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Achieving both a great company culture and maintaining a real competitive edge requires humility and a deep understanding of the complexities facing global business. In a conversation moderated by Fortune's Diane Brady, top CEOs from Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list will explore how they are navigating significant global shifts – from the re-ordering of economic and trade systems to changing consumer trends and the breakneck speed of AI – while creating an inclusive global strategy that doesn’t need to compromise culture or business success.

Redefining Leadership: Mastering Change in a Complex World

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Colin Kaepernick, Founder and CEO, Lumi; Super Bowl Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers Interviewer: Andrew Nusca, Fortune

Brainstorm AI 2024: Colin Kaepernick’s Next Revolution 

Hey Collin, how's it going? It's great. How are you? Good, good. We uh we got a lot to talk about my friend. Um So why don't you explain the origins of loom me? Because I was fascinated to find out that it's really focused around comic book, illustrators, graphic novels, things like that. And I thought Colin Kaepernick, so please indulge us. Yeah. So part of this came out of 10 years building a media company, five years building a publishing company um and seeing the challenges that creators face. But the other part was I grew up on comics. Um And we had a whole stash of comic books. We had boxes and boxes of them. Um My brother is actually the one who really got me into them. He's 10 years older than me. Um We used to have a sounds a little sketchy now, but there was a house down the couple blocks away, we ride our bikes to and the living room was just comic books. Um So we go through and grab the ones we wanted and go back home. Um But as I went deeper down creating graphic novels, being on the publishing side and seeing the challenges that creator are facing, whether it's writers, illustrators, anchor, um colorists. Uh What we found is a lot of them are living paycheck to paycheck project to project. They actually aren't creating things that they want to. Um Because they're just looking for that next gig and a lot of them have their own ideas that they want to bring to life and are just looking for the avenue and opportunity to do so. Is your company focused around the kind of creative tool and support part, the distribution part? Because that's important with publishing too, where does it come into play if you're one of those folks? Yeah, both of those. OK. Um So very focused on creating that tool set for creators to give you A I assistance where and if you need it. Um So you can go on the platform and create and never touch A I if you don't want to or you can use it through the process to help you. Um And then that is distributed directly on the platform. Um trying to solve that distribution issue that a lot of creators face. How does this company make money? Because that's the number one question when you're talking about media and publishing? Absolutely. Um So a few different ways, the first way is we do a monthly subscription. Um that's our immediate revenue generator. But as we look more broadly, we have on-demand publishing for physical publishing publishing. We've realized creators want that they need it. Um And it's a way for us to do that profitably from the first copy sold, which is a anybody that has worked in the publishing industry. Um you know, it has a very difficult space to work in and be profitable. So we solve that. And then the last piece is we help with the merchandizing of the stories that they're creating. And I've released graphic novel, multiple children's books. Um I talked to a bunch of artists around this and what we've realized a lot of them aren't merchandizing very well. And I actually didn't merchandise my own uh projects because it wasn't an easy process to be able to do that. So that's something that we're looking to solve for them as well, right? What's harder publishing for football? Depends which part. I mean, the physical tool, football definitely harder. Um figuring out how to be profitable and scale a publishing company is no small fee. Yeah. Fair, fair, fair, fair. So what is the status of Lumi right now? Where are you at in terms of a product? Where are you headed? Yeah. So right now we have a product beta testers on the platform. Um Interesting enough, we actually have contracts with school signed right now. Um And they're looking