How do you start a new brand when you're up against deep-pocketed competitors?

That's what Jaylen Brown is thinking. NBA fans know him as this year's reigning Finals MVP, who just led the Boston Celtics to their 18th championship. But shoe hounds know him as a rebel — the star player who turned down $50 million in endorsement deals, publicly snubbed Nike and then, in September, unveiled his big move: He launched his own shoe brand and called sports 741and plans to sign more the athletes with generous competitive deals, thus undercutting the big shoe brands.

To help Brown get started, we linked him up Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor – an executive with deep marketing experience whose platform has helped founders raise more than $8 billion. The meeting was part of a new series called The playbookcreated by entrepreneur AND Sports Illustratedwhere we pair entrepreneurial athletes with the leaders who can help them. Here you will learn Brown's philosophy for playing the long game and Taylor's formula for successful launches.

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Everett Taylor: You are living the dream now. I'm impressed by how you understand that no matter how successful you are now, you have a long life and the NBA is only one part of your career. Where did this recognition come from?

Jaylen Brown: I got this from growing up playing chess, because there are three components to a chess game: an opening, a middle, and an endgame. As you approach your strategy, you need to know all three at the same time. Your opening act determines how you end the game.

So when I translate that to life, I'm positioning my pieces. That's why I started thinking about the end of my career in the beginning. I know this is a game.

Taylor: Yes, I have it constantly in my head. I was homeless in high school and I used to go to the local library for shelter, and there I learned about people like Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, and I was like, wow. I wasn't talented enough to be an NBA player, but this technology thing seemed like something I could do. I'm grateful for technology because it gave me opportunities that my mother didn't have, and opportunities that my ancestors and the people in my neighborhood that grew up didn't have. Technology gave me no excuse. It was a platform to really learn, grow and build a career around.

So now, to your point to see the whole game at once, I have it vision that I want for my life, and I'm basically working backwards from that. It is not about some achievement; it's not about having a certain level of money. It is about, This is what I want my life to look like. Every move I make, every work I do, everything I do is intentional to get on that path.

Coffee: And this is the battle of humanity! Because, yes, you have a mission, you have a purpose that drives you every day, but you still have emotions, you have vices, you have things you want to do. This is why you need discipline and discernment. At 28, I'm still figuring it out. But I have a clear vision for my future.

Taylor: So let's talk about one of those things you're building – your brand. What prompted you to launch it?

Coffee: Honestly, I got the idea from Kobe (Bryant), rest in peace. Before he died, he was planning to launch his own shoe brand, sign athletes and give them better deals and percentages. I remember reading an article about it and thinking it was dope.

I have gone through my own experiences dealing with large corporations and how they value yours creativityand how they rate you. I came across every brand and none of them stood out. They all approach things the same. I was looking for the brand of the future, not the brand of the past. And I couldn't find it, so I had to start over.

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Image Credit: Courtesy of Everette Taylor & Jaylen Brown

Taylor: This is brave. It's something that many people don't do because they're only willing to take the scraps that other people give them. What do you think sets your brand apart from others?

Coffee: The design. I designed everything myself. I was just in the factory in South Korea, on the line, making sure things were done the way I saw fit. I've done almost $50 million worth of deals (from other brands) in order to start something on my own. And not because I didn't like the money they offered. That's because those arrangements pigeon-holed me and didn't allow for creativity.

Taylor: Man, it lit up when you started talking about design. You are creative. I know sometimes it's hard to use this word for ourselves, but I think a true creator doesn't want to be forced by anything. They don't want infrastructures that stop their creativity. So yes, money matters and we want to be able to take care of our families, but when someone truly embodies being creative, they should be able to put their art form out into the world the way they see fit. reasonable.

Coffee: Yes, and storytelling is so key here. There's a lot of meaning and purpose and intent that I put into every aspect of the brand, and I want to let things breathe and spread that out as people start asking more questions. I don't want to force anything. It doesn't have to be the hottest brand on the street by tomorrow.

Taylor: I'm glad you have the marathon mentality, because none of the big shoe companies or clothing companies started with big growth. This happened over time. I think your brand will personify authenticity and people want to see and feel that – especially with Gen Z and the new types of consumers. They are buying things in a completely different way. They want to feel like that brand cares about people and is aligned with their interests and on the right side of good.

When you look at some of the big corporations in the space, I feel like they've lost that vision. Not to call anyone out, but many larger corporations have built their companies on a big brand and great storytelling, then thrown billions of dollars into performance marketing instead of creativity, storytelling, and authenticity.

Coffee: This is the cycle of life. Once you get so big and so successful, you're trying guard. You're just trying to protect what you've already built. Then you lose the ability to move forward and keep breaking barriers.

Taylor: That's why my biggest piece of advice to you is just this: Obsess growth and innovation and design, continuously. The moment you get comfortable—and you don't look like the type of person to get comfortable, but still—that's when growth stops. I think about that all the time with Kickstarter. The moment we feel comfortable, then the company is dead. You can still make money, you can still make millions or billions of dollars, but if you're no longer creative, if you're no longer innovative, then you're not growing.

But I think you have the right mindset. I'm excited to see what you do.

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