Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Wednesday to speak concerning the challenges that individuals who need to disrupt one thing are dealing with — each inside and outdoors of the tech world.
“One of many greatest challenges that you’ll possible face if you attempt to disrupt one thing — otherwise you attempt to do one thing you’re obsessed with, and it finally ends up disrupting one thing in that course of is you face quite a lot of resistance,” Kaepernick mentioned. “There might be troublesome occasions, and through these occasions, you need to have these folks you can lean on, the folks that may assist you, and that’s actually what provides you that endurance.”
Kaepernick is not any stranger to disrupting the established order, as he made nationwide headlines in 2016 when he took a knee to protest racial injustice. The previous NFL star says that whereas he confronted quite a lot of resistance, he additionally noticed a push to create a greater and extra equitable future.
“While you do this and also you see such a robust response to it, it actually provides you perspective and perception,” Kaepernick mentioned. “We now have such a protracted method to go. However, the opposite half that I realized throughout that point interval, there are additionally lots of people that need to go that good distance with you, and I believe that has been the attractive half popping out of that’s whereas there was resistance to it, there’s additionally been quite a lot of organizing.”
As somebody who has had 1000’s of tales written about him, he now desires to assist creators take management of their narratives with Lumi. The startup is aiming to empower creators by serving to them independently create and publish tales and content material.
As for founders who need to disrupt and discover their passions, Kaepernick provided just a few phrases of recommendation.
“Do you do your homework and know why you’re doing what you’re doing,” he mentioned. “After which two, as soon as you understand that, go after it passionately and go after it with the whole lot that you’ve got and convey folks with you. I might not be sitting right here at the moment and none of you’ll know me in any respect if there weren’t a complete lot of folks that helped me alongside the best way, and that’s everybody from my spouse to household and pals to teammates to coaches, a number of the buyers and advisors that I’ve had alongside the best way. So have these folks with you, as a result of that makes us, that makes you sustainable for the long term.”
