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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: It's a competition. I loved it.

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Speaker 3: It gave me energy, It gives me life in telling

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Speaker 3: my story. And also, this isn't about me, and it's

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Speaker 3: not about me raising capital. We are investing in women.

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Speaker 3: We are investing in people of color. Like that two

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Speaker 3: percent is women people of color, women of color is

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Speaker 3: less than a fraction. Like if I want to start

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Speaker 3: a business and my name isn't Serena Williams, I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: have to take something out of my house.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to go to the bank, like I'm

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Speaker 2: just gonna not be able to get VC money. But

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Speaker 2: we're changing that.

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Speaker 4: All right, Alex Serena Williams the goat. I mean, it

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Speaker 4: doesn't get any better than her when it comes to

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Speaker 4: a professional athlete but also a fascinating business person. You

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Speaker 4: guys know each other like you've got to know each other,

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Speaker 4: especially as retired athletes, right, I.

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Speaker 5: Mean, we know each other very well, and the irony

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Speaker 5: is very little to do with baseball or tennis. I

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Speaker 5: know Serena as an investor. She's been investing since twenty thirteen,

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Speaker 5: and she's passionate and she's good and she's as discipline

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Speaker 5: and she has big, big plans which you'll hear about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I mean what I took away from this, probably more

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Speaker 4: than anything, was how early on she was identifying business

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Speaker 4: and even this notion her father essentially saying the majority

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Speaker 4: of your money you're going to.

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Speaker 2: Make off the court.

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Speaker 4: She has a great bit that I won't spoil about

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Speaker 4: the checks from the tournaments, but you know this notion

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Speaker 4: that she identified early on that there were opportunities fashion

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Speaker 4: certainly being one of them.

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Speaker 2: But then how she became an investor is so interesting,

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Speaker 2: it really is. I know her well and I was

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Speaker 2: surprised on how much she opened up. Yeah, but there's

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Speaker 2: no doubt that she has the same discipline and passion

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Speaker 2: for investing yeah, as she did for being to go

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Speaker 2: in tennis.

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Speaker 4: And let's keep in mind this is a career during

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Speaker 4: which she earned almost half a billion dollars. One of

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Speaker 4: her earliest deals is with Puma, and one of the

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Speaker 4: things that that does for her is it unlocks her

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Speaker 4: potential when it comes to fashion, because all of a sudden,

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Speaker 4: she's helping design her own outfits and we know the

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Speaker 4: cultural impact what she wore had.

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Speaker 5: And I felt that in real time, the impact that

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Speaker 5: she made. I also thought it was really interesting mister Williams,

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Speaker 5: her father and what impact he had not only a

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Speaker 5: great inspiration person for her, but a great teacher in

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Speaker 5: life for both girls well.

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Speaker 4: And also the idea that her father, who really set

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Speaker 4: it all up for them, then essentially said, you manage

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Speaker 4: your own money, figure it out. And so clearly that

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Speaker 4: was something that drove her to make a lot of

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Speaker 4: these key decisions. And then as she's going on in

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Speaker 4: her career going to Silicon Valley standing investing, and this

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Speaker 4: is something you guys get into and swap notes on

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Speaker 4: understanding brands. Bloom is one thing, Nike is a whole

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Speaker 4: different thing. You both have a relationship with that company.

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Speaker 4: And so her awareness of the power of brands and

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Speaker 4: the power of her own brand.

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Speaker 5: This is truly a business story. I mean, the father

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Speaker 5: is like a great founder. Yes, he was a great visionary,

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Speaker 5: he was a great marketer.

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Speaker 2: It was brilliant.

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Speaker 5: On this episode of the Deal, Serena Williams, all right,

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Speaker 5: so please introduce yourself.

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Speaker 3: All right, Well that's I never really get asked that,

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Speaker 3: but I mean you asked me to come here, so

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Speaker 3: I know I'm Serena.

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Speaker 2: I like to go by Serena and what else?

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Speaker 3: So am I gonna say? That's really putting me on

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Speaker 3: the spot.

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Speaker 2: How do you how do you describe yourself these days?

