San Francisco has always been a boom town. From the goldrush era to the dot-com boom, the city by the bay has always attracted entrepreneurs chasing opportunity.
The current AI boom is no different, and it was very evident at two big tech events I attended this season.
At TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2025, I volunteered and met founders from around the world. At the Axios AI Summit, I heard from an incredible caliber of speakers on AI advancements and issues.
Everywhere I looked, the breadth of AI innovation was front and center. At Disrupt, in particular, the startup community was buzzing, and coursing through its veins was the new lifeblood of LLMs, agentic AI and automation, all fueled by fresh investor enthusiasm.
Why storytelling matters more than ever
At Axios’ AI Summit, the very first question asked was "are we in an AI bubble?” Nikesh Arora, Chairman & CEO, Palo Alto Networks, agreed and joked that the more he sees companies boasting" agentic" the frothier it feels.
At Disrupt, AI showed up everywhere: sales automation, customer service, cancer detection, mental health, e-commerce, robotics, security, media, fraud detection, and even AI for smells.
As one founder put it, “AI has really lowered the bar for non-technical founders to create MVPs (minimal viable products), and that’s all you really need to start building a small user base and find investors.”
That may be true, but...
What I’ve learned over nearly two decades working with founders and startups is: an MVP isn’t enough.
With so many AI companies emerging to solve similar problems, the real differentiator is in the story.
Many founders I spoke with had sharp technical ideas but struggled to articulate a compelling narrative. When asked about brand awareness efforts, most said attending Disrupt was their PR strategy.
In comparison, the companies that spoke on stage at Axios had their storytelling down and found ways to elevate and tie it into broader narratives like the economy, regulation, ethics and workforce. And the difference showed.
Responsible storytelling matters
AI has given way to amazing products, opportunities and efficiencies. It also has a speed of development that is outpacing our ability to fully understand how to control negative ramifications.
The good news is the tech industry has shed some of its idealism and learned hard lessons about what happens when new technologies aren't regulated effectively or built with ethics from the start.
As Sarah Franklin, CEO of Lattice pointed out on stage at Disrupt, it took ten years for us to start talking about the potential for risk with social media; it's good that we're asking the hard questions about AI now as we're building it.
TLDR: Communicating about AI technologies (just like building them) with responsibility is critical It shapes trust, credibility, and, ultimately, the health of both your company and the industry.
Turning vision into visibility
For founders, clarity of narrative can be the difference between being another AI player and becoming a category leader. A strong story doesn’t just attract attention, it builds credibility, accelerates deal flow and attracts the kind of talent that wants to be part of something bigger.
The founders who stood out at Disrupt weren’t necessarily the ones with the most advanced models or largest booths. They were the ones who could answer, in plain terms, “Why does this exist, and why now?” Often, their companies felt more like a movement than a startup. This was true of the Axios speakers as well.
Every event, every conversation is a chance to define how your company is understood. A strong communications strategy helps shape perception, build credibility and sustain momentum long after event buzz fades. It connects your vision to a lasting narrative and attracts the people who can make it real: investors, partners, customers and future employees.
Without a compelling story to hook into a broader narrative to give your company timeliness and relevance, you risk getting lumped in with the froth makers.
The enduring power of storytelling
Walking the Disrupt floor and being in the Axios AI Summit crowd, it struck me that San Francisco’s entrepreneurial spirit hasn’t changed much since the gold rush days. It’s still driven by visionaries chasing big ideas and entrepreneurs willing to put in long, hard hours.
What’s changed is the noise level. Amid the buzz of AI and automation, the startups that will endure are the ones who can tell a story that resonates.
In a city built on reinvention and defined by resilience, storytelling remains the most powerful differentiator of all.
If you’re a VC-backed startup searching for your narrative or looking to increase brand awareness, reach out to SHIFT. We help ambitious companies turn vision into visibility.
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