A lot more goes into being an elite athlete than most people think. The recently concluded Olympic Games should be a reminder of that. That seemingly ordinary 50-year-old Turkish guy? He puts in a lot of work behind the scenes, as do shot-putters, high-jumpers, and yes, breakdancers.
But beyond that, athletes also need a lot of unseen help from their equipment, too. Take basketball, for instance. You might think all they need is a ball and a hoop, but players also need gear that protects their bodies from the wear-and-tear of games being played at a high level for months at a time.
Sometimes, those needs aren’t even noticed by experts in the field; that’s what Move founder and sports executive Nate Jones noticed way back in 2017, when he first got the idea for the company after realizing a massive gap in the market. While looking for insoles to ease the discomfort of playing basketball with plantar fasciitis, Jones’ difficulties in doing so offered an opportunity to not only start a profitable business, but also to help thousands of players avoid similar discomfort.
So, with the help of NBA investors including Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, and Jamal Crawford, Jones launched Move in 2020 with the intent of “making orthotics cool” and eventually expanding to a range of products all intended to help athletes be and feel their best — and look good doing it. Nate joined a Zoom call with Uproxx to talk about finding opportunities in adversity, working with NBA investors and clients, and the importance of a month celebrating and supporting Black-owned businesses.
What made you want to get into insoles for basketball players?
Number one, almost everything good in my life has come from my love of basketball. Your readers won’t see this, but I have a cast on from recently fracturing my wrist playing basketball. I work for an agency, but my role is mainly focusing on players’ off the court business. So in the basketball space for insoles, I had to go try to find a solution for plantar fasciitis after I took time off from playing basketball. Obviously, most places you go to, Dr. Scholls is the first thing you see. And Dr. Scholls represents nothing about athletic aspiration, right? It’s all, “You’re old, you’re injured, you’re on your feet all day.” And no young person wants to be affiliated with that.
But then I thought about my client, Damian Lillard, who I’ve worked with his entire career. His first three years, he didn’t miss any time in the league, played all 82, every playoff game. The fourth year was the first time he missed any time. He had plantar fasciitis too, and he struggled to find an insert that he was comfortable with. As basketball players, there are custom orthotics that a lot of NBA players wear, but a lot of them don’t like it because of how bulky they are. So those things together made me think, “Okay, there’s an opportunity here.”
Now, in terms of you’re getting a business off the ground and kind of in honor of Black Business month, you got a lot of your early investment from NBA players, a league that is famously majority Black. Can you talk about the experience of building a brand with support from people who kind of understand your experiences?
Black men definitely want to support other ambitious, smart, like-minded people that are of the same race. They’re interested in supporting that. But I think that the thing that is important for them is making sure that they aren’t made to look silly, right? I’ve had other Black entrepreneurs that have raised money from different athletes recommend me to those athletes because they like me and they like what I was doing. Because I had a reputation in the business and I had paid my dues, it was easier for me to get those investments.
Before we started recording, we talked about why Black Business Month is important. Black people in this country have gone through hell. When we had businesses, they would burn them down. But at the same time, there was this question of “what even is a Black business?” You can’t only have Black employees and customers, because we live in a diverse world.
I think that there’s just general commonalities. Trying to humanize the brand as much as possible and talk about things that everybody is interested in. It’s easy for me because I’ve just been in melting pot environments since I was 12, 13 years old and been put into positions where I was around people that were not like me, and just being able to understand that and to be able to connect. What you find is most people want the same things, it’s just what they outwardly project versus what they actually really want. And people want to be able to take care of their family and see their kids do well and be healthy, and our brand tries to stay in that space.
I am a Black entrepreneur, descendant of family from Muskogee, Oklahoma that traveled to Dallas and then to LA. That’s my story and was raised by the women that came out of that, three generations. But my company is made up of partners and employees of all different races and genders, and all of that together.
I love that you used the term Black entrepreneur because I think when we think of “Black business,” what we’re really talking about is Black entrepreneurship. The idea that you don’t have to only play basketball or rap or sling crack, like Biggie said, you can start a business. What is the advice that you would give, the most crucial thing for any young Black kid trying to start a business?
Well, I’m not going to just address them. I’m going to address two parties. Number one, the first party I’m going to address is people that have had any kind of doors open for them. I think you have a duty, and one of the best things you can do is give back to someone that isn’t necessarily your family and opening doors for them in some way. I am a busy person, but I try as much as possible to open doors for people that I can tell are hungry and need those doors open for them.
And then the other side of the coin of that is finding mentors. I’m the first in my immediate family to go to college, went to law school. There’s people in my family that think I’m rich. I’m not. I’m just doing better professionally than the norm for them. I know people that are in a similar situation to where they’re just looking for guidance and someone to teach them about something that they didn’t know about. And I have had access to those things and been around certain things and know a lot of this is just luck. We need mentors out there to put themselves out there, to be able to teach the people that are coming up behind them.
The thing that I want people to know is don’t let folks try to put you in a box. If you’ve got that talent, that passion, that love, there’s nothing holding you back. There’s so much negativity and hate out here, don’t get caught up in it. Just focus on that positivity and what you’re capable of doing and the belief that was probably instilled in you from your parents, your grands, whatever it is, your ancestors that came up before you, and use that as your fuel.