Sports figures are well known for their product endorsements that provide them with significant income in addition to their player salaries. More and more top athletes are now seen for their savvy business activities, starting a business and investing in startups—placing them on an entrepreneurial journey that yields much more than money and income.
NBA Champion, author, and successful business and technology investor Andre Iguodala is in the top ranks of athletes who are also successful entrepreneurs. Iguodala will share his entrepreneurial success story at the upcoming TriNet PeopleForce 2021 Conference that focuses on Business Transformation, Agility and Innovation for Small and Medium-Size Businesses
Iguodala, now a member of the Golden State Warriors, has achieved very high honors in his professional basketball career. In addition to being a three-time NBA Champion, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team twice, a member of the United States National Team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2012 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal both times.
But through his firm F9 Strategies, he has had a totally separate and unique journey as a successful entrepreneur. As a venture capitalist his very notable investments include Zoom, Robinhood, Datadog, HIMS, Cloudflare, PagerDuty and Allbirds.
In addition, he partnered with Bloomberg to launch The Players Technology Summit. It is a gathering of top executives and leaders in the technology, venture capital, and sports communities, for the exchange ideas and the sharing of expertise in an empowering forum. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Jumia Technologies, a leading e-commerce platform widely considered the “Amazon of Africa” for its ambitious and far reaching business plan. His New York Times bestselling memoir, The Sixth Man, was published in 2019.
His live talk at the Conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. on September 15. Iguodala will discuss five key areas important to business owners:
- Leadership on and off the court
- Overcoming obstacles in the pursuit of one’s passions
- The competitive nature of an entrepreneur’s journey
- The importance of mental fortitude, and
- Tech investing, data trends and analysis.
“Andre has a diversified background, having risen to the top of his game both as an athlete and in business,” said TriNet Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Communications Officer Michael Mendenhall. “TriNet PeopleForce 2021 focuses on themes of risk-taking and bravery, and Andre has been nothing but courageous and steadfast in the pursuit of his dreams. He stops at nothing to achieve his goals and his competitive spirit is sure to motivate and inspire attendees”.
TriNet PeopleForce 2021, both a virtual and an in-person event, is being held at The Times Center in New York City over four days beginning September 13th. Iguodala joins a roster of distinguished speakers sharing timely insight about achieving business success and the future of work for small to mid-sized businesses.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama headlines the program that includes Admiral William H. McRaven, Bobbi Brown, Annie Leibovitz, Joshua Henry and others who represent a cross section of success. Topics and discussions will focus on SMBs and how they can “reimagine, rebuild and move forward” from the COVID-19 pandemic. Networking opportunities will be fostered for participants to engage with business leaders from across the country.
By event’s end attendees will have heard from a broad range of highly successful people representing a number of industries. For some the speakers’ sharing of their entrepreneurial journeys will serve not just as an inspiration for those aspiring to start and grow their businesses, but provide them with actionable insight on their day to day challenges that will bring success to them as well.
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