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Why Listen:

KC overlapped his time in the military with his time at NASA having over 20 years at each of those organizations. Although his childhood aspiration was to become an astronaut, and he got to the final stages of that process, he ended up starting a company called Athlete Foundary. I love their mission because it's aimed at helping children of any zip code and background fulfill their dream of becoming collegiate athletes. By leveling the playing field and making it clear what process people need to follow to become a collegiate athlete, he's helping hundreds of 1000s of people across the United States. This is a great episode for those of you interested in entrepreneurship. It's also great to see how someone is having a positive impact on the world after the military service, and also hearing about his experience at NASA. 

About KC:

KC Chhipwadia is the CEO and Founder of Athlete Foundary. For the driven middle and high school student athlete, Athlete Foundary improves the odds of her achieving her dream to become a collegiate athlete, regardless of zip code, by providing a first-of-its-kind athletic and academic unified plan, integrated with qualities collegiate coaches actually value so they can track, build, and communicate a better journey to collegiate athletics. KC served for 20 years as a Senior Human Spaceflight Engineer at NASA Johnson Space Center, supporting over 50 Space Shuttle missions. He also served for over 20 years, both active and reserved in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer, including deployments to Iraq looking for our missing-in-action, and Afghanistan with Naval Special Warfare.

Selected Resources: 

• KC’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kc-chhipwadia-25a12458/ 

• Athlete Foundary: https://www.athletefoundry.com/ 

• Books:

  • The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lean+Startup&qid=1638697385&s=books&sr=1-1 

  • The Founder’s Dilemma by Noam Wasserman: https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Dilemmas-Anticipating-Foundation-Entrepreneurship/dp/0691158304/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E517I2OTHDR2&keywords=the+founders+dilemma&qid=1638697492&sprefix=founders+dilemma%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C267&sr=8-1 

Time Stamps:

• KC’s background [2:20]

• Inequality in youth sports is growing [5:14]

• KC’s journey as an entrepreneur [8:55]

• We should be concerned about our kids future beyond athletics [14:55]

• Don’t sell your kids short [18:35]

• How Navy and NASA helped KC on his journey [25:41]

• Always pause to reflect [27:25]

• KC’s suggested resources [31:40]

• Be prepared before you transition [35:14]