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Speaker 3: How do I describe myself? I describe myself first as

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Speaker 3: a mom. I'm a mom, I'm a businesswoman, and I'm

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Speaker 3: a free spirit.

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Speaker 2: We'll go with that. You know, this notion of reflecting

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Speaker 2: on what you did as an athlete as you look back,

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Speaker 2: you know, half a billion dollars in earnings over the

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Speaker 2: course of your career. How does that feel as you

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Speaker 2: embark even further on your business career, that sort of

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Speaker 2: financial success in sports.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know when I started tennis, first of all,

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Speaker 3: I'm from Compton, California, and I remember playing on these

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Speaker 3: courts and you know, my life was great. I never

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Speaker 3: felt like I needed anything, you know, and so for me,

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Speaker 3: money was never a motivation. I remember when I first started.

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Speaker 3: Back in the day, they used to write out checks

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Speaker 3: after you won your tournament, and I would always forget

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Speaker 3: to get the checks.

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Speaker 2: So at the end of the year they.

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Speaker 3: Would always have to say, so we have all these

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Speaker 3: checks for you.

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Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my god, So it was you would

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Speaker 2: literally forget to pick up the checksually, and.

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Speaker 3: At the time I had an accountant who would be like, Serena,

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Speaker 3: like they've sent me all these checks that you would

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Speaker 3: forget to get from the tournaments. And so so with

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Speaker 3: that being said, that was never my motivation. To be honest,

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Speaker 3: for my motivation and looking at the success that I

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Speaker 3: had financially was never my starting point. My starting point

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Speaker 3: was always like, I just want to win championships and

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Speaker 3: I want to have fun, and I want to be

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Speaker 3: a great tennis player, and quite frankly, I just wanted

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Speaker 3: to win a Grand Slam, and I honestly, for me,

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Speaker 3: everything else was a bonus.

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Speaker 2: And obviously it's great.

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Speaker 3: Like you know, I really everything that I have, Believe me,

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Speaker 3: I worked really hard for nothing really came for free,

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Speaker 3: and nothing came easy. Like I think everything was super

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Speaker 3: hard working for me. But it is cool to look

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Speaker 3: back and see the success that I've had financially, but

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Speaker 3: also multiplying that now and trying to expand that and

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Speaker 3: then again just considering like what does that mean for

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Speaker 3: me going forward?

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Speaker 5: So, Serena, when we were thinking about this show, so

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Speaker 5: I started thinking about people that I like, respect, admire,

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Speaker 5: in the world of sports, in the world of business.

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Speaker 5: And we had a business call recently and I said,

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Speaker 5: would you come on our show?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'm.

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Speaker 6: Interested to know what motivates you today when you're used

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Speaker 6: to being a champion, used to winning, and so that's

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Speaker 6: something that I'm always motivated by is success and what

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Speaker 6: a success.

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Speaker 3: I think success is different for a lot of people,

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Speaker 3: and I think that's one thing that I think a

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Speaker 3: lot of people get wrong. For me, success right now

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Speaker 3: is having great investments. I think a lot of people's

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Speaker 3: success is being a mom or which is super successful

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Speaker 3: for me because that's something that I've always wanted to

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Speaker 3: do in my life. Or maybe it's getting an A

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Speaker 3: on your grades or whatever that is. So I think

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Speaker 3: for me, the motivation is definitely success.

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Speaker 5: Both of us played for a couple decades right, very public,

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Speaker 5: me more domestically, you more around the world. But what's

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Speaker 5: interesting is, Jason, you mentioned half a billion dollars. You know,

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Speaker 5: for me it was about the same thing, but ninety

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Speaker 5: percent of my money came from playing baseball on the

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Speaker 5: field with you is ecxact opposite.

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Speaker 2: With YOURSS marketing?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, how do you think about the impact that you've

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Speaker 5: made not only to all your partners, but how the

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Speaker 5: ripple effect around the world of the business of Serena.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so different, right.

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Speaker 3: I think it's really interesting how I learned early on

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Speaker 3: that your paycheck from tennis maybe that's why I forgot them.

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Speaker 3: It should be your small should be your smallest earning.

