TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Gamma’s Grant Lee, Engine’s Elia Wallen, and GV’s Crystal Huang on landing your first 1,000 customers

You can learn how to find customers when your startup has no marketing budget.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will feature a panel discussion titled "The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget." The session will include Grant Lee, CEO and co-founder of Gamma; Elia Wallen, founder and CEO of Engine; and Crystal Huang, general partner at GV (Google Ventures). These executives will share strategies for acquiring early customers, focusing on methods like community building, product-led growth, founder-led sales, strategic outbound, and word-of-mouth. Gamma, an AI-powered visual communication platform, has grown to nearly 100 million users and achieved $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Engine, a travel platform, has served over 30,000 businesses and one million travelers. Huang, from GV, will provide an investor's perspective on evaluating early customer traction and product-led adoption. The event will take place from October 13-15 in San Francisco, expecting over 10,000 attendees.

The session highlights practical strategies for early-stage startups to overcome the challenge of acquiring their first customers without relying on significant marketing spend. This approach is particularly relevant in today's competitive landscape where many new ventures face funding constraints. The combined experience of founders who have scaled companies from zero and an investor focused on product-led growth offers a comprehensive view for attendees.

This discussion is timely as it addresses a fundamental hurdle for most new businesses: building initial momentum and validating a product in the market. By focusing on organic growth tactics, the panelists aim to equip founders with actionable insights to drive early adoption and lay the groundwork for sustainable scaling, showcasing that substantial customer bases can be built through clever strategies rather than sheer financial power.