Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 on Wednesday to speak in regards to the challenges that individuals who need to disrupt one thing are going through — each inside and outdoors of the tech world.
“One of the biggest challenges that you will likely face when you try to disrupt something — or you try to do something you’re passionate about, and it ends up disrupting something in that process is you face a lot of resistance,” Kaepernick mentioned. “There will be difficult times, and during those times, you want to have those people that you can lean on, the people that can support you, and that’s really what gives you that endurance.”
Kaepernick isn’t any stranger to disrupting the established order, as he made nationwide headlines in 2016 when he took a knee to protest racial injustice. The former NFL star says that whereas he confronted plenty of resistance, he additionally noticed a push to create a greater and extra equitable future.
“When you do that and you see such a strong response to it, it really gives you perspective and insight,” Kaepernick mentioned. “We have such a long way to go. But, the other part that I learned during that time period, there are also a lot of people that want to go that long way with you, and I think that has been the beautiful part coming out of that is while there has been resistance to it, there’s also been a lot 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 want to disrupt and discover their passions, Kaepernick supplied just a few phrases of recommendation.
“Do you do your homework and know why you’re doing what you’re doing,” he mentioned. “And then two, once you know that, go after it passionately and go after it with everything that you have and bring people with you. I would not be sitting here today and none of you would know me at all if there weren’t a whole lot of people that helped me along the way, and that’s everyone from my wife to family and friends to teammates to coaches, some of the investors and advisors that I’ve had along the way. So have those people with you, because that makes us, that makes you sustainable for the long run.”
