NFL Star Steve Young Passes on Entrepreneurial Advice
By Sue McMurray, Carson College of Business
For former NFL quarterback Steve Young, the key to professional and personal success lies in creating abundant value not just for oneself but for others.
During a guest lecture hosted by the WSU Center for Entrepreneurship, Young spoke to students about lessons he learned in his early days on the football field that helped him develop an entrepreneurial mindset and solid business principles.
He says it all began when he started his career with the Los Angeles Express of the US Football League before he joined the San Francisco 49ers. He spent six years as a backup quarterback for Joe Montana and admits he didn’t have a great attitude or desire to be where he was.
“A mentor said to me, ‘You’re making a huge mistake. The problem is the job you have isn’t the job you want. You aren’t doing the job you have well. You need to be the world’s greatest backup quarterback,’” Young says.
Young took these words to heart and developed a new work ethic based on discipline, resilience, and teamwork. He says things changed when he realized that success wasn’t just about executing a play well but more so about building relationships with people.
Abundance stems from empowering others
Young never lacked grit and discipline—he earned a law degree while immersed in the rigors of playing in the NFL and would fly back to school immediately after every game. But he credits 49ers Coach Bill Walsh for introducing him to two philosophies that transformed his life: embracing abundant thinking and disrupting patterns of transactional thinking.
“Bill showed me that having a transactional nature is purely self-serving and miserable,” Young says. “The path to an abundant life is sharing common experiences and empowering others. I used this to become a more successful player, and I built an investment firm around these principles.”
Young became one of the most celebrated players in NFL history marked by several achievements, including three Super Bowl championships and being named Super Bowl XXIX MVP. Today, he is the cofounder, chairman, and management partner at HGGC, a private equity firm with more than $6.9 billion in cumulative capital commitments.
Parting advice for budding entrepreneurs
A key takeaway from Young’s presentation is that entrepreneurial success is deeply tied to teamwork, preparation, and the ability to navigate uncertainty with confidence. Young also identified financial analysis and modeling skills as “superpowers” for students interested in working in the private equity sector.
Another takeaway is recognizing one’s own vulnerability.
“Knowing that you aren’t as good as you think you are is a powerful place to live,” Young says. “In any job you have, you should have a spirit to keep learning.”