Steve Young is a former NFL quarterback who played for 15 seasons.
When Steve Young retired from the gridiron, his BYU degree in finance and political science helped him in his post-NFL career.
Today, Steve Young is co-founder, chairman, and managing partner of HGGC [Huntsman Gay Global Capital], a California-based, values-driven, partnership-focused private equity firm.
As of January 17, 2026, Steve Young’s estimated net worth is $200 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
HGGC cofounder Steve Young explains how he transitioned from the NFL to private equity firm
When hosts Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly asked NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young why he chose private equity on an episode of ‘The Deal,’ the multi-millionaire explained the concept from its very inception.
Steve Young said that he went to law school while playing in the NFL. He even played three Super Bowls during his winter breaks. He studied law for life after football.
Young expected he’d become a lawyer. But instead, he was invited to join PowerBar’s board.
There, Steve Young worked alongside big Silicon Valley businessmen like Warren Hellman [who created the investment firm Hellman & Friedman] and Larry Soncini [whose Wilson & Soncini law firm worked on the creation and growth of tech’s biggest successes].
This experience made others, including Steve Young, realize that he was better suited to be a businessman than a lawyer.
In the mid-90s, a friend of Steve Young developed an early algorithm that helped people find local businesses.
Young pitched this technology to his business contacts. Together, they built an early internet company called found.com [Found Inc].
When Young was building this company, he met his long-time business partner, Rich Lawson. A big-time investment firm, Bain Capital, took note of their success story.
An investor, Bob Gay, funded Steve Young and Rich Lawson to start their own investment firm.
Today, that investment firm is called HGGC, and now it manages over $10 billion in assets under management [as of December 31, 2025].
Robert “Bob” Gay was a fellow member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time.
In 2012, Robert Gay became a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS Church].
As for Steve Young, he carried his NFL lessons into his current business...
Steve Young carried a Bill Walsh lesson into the private equity firm
When ‘The Deal’ hosts Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly asked the San Francisco 49ers legend Steve Young about advice for being a good owner of a firm,
The three-time Super Bowl winner said that even the boss should feel that it could all go away if you don’t give your best.
“You inevitably get a little lazy just because you’re safe, you’re in charge. I want to walk around without the hubris that I own the place,” Steve Young said.
Humbling yourself can help you encourage others to perform at their best level.
Steve Young carried a lesson from his NFL head coach, Bill Walsh, into his private equity firm:
“Empower people to run ahead, not by the side and not from behind, but just go, let’s get fast. And that’s how you empower people. My coach empowered me. That’s what it felt like, and then I was unstoppable,” Steve Young said.
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