What does it take to turn an unknown startup into a household name? The ability to scale. It’s the Holy Grail that every early-stage startup founder chases. Scaling internal operations may lack the glamor of funding rounds and founder profiles, but it’s essential heavy lifting for startup success.
Founders looking for inspiration need look no further than Airbnb and Instacart. These two respected companies share important similarities. They scaled to massive size, and each added to their initial wins: Airbnb Experiences and Instacart ad network.
We’re thrilled that Naba Banerjee, director of trust product and operations at Airbnb, and Asha Sharma, COO at Instacart, will join us for a session called “How to Build Intelligent Startup Ops that Will Scale with Your Business.” You’ll find it on the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, which takes place on September 19–21 in San Francisco.
Scaling is no simple feat — if it were, every startup would be a unicorn. Both Banerjee and Sharma are consummate leaders with visibility into two companies that have practically turned scaling into an art form.
We look forward to hearing their individual perspectives on what it takes to build out operations that support and grow along with your company. We’ll ask questions along the lines of:
- How do you know when someone on staff is not up to taking their team or department to the next level, and whether you need to hire someone externally?
- How do you handle cultural consistency during periods of rapid hiring, especially in a multi-office model?
And that’s just for starters. If you’re looking for operational tips and insight, you don’t want to miss this session.
Learn more about our expert speakers — and their qualifications for scaling startups into massive companies — below.
Naba Banerjee: Airbnb director of Trust Product and Operations
Naba Banerjee focuses on ensuring that guests and hosts have peace of mind as they travel and host on Airbnb. Her most recent work includes developing Airbnb’s reservation-screening technology to help identify potentially high-risk reservations and prevent those users from taking advantage of the platform. Banerjee oversees the company’s effort to combat fraud, stop bad actors from using the platform and build trust between hosts and guests.
Banerjee has more than two decades of experience building products that deliver innovative, customer-centric solutions. She joined Airbnb after 13 years at Walmart.com, where she played an instrumental role in the evolution of product management, ranging from shipping packages to customers more quickly and building mobile apps that help customers self-scan and check out faster.
Asha Sharma: Instacart chief operating officer
Asha Sharma oversees Instacart’s product, design, research, partnerships, analytics, marketing, operations and customer care. She joined Instacart from Meta Platforms, where she served as vice president of product for many of the company’s private communications products across Facebook, Messenger and Instagram.
Sharma also served as Meta’s head of product for social impact. Before Meta, she was the COO of Porch Group and helped scale the company’s operations, product, marketing and growth. Prior to joining Porch Group, she worked in marketing and operations at Microsoft.
Sharma currently serves on the board of directors for AppLovin Corporation and Porch Group. She holds a Bachelor of Science in business from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
Join us at the Builders Stage
You’ll find more conversations with leading experts on the Builders Stage, which features topics like operations, hiring, fundraising and more. Don’t forget to check out our six new stages for six breakthrough sectors at Disrupt.
Join the global startup community at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, taking place September 19–21 in San Francisco. Buy your pass now and save up to $600.