to use that as something to advance learning um project based learning to help literacy, literacy rates, um student voice, student engagement. Um So seeing a lot of traction there in use cases that they want to elevate students with. How are your uh how is your company handling? Ip we've talked about uh copyright and, and concerns about that on this stage already today. Um I think that's the big question throughout the industry, how we look at is creators own everything that they create on the platform, anything that they bring to the platform they own. We're not touching that we don't wanna touch it. We wanna be a space where creators are owning the content because that gives them longevity. And if we're serving them in the best way possible, that creates a much more reciprocal relationship. Um And it also pushes us to be the best company that we could beat for creators. Um We don't want anybody controlled or constrained by that. So that's a great point around that. If someone creates a breakout comic or graphic novel, they could take that and sell it to Netflix or Disney or any other platforms, nothing that we're doing on our end to restrict that in any way. Got it. I'm going to come to the audience for questions in just a minute. But I want to ask you one more. You've already raised funds for this company uh that took you on a, you know, the, the show uh with investors. What did you learn from that experience? Um Yeah, very similar experience to playing football. Um Oh, please go on. Yeah, so what you realize is you aren't gonna be everybody's cup of tea. Um, in football when I was getting drafted, even when I was going to college, you always looked at, it only takes one, you need one person to believe in you and then that gets the ball rolling. Um And ultimately, you want to have a chance to be in the game. We found some great investors that support us in that way. Um So any other founders or people looking to raise funds? I, you're going to get a lot of nose through that process, keep going and just look for that one person that truly believes in you and is going to support you. Yeah. All right. Let's go to the audience for questions, please. Questions for calling. Oh, yes. Right up here. Well, please wait for the uh the mic your name and who you're with when you get it. Thank you. Thank you. So, uh Lorenza Ple and I work or have worked for a while with the economist. So I think it's great what you're doing, especially uh you know, trying to help the community and to people with low resources, to create content to sell, etcetera. Um So I'm curious to, especially because I've worked for a long time, mobile apps, engagement subscriptions, etcetera. Uh Yeah, I would like to understand what do you think is the best way uh to, you know, grow your platform, but at the same time making sure that it's affordable for people uh with low resources. And uh are you partnering with any other, let's say third party companies that will help you perhaps or get them like free credits? Like, I don't know, like to publish on Amazon books or to, you know, like get some sort of partnerships with, with publications to uh yeah, help uh help those with low income. Thank you. Yeah, that's a great question. Um So that's actually part of the foundation of why we built the platform. Um So right now, subscriptions start 20 to $75 a month. So we take a tiered approach to make sure we're trying to give access to people who may be financially constrained. Um The other part to step back and look at the difference in where we're at on this is if you look at the lowest bar of where creators are typically entering a publishing space today, typically is through a Kickstarter and they're raising 5 to $10,000 to get a project off the ground. Um So we're drastically lowering that barrier. Now, if you look at projects that I've done in the past, typically, you're looking at a six figure investment and you're looking at a two plus year production timeline um before it ever sees the light of day. So we're trying to break down both the expense and the speed of creation for creators to be able to get their ideas out into the world. Right on another question for Colin, please. Yes. Right up here in the front. Hey, Steven Steven Wolf Beta. I'm the CEO of AL Fund company. But before that I started a kids media company focused on diverse kids media called Nandos. And one of the great areas for creators to really monetize their I pe is actually with merchandizing. Do you envision the platform actually expanding into products and giving the ability to actually have storefronts? Um Just because there's so much more to just the content, it's actually all the merchandise. 