At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, founders will get a rare, unvarnished look at what it really takes to navigate mergers and acquisitions, from first inbound email to signed deal and integration hangover. A new panel on the Builders Stage is designed as a practical M&A playbook for early-stage teams, especially those building in AI, fintech, and infrastructure, where deal activity has been surging.

The session is grounded in a simple premise: being acquired is no longer just an exit scenario at the end of a company’s life. For many startups, it is a strategic option that can appear as early as seed or Series A, whether as a full acquisition, an acqui-hire, or a structured partnership that sets up a future deal. With major players snapping up teams and technology at a rapid clip, founders are under pressure to understand how buyers think long before they are ready to sell.

On stage, Coinbase’s Aklil Ibssa will bring the buyer’s-eye view from one of the most active corporate development programs in crypto. Having overseen dozens of acquisitions and investments, he can dissect how strategic acquirers evaluate young companies: what signals matter in product velocity, how they weigh technology versus talent, and why licenses, compliance posture, and security can make or break a deal. His experience across transactions like Deribit, Liquifi, and Echo offers concrete case studies in how different types of startups get priced and positioned.

Complementing that is the legal and structural lens from Lindsey Mignano of Mignano Law Group. She works with emerging tech companies from formation through financings and eventual exits, and sees where M&A readiness actually begins: in the cap table, in IP assignments, in customer contracts, and in how founders document every round. Her role on the panel is to translate legal landmines into an actionable checklist so that a promising offer does not collapse in diligence.

Rounding out the conversation, M13 managing partner and former DigitalOcean COO Karl Alomar will speak to the operator and investor calculus. Having helped scale DigitalOcean to hundreds of millions in ARR and through an IPO, while also selling his own companies, he can articulate the hardest question for any founder: when to keep pushing for independent growth and when an acquisition is the best outcome for the team and shareholders.

Together, the panel aims to leave founders with a clear framework: how to build optionality into their company from day one, how to become more attractive to buyers without contorting the product roadmap, and how to approach M&A as a strategic tool rather than a last resort.