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Speaker 3: Oh that's my dad always told me growing up. So

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Speaker 3: I always thought, okay, well, you know, partnering with the

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Speaker 3: right people and also deciding who do you really want

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Speaker 3: to partner with, because for me, it's also about being

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Speaker 3: very authentic with those partnerships, not necessarily partnering with a

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Speaker 3: company that either doesn't believe in what you're doing.

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Speaker 2: Or you don't really use and utilize.

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Speaker 3: So I think throughout my whole career, I wanted to

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Speaker 3: make sure that those partnerships are very authentic. They spoke

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Speaker 3: to me, and they also you know, gave back in

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Speaker 3: some sort.

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Speaker 2: Of way, shape or form. So fair to say your

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Speaker 2: earliest business advice came from your dad. Most of my.

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Speaker 3: Business advice came from my dad early on. He is incredibly,

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Speaker 3: incredibly smart. I think he is way before his time.

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Speaker 3: Everything that he did, I think even when it came

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Speaker 3: to marketing us as tennis players. Tennis is a very

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Speaker 3: expensive sport and you can't make it from Compton. But

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Speaker 3: I think it was his marketing that got us that attention,

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Speaker 3: that garnered those press articles that had reporters coming out

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Speaker 3: or else we would have a very difficult time getting

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Speaker 3: out of that in order to make it. But because

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Speaker 3: of the way he thought about it, and because of

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Speaker 3: the way social media wasn't a thing back then, So

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Speaker 3: because of the way he was getting that attention, it

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Speaker 3: was able to push ups, push us up.

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Speaker 2: To the top.

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Speaker 3: Obviously, our wins counted as well, which helped keep us

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Speaker 3: up there in the early ages, like around the junior stage.

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Speaker 3: But he always was way ahead of his time when

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Speaker 3: it came to marketing and advice and business advice, and

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Speaker 3: early on he was like, you know what, you're going

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Speaker 3: to manage your own money. Like literally he my first

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Speaker 3: checks from whether it was Puma, Like I got these

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Speaker 3: huge checks. He's like, you figure it out.

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Speaker 2: And so we had to figure it out.

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Speaker 3: And I'm literally living at his house in the bedroom.

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Speaker 2: And next time, how old are you at this? I

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Speaker 2: was sixteen?

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Speaker 3: Wow, And he's like, you know, most parents, you know,

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Speaker 3: they take your money and oh they take something, but

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Speaker 3: you know, he's like, you figure it out. And so

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Speaker 3: I remember having to figure that out and having to

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Speaker 3: learn how to manage from a very early age and

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Speaker 3: not get crazy with it, and so he he empowered.

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Speaker 2: Us to do that. You've said that wasn't as much

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Speaker 2: about the money.

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Speaker 4: It was about validation and putting you in a position

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Speaker 4: to be in control in a way that you weren't before.

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Speaker 2: Take us back to that mode. That's a fascinating deal.

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Speaker 3: Puma is an incredibly fascinating deal. My dad negotiate everything,

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Speaker 3: and I have to say Puma was probably about the

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Speaker 3: money a little bit forgetting and I was like, it

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Speaker 3: was a lot of money. I remember I was sixteen

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Speaker 3: years old. I had an opportunity to be with other

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Speaker 3: companies but they passed.

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Speaker 2: So there was this deal that Reebok.

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Speaker 3: Wanted to do with me and Venus combined, and my

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Speaker 3: dad and my team was like, we're not going to

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Speaker 3: do this. We're not going to package Serena with Venus

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Speaker 3: because she's going to be amazing. Thank god that we

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Speaker 3: didn't do that. Yeah, So we went to la Arnan.

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Speaker 3: Milshan at the time was one of the biggest shareholders

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Speaker 3: in Puma. They were all in Hollywood, like he also

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Speaker 3: is like New Regency and owns all these it was

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Speaker 3: producing all these films. We're in this Hollywood studio, walking

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Speaker 3: in the hallway, all these famous movies like Pretty Woman,

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Speaker 3: and all these posters are on the wall, and we

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Speaker 3: sit in this conference room and we negotiate, and it's

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Speaker 3: like literally midnight. I'm sixteen. My dad's negotiating. They're going

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Speaker 3: back and forth, and he wants me there for the

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Speaker 3: whole time to make sure I know.