1 1000% you are, you are dead on with how we are thinking about it. Um No, one of the things that we realize is the people who are consuming the content, the people who are buying the books are also the people that are most likely to buy the merchandise, like it's a natural progression. Um Most people aren't doing it. Um And the ones who are actually, they don't love the process of doing it. They just do it as a means to an end. Um So we want to help simplify that process all the way through for the creator from creation, taking that idea to a finished product, to the publishing, to the merchandizing. So one, they can create the things they actually want to. And two, they don't have to worry about the being the business owner, the operator handling all the logistics. Um Every creator we've talked to they're like, I just want to create, I don't want to do those things, but a lot of them end up doing it because they have to today and those are barriers that we can break down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. II, I understand that mindset very well. Let me ask you a question. Colin um, you know, you've gone on this, uh, this journey po you know, post, post football every morning, by the way, you still training, of course, OK. You heard it here. He's still training. I was, I was training before I got on my flight to come out here. Now you're making me feel bad. OK. So, so, II I would love to understand, you know, who you see as a mentor for this part of your career, whether that's in Silicon Valley or somewhere else. That's a great question. Um I think there have been a few different people that have really helped me get to where I'm at today. Um One has been in the VC community, Ben Horowitz has been great person to lean on. It's given me phenomenal insight. Um Williams has been another one who has really helped me my thinking. Um Having the opportunity to sit on the board of medium has been incredibly insightful and very helpful for my own development. Um And the other one just thinking about where I'm at today is Alexis Christina, the 776 team um who is our lead investors. They're incredibly brilliant and also great people. Um so to be able to have them to lean on and ask for guidance. Um And also just pick their brains on things that we're working on. Um how we can scale things more effectively, how we can reach, reach creators more effectively. Um Especially when you have someone like Alexis who's built reddit. Um You know, you have a great person to be able to lean on in that regard and an enthusiastic one. All right. Well, let's go for one, one more question. I think there was one over here, but I cannot recall. Oh, it's way over here. Yes. Hey, Carol. Hi, I'm Carol Vanda. I chair um responsible A I for Mars Incorporated. But outside of that, I'm actually an author. So I have a question because I know a lot of authors have negative feelings when it comes to A I, they feel that it's stealing their copyright, their IP how do you overcome those objections to launch Loy? And thanks for your great work. Oh, of course. Um Phenomenal question. And we have talked to a lot of writers about it. Um I think one is understanding that A I isn't going to do the work for you. Um Two is understanding that most of the writers are already using A I, they just don't know it as A I, um we talked to a lot of writers that hesitant, they wanted to see the platform, what it was um as we talked to them and they showed us their workflow, most of them are using grammarly um and the A I in their workflow already then as we get them on the platform and they see how it actually works and how we're looking to engage with them. Um We aren't looking to do the work for them and we're looking to be there to be helpful in that process if they need help brainstorming ideas, if they're struggling and, you know, they hit writer's block and they're looking for, where can I go with this? Where can I take it? Um So we're looking to help them through that process, but they also have the opportunity to use it as much or as little as they want. And that's one of the things that was really important for us. Um, both on the writers and the illustrator side is making sure that they have the opportunity to opt out if they want to, um, or engage when they do want to. Fantastic Colin, thank you so much for joining Fortune Brainstorm A I Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. Ok.

