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 wish to disrupt one thing are dealing with — each inside and outdoors of the tech world.
“One of many largest challenges that you’ll doubtless face if you attempt to disrupt one thing — otherwise you attempt to do one thing you’re keen about, and it finally ends up disrupting one thing in that course of is you face a number of resistance,” Kaepernick mentioned. “There will probably be troublesome instances, and through these instances, you wish to have these individuals that you may lean on, the individuals that may help 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 a number of resistance, he additionally noticed a push to create a greater and extra equitable future.
“Whenever you do this and also you see such a robust response to it, it actually provides you perspective and perception,” Kaepernick mentioned. “We have now such a protracted strategy to go. However, the opposite half that I realized throughout that point interval, there are additionally lots of people that wish to go that great 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 a number of organizing.”
As somebody who has had 1000’s of tales written about him, he now needs 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 supplied a couple of 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 already know that, go after it passionately and go after it with every part that you’ve got and produce individuals with you. I’d not be sitting right here in the present day and none of you’d know me in any respect if there weren’t a complete lot of those who helped me alongside the way in which, and that’s everybody from my spouse to household and mates to teammates to coaches, a number of the buyers and advisors that I’ve had alongside the way in which. So have these individuals with you, as a result of that makes us, that makes you sustainable for the long term.”