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Speaker 2: What to do in the future. You're literally falling asleep

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Speaker 2: at the table. I pass out. I'm not following asleep.

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Speaker 2: I pass out at some point. Wow, you know.

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Speaker 3: I eventually wake up and they're still at it, and

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Speaker 3: I'm just so upset.

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Speaker 2: But what a learning experience.

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Speaker 3: I learned so much from that experience, and ever since then,

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Speaker 3: I'm usually behind the scenes. I don't do the negotiating,

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Speaker 3: but I actually am behind the scenes, but no one

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Speaker 3: really knows that it's actually me. It was my agent

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Speaker 3: or whoever. If they get a deal, they come to

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Speaker 3: me and they say, what do you want to do?

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Speaker 3: And I tell them exactly what to do, but they

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Speaker 3: obviously deliver the message, but it's super connected. We have

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Speaker 3: such a great relationship when it comes to negotiating. They

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Speaker 3: really trust my advice and my vision and where to

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Speaker 3: go with it. And all start at such a young age.

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Speaker 3: But I also learned from that task for Equity because

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Speaker 3: I didn't at that time, which I.

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Speaker 2: Probably should have.

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Speaker 3: And then I ran into our non year a couple

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Speaker 3: of years ago and he's like, yeah, you should have

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Speaker 3: did equity. I'm like, thanks, are not you know you

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Speaker 3: should have said it. It's like no way, I'm like okay.

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Speaker 3: But it was also a really good opportunity to see

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Speaker 3: how you can amplify a complete brand and what you know,

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Speaker 3: I was able to help amplify that brand a lot.

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Speaker 2: Because there was a little bit of risk on both sides.

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Speaker 3: It was it was I was the younger sister at

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Speaker 3: the time. No one, you know, understood that you could

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Speaker 3: have siblings that play sport and they can both be great,

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Speaker 3: and at that point it was always just one or

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Speaker 3: the other, and so Venus was an amazing athlete, and

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Speaker 3: so it was like, you know, they can't be possibly

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Speaker 3: be another one. So it was a big chance for Puma.

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Speaker 3: But also I was, you know, doing really amazing things

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Speaker 3: at winning and I won a Grand Slam less than

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Speaker 3: a year later after signing, So not a lot of

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Speaker 3: risk for them, not a lot of risks really, but

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Speaker 3: and I think they saw that it was a lot

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Speaker 3: of potential.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they saw it early on.

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Speaker 5: I remember, I don't know a lot about tennis, you know,

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Speaker 5: but what I do good because I.

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Speaker 2: Don't know a lot about baseball.

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Speaker 5: I know that, I know that, but we already know this.

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Speaker 5: This is more for the audience. But one of the

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Speaker 5: things I remember when I was like twenty five twenty six,

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Speaker 5: I always used to remember you not for your great plays,

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Speaker 5: but for your fashion. Oh yeah, And I just thought,

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Speaker 5: like I wanted to see what Serena was wearing a

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Speaker 5: yet dresser and what pumas And I just thought that,

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Speaker 5: and then the winter connection. What is it about fashion

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Speaker 5: that motivates you? Because you've always been on point?

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Speaker 3: So you know, my mom used to sew our outfits

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Speaker 3: when we were younger, and I remember some of our

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Speaker 3: earliest tournament outfits my mom used to make. And so

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Speaker 3: she would be cutting patterns and at the time, they're

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Speaker 3: called these vogue patterns out and she would put them

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Speaker 3: together and she would sew our tennis outfits or some

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Speaker 3: other school outfits or whatever. That's always been a natural

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Speaker 3: attachment to fashion. And eventually I learned how to sew

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Speaker 3: and how to make things from old socks, and then

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Speaker 3: eventually I would use old clothes when I was literally

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Speaker 3: living in Compton and just learned how to do the

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Speaker 3: craft right.

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Speaker 2: And that's kind of how it started.

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Speaker 3: And eventually I went to fashion school, which is a

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Speaker 3: whole story in its own.

