Fred Wilson, Ken Lerer And Ben Lerer To Speak At TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013

We’re proud of the fact that some of the tech scene’s most innovative thinkers and problem solvers are going to be speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC this year and are happy to be making our first speaker announcement today.

We’re also psyched to host NYC Startup Battlefield for the fourth year in a row. So hurry up and submit here if you’re working on something great and would like to launch onstage or join our hackathon. Seriously, you could be the next GroupMe or Yammer or even Open Garden.

800px-FredWilsonJI1And speaking of Open Garden fans, well-known and respected partner at Union Square Ventures, Fred Wilson, will be onstage at Disrupt, and whenever Wilson has something to say, people listen. Wilson has sharp insight into a myriad of industry issues, which you can read about on his blog “AVC.” He currently sits on the board of directors for Etsy and DonorsChoose and has invested in startups such as Twitter, Tumblr, Zynga, Foursquare, Meetup, FeedBurner, del.icio.us and Disqus.

Here’s a sampling from one of his latest musings on awards shows:

And what exactly is the point of selecting the best of any of these things? The best movie? Was it really the best? The best social media company? Was it really the best? The best book? Was it really the best?

Why can’t we celebrate the diversity of the work, the many efforts that were made, and all the amazing things that got created in the past year. But instead we focus on the one single very best one. As if there were just one.

ken-lererSpeaking separately will be Ken Lerer, a Managing Director at Lerer Partners and Co-Founder and former Chairman of The Huffington Post. Lerer Ventures‘ companies include: MakerBot Industries, Simple, SideCar, gdgt, Chartbeat and Backplane. Want exits? He has them. How about GroupMe, DailyBooth and Cabana?

Onstage with him will be his son, Ben Lerer, also of Lerer Ventures. Ben serves as a Managing Director at Lerer Ventures and is the Co-Founder and CEO of the digital media company Thrillist Media Group.

ben_lererHis company was included in Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Additionally, he leads the board of directors for a New York-based non-profit called the East River Development Alliance.

This is a powerhouse lineup in any city, but even more so on home turf.

As we get closer to the event, we’ll share more, but now’s the time to get your tickets and prepare to hear all about what these luminaries peg as the next big thing.

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[Photo credit: Flickr]