Sumit Singh compares Chewy’s customer service to “the best hospitality resorts.”

Why Chewy’s CEO leads with a Disney mindset: “You just feel like you're part of a dream world”

Photo illustration by Fortune. Photograph courtesy of Chewy.

Leadership

We get to see our pets every day at work. It's pretty awesome. Everyone brings when it comes to the office. I mean, the amount of we, we were, you know, we were thinking, how are we going to get any work done? And, and how do you kind of keep all these pets in check? But believe it or not, it's, it's everybody behaves and it just works like sheer chaos. We've had, we've had, you know, besides dogs and cats, we've had potbellied pigs and we've had hamsters and welcome to leadership next, the podcast about the changing rules of business leadership. I'm Alan Murray and I'm Mia, the Chewy was founded as a food and supplies company. We would serve you your food, we would, you know, ship you your dog collars and beds and all that stuff. But there's much more to a pet's journey than that pet's life cycle than that. There's an entire health vertical, there are non healthcare services. And then what, why just pet parents think about the community that services, pet, right? You're, you're the veterinarian, the groomer, the trainer, the dog park friend, right. Looking for content servicing pet, et cetera, et cetera. And we said, well, why should we only be stand for customers? Let's stand for partners. And what that tells you is from a business mindset. What it was saying was we should be a B to cab to B company, et cetera. So if you put that together, Alan, you not only get a mission and purpose that people can get behind, you get the strategy of the organization and at any point, you can look at that and say, well, where are you trending in fulfilling that, that, that this, this journey? And it's meant to be enduring. So, over the last six years, we've really built out our health vertical and so we're very proud of that. So we've connected food supplies and health. We've built out B to C services, B two B services for veterinarians. And so we're super proud and so we, and we've just entered Canada as our first International Forest. We all know Ecommerce is a tough business. Um Just tell us a little bit more about your philosophy, the underlying philosophy for customer service and customer loyalty. You know, I'm a product of consumer tech experience forward companies, Dell being one, you know, Amazon being the other. And so when I got to Chewy, right, I was like, well, great. It's just a customer service or customer care team. And this is the journey. Sometimes you as a leader need to observe and evolve to be able to truly assimilate through what is a gold nugget in the foundation or the growth of a company stage? And I looked at our customer care and I experienced it and as I experienced our customer care, you know, I did not think about any customer care organization. I thought about Disney, my experience when I walked through a Disney Park and how we feel in the way that, you know, you, you just feel like you're a part of a dream world, like being welcomed. I compared Chuy to the best hospitality resorts in the way that you are served in the way that you are treated in the way that you received and in the way that you're you're respected when you walk through the best hospitality resorts. So that's the mindset in the way that we approach customer service, right? So if I were to summarize this from a business point of view, I would say Chewy is uh you know, we are delivering the scale and convenience of e-commerce, but at the best personalized service or a high touch, personalized service, you should expect that the best local neighborhood pet store. Can you share the story real quick of um this incident? That kind of went viral where somebody is a customer's pet died and you send a message and tell the story. We have what we call surprise and delight uh moments uh where we want to be with the customer's life cycle or journey through the highs and lows of pet parenting. And this moment that you're referring is a low of pet parenting when somebody's pet passed away and when that happens, right. I we, we get to know we send flowers, right. We send, because at that moment, we are sympathetic, empathetic, we send flowers, we send greetings, handwrit cards. And you know, that moment is a very special moment because most companies will not invest, you know, X number of dollars to be able to pick up flowers to send to customers and be there right in that moment for them and posts like these. That's not the only thing we do. We send you handwrit birthday cards, we send you welcome cards. We will send you surprise and delight. We work with over 1000 local artists where we will send you hand drawn pet portraits which you cannot buy from us. They will show up to your doorstep, surprise and delight. And let me tell you this when you get a hand drawn pet portrait of your beloved pet. I have you for life on the customer service side for a company. That's so, you know, so much of your DNA and and your culture is around customer loyalty and it's really like high touch customer service. You're talking about handwrit notes, like not a lot of e-commerce companies do that. How do you look at the opportunities with some of these A I powered chat bots A I agents um help with customer service without diluting everything that you guys stand for. It is natural to assume that technology and personalization or technology and creativity are are conflicting with each other. And I think what we have to realize is that human beings are great at creativity, they always will be and technology is great, is great at delivering scale. And so you have to marry these up smartly, right? Our our local artists or our handwrit notes in a way that we assimilate through the language, right? Is, is a very personalized mechanism that we are seeking to keep. At the same time, I can automate all of the segmentation of customers, the targeting of customers, the identification of those cohorts. I can also automate how I pick up the right portrait when a customer uploads a pet profile and pass it on to my artist pretty digitally and pretty seamlessly. So I've essentially eliminated process waste without really taking out creativity from the system. I want to, we're, we're developing something called uh a tool like uh which is called CS R buddy. It is meant to be a friend to the customer service uh or the customer care team and what it's essentially AAA Prompter tool, it downloads, it has all information about the customer. It has a knowledge base which will marry content to, to let them have more intelligent conversations. We try not to hire from deeply ingrained CS contact centers because because we we, we, because we have to untrain them to get them to unlearn the bad habits of getting the customer off the phone. We want to pick up your phone in two rings or less. Right. And so we, we, we tell our agents just have a conversation.

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