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Speaker 2: I feel like I have a zillion stories.

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Speaker 4: We're here for them, but how much times us as

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Speaker 4: you are, it.

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Speaker 3: Was gonna have to be like a two part session.

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Speaker 3: And so then yeah, so eventually I went to fashion school.

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Speaker 3: And then one thing I did love and when I

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Speaker 3: first came out with Pumas, that gave me like a

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Speaker 3: lot of opportunities to design some of the stuff that

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Speaker 3: I was wearing, or at least say like this is.

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Speaker 2: What I want to wear. And I knew that.

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Speaker 3: Listen, I don't look like everyone else out here, I

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Speaker 3: don't play like everyone else, and I'm different.

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Speaker 2: It's clear that I'm different.

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Speaker 3: I am a black girl and I'm playing tennis, and

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Speaker 3: so I need to stand out. I don't want to

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Speaker 3: wear the same kind of outfits that everyone else was wearing,

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Speaker 3: and so Puma understood that, and then that kind of

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Speaker 3: started the craze. And obviously Nike came on right after

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Speaker 3: and just amplified at times a zillion, which made it

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Speaker 3: even more cool. Which made me wear like a jean

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Speaker 3: skirt in New York, which was kind of one of

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Speaker 3: my favorite oullis. I was insane. I still can't believe

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Speaker 3: when I did that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I should have won that year. But anyway, but.

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Speaker 4: Let's talk about some of those specific fashion choices. The

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Speaker 4: one that I think so many people remember is the catsuit.

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Speaker 2: The catsue was legendary, So.

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Speaker 4: Like, take us back to that moment, like that choice,

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Speaker 4: Like what does that feel like when.

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Speaker 2: You put that on?

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Speaker 4: Because you have said I love this quote from you.

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Speaker 4: It says when there was an edge to how I look,

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Speaker 4: there was an edge to my game.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, So that choice was definitely a Puma designer and

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Speaker 3: she was like, we want you to do this cat

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Speaker 3: suit and I was like, whoa, this is crazy, this

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Speaker 3: is so cool. So the US Open came and I

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Speaker 3: put it on. I was like, I'm not doing this

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Speaker 3: and I took it off. I was like I can't

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Speaker 3: do this. I can't do this, and so I had

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Speaker 3: a second outfit in case I didn't want to wear

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Speaker 3: the cat suit, which if you look at the Open

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Speaker 3: in that year, I think it was two thousand and two.

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Speaker 3: I actually wore the second outfit in the second round,

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Speaker 3: but I was like, no, I can't do that anymore.

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Speaker 3: I need to wear that. I need to own this catsuit.

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Speaker 3: I need to own it. So yeah, it was just

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Speaker 3: a really wild experience. But anyway, I took it off

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Speaker 3: and I was like, I can't do this, and I'm like,

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Speaker 3: I need to focus on my game, not on my outfit.

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Speaker 3: As I'm walking out on the court, and I asked

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Speaker 3: a few girls in the locker room what they think,

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Speaker 3: and they're like, oh.

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Speaker 2: That's crazy. You can't wear that. You can't wear that.

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Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh, I know, I know. And for

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Speaker 3: whatever reason, right before walk off, I just changed really fast.

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Speaker 3: I threw the cat suit on, I zipped it up,

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Speaker 3: and I just walked out.

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Speaker 2: It was just like, oh my god. And then it

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Speaker 2: was just it was no looking back after that.

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Speaker 4: Really, So did it feel as no important in the moment?

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Speaker 4: It didn't know Okay, you didn't know because that changed

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Speaker 4: me everything.

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Speaker 3: I always say, that's how that's when I got famous.

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Speaker 3: Wasn't the six Grand slams I won before that?

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Speaker 2: It was a cat suit? Yeah, I mean I was

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Speaker 2: pretty young.

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Speaker 3: And again, there was not a lot of stuff around

360
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Speaker 3: body positivity at that time. For a body, they looked

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00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:39,920
Speaker 3: like mine in sport, because every woman at that time,

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Speaker 3: not every woman, but a lot of women at that

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Speaker 3: time had a different type.

