San Francisco's SOMA district – already buzzing with startups on any given day – became the undisputed center of the tech universe this week with
TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012. The annual conference gives entrepreneurs a chance to launch their startups and network with investors while gathering luminaries across industries for engaging speaker sessions throughout the show.
And gather they did. From Newark mayor Cory Booker's
thoughts about bringing more technology to government to Jack Dorsey's candid
discussion about Square, Disrupt SF offered no shortage of thought-provoking sessions for the record 3,000+ attendees. Many of those attendees packed the house for TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington's signature hard-hitting questions in Mark Zuckerberg's first
interview since Facebook's IPO.
The event culminated on Wednesday afternoon when a panel of expert judges, including Marissa Mayer, Michael Arrington and David Sacks, awarded the Startup Battlefield winner honors to
YourMechanic – a website and app that lets users describe their car troubles, find a local mechanic and coordinate payment details. Beating out the 30 other startups competing in the Battlefield, YourMechanic took home the coveted Disrupt Cup and $50,000 in prize money and keeps good company with other Battlefield winners like Yammer and Dropbox.
The event offered plenty of action in the main hall as well, with more than 200 startups exhibiting over the course of the three days. And while Disrupt has always welcomed internationally based companies to the show floor, this year the team introduced the International Pavilions, a dedicated exhibition space for 125 companies from countries including Chile, Turkey, Korea, Israel, Argentina and Brazil to showcase innovation happening around the globe.
Read TechCrunch's complete coverage
here and stay tuned for updates as the team starts to plan
TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 – it'll be here before you know it!
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