Background
Akili King, Army Veteran, College & Pro Athlete, Entrepreneurship Evangelist
Akili King grew up in Mississippi with two dreams. He wanted to play football at a high level and serve in the Army. He received an appointment to West Point where he played for 3 years before leaving to attend Oregon State. He excelled at Oregon State and was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as a Free Agent. He failed to make the team, and eventually enlisted in the Army National Guard. Akili made his way to active duty and served on multiple deployments with the 75th Ranger Regiment. He later attended OCS and received his commission.
Entrepreneurship
Akili transitioned out of the Army in June of 2014. He wanted to focus on helping athletes and veterans. He worked with Episode 81 guest KC Chhipwadia to build a startup focused on student athletes. Akili realized that his main passion was helping veterans. He is currently working on building The Bunker @Phoenix while.
Resources
Seth Godin’s Courses on Skillshare
Running Lean Workshop on Udemy
Managing Oneself – Peter Drucker
The War Of Art – Steven Pressfield
Quotes
On why veterans are considering entrepreneurship
What used to be safe is not so safe anymore
On getting started
Go out into the community, find business leaders (Chamber of Commerce, SBA)… and start picking their brains. They are a resource
You can hear the interview below or on iTunes and Stitcher Radio, and don’t forget to Subscribe to the weekly SITREP
