Last month, Startup Grind Fremont celebrated Female Founders Month with eloquent reflections from Futurist and Advisor Ann Badillo. Ann recounted her personal experiences as a female leader and offered thoughts on why the millennial generation embraces a different social contract and why they will rely on women for leadership more than ever before.

A longtime strategist on “systems thinking,” Ann suggests that the future rigor of Silicon Valley will rely heavily on this model, which includes asking the right questions and high levels of collaboration. She believes that many women naturally excel in both these areas and are inherently better positioned to tackle tomorrow’s problems. One of Ann’s recent projects includes a next generation entrepreneur and investor ecosystem for women that reimagines the current incubator model and redefines the founder-funder relationship.

Another insightful lesson from the event was Ann’s discussion around the need to contrast between brand and narrative − an important concept for budding entrepreneurs and startups. Ann argues that a narrative is more authentic considering it reflects perspectives and stories. A brand may not always be sincere and does not provide enough depth for long-term adoption. As the thread that runs through all levels of an organization, the narrative has the power to captivate ecosystems for longer periods of time and to a much greater degree.

The next Startup Grind Fremont event will be on Tuesday, June 20 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at EFI (Electronics for Imaging) located at 6700 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont CA 94555.

Join us as Murray Newlands – entrepreneur, investor, business advisor, and speaker – discusses how to market your startup. He’ll provide guidance on how to be an influencer by using online marketing and communication tools. Murray Newlands is the founder of Sighted.com, an online invoicing company based in Palo Alto. He is also an adviserto the Draper Nexus Network of Things fund, which invests in IoT companies and advises entrepreneurs and startups on everything from funding to growth strategies. Additionally, Newlands is the author of “Online Marketing: A User’s Manual” and frequently contributes to Forbes and Entrepreneur.

To learn more about this event or to register, go to www.startupgrind.com/fremont. We look forward to seeing you there!