than the agenda announcement alone.
Bottom line
The announced Space Stage lineup offered a snapshot of the 2024 commercial-space startup ecosystem: defense and government customers, orbital operations, launch systems, ground infrastructure and venture capital. Its value was not only in naming speakers, but in showing how space businesses were being discussed as an interconnected market of hardware, software, services and public-private demand.
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