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Speaker 2: Of figure than I did. And so I was really different.

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Speaker 3: I was basically a lone soldier and it was just

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Speaker 3: me and even my sister looked like the typical athlete

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Speaker 3: that was just amazing and long and lean, and I

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Speaker 3: was just totally different.

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Speaker 2: And so it was.

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Speaker 3: Without knowing, it was really leaning into that. And and

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Speaker 3: again I didn't know, I was just doing it. And

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Speaker 3: then it was a lot of memes, even before memes

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Speaker 3: were memes, right right.

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Speaker 5: You looked amazing, Okay, I remember, I mean at that

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Speaker 5: time it was no Instagram, but you broke the internet.

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Speaker 2: It was Google everywhere.

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Speaker 5: And I remember a lot of my teammates and buddies

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00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,240
Speaker 5: from back home sending me the picture saying, look how

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00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:21,960
Speaker 5: fly she looks?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:24,920
Speaker 5: But in baseball, Jason it sounds like it's the same

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Speaker 5: thing in tennis, where you look good.

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Speaker 2: You feel good, absolutely good.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and I love that because that's exactly how I

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Speaker 5: felt as a player.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, But I think we shouldn't underestimate the cultural power

387
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:41,800
Speaker 4: that that moment had.

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Speaker 3: And it crossed so many people that weren't watching tennis, right,

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Speaker 3: people outside that were okay, maybe incompetent because we were

390
00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,000
Speaker 3: from there, but like every neighborhood at that point was

391
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,640
Speaker 3: watching it. But it just crossed all borders and many

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Speaker 3: people from all walks of life want and just kind

393
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,719
Speaker 3: of watched tennis. And it was just like being that

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00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:06,120
Speaker 3: cultural person to bring in people that don't normally watch

395
00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,520
Speaker 3: the sport. Again, I didn't understand at the time, but

396
00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:11,800
Speaker 3: seeing later on and even the people that started playing

397
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,119
Speaker 3: tennis after that, and the people that are currently playing

398
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Speaker 3: because of myself and my sister, It all start at

399
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Speaker 3: these moments. It's crazy to think about I've never even

400
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:23,399
Speaker 3: voiced this stuff, like, oh my god.

401
00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 2: But that, I mean, it changes the business of tennis. Absolutely,

402
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,879
Speaker 2: also changes the business of Serena, right, I mean, it

403
00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,560
Speaker 2: elevates you because again, I feel like we need to

404
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,199
Speaker 2: keep stating it's a given what you were doing on

405
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Speaker 2: the court, that the impact you were having off the.

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Speaker 4: Court just becomes magnified. To your point, what does it

407
00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:47,560
Speaker 4: feel like as that is starting to take root.

408
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,040
Speaker 3: It definitely feels different as that starts to take place.

409
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,639
Speaker 3: There were more contracts and more deals coming in and

410
00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:56,280
Speaker 3: more time.

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00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:58,080
Speaker 2: But that's what it is about.

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Speaker 3: Right Again, I'm thinking I was when I was really young,

413
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:02,840
Speaker 3: that you make your money off the court ten it

414
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,800
Speaker 3: should be your smallest check in our sport at that time,

415
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,520
Speaker 3: and so I'm thinking, okay, this is again, this is

416
00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:12,159
Speaker 3: what my dad was talking about, like how did he

417
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:14,960
Speaker 3: know so? And then it was also leaning into these

418
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,640
Speaker 3: designs even more after the cat suit, it was even

419
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Speaker 3: more about leaning into that and how I want to

420
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Speaker 3: make my impact. I think that's about the time I

421
00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,600
Speaker 3: started going to fashion school and trying to understand how

422
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Speaker 3: did I want to make my.

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00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:27,480
Speaker 2: Impact off the court?

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00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it was always about having a plan B,

425
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,720
Speaker 3: even though I didn't necessarily need it, but it was

426
00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,520
Speaker 3: just something etched in my head my dad. You could fall,

427
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:41,280
Speaker 3: anything could happen, you could break your ankle. You have

428
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,840
Speaker 3: to have something to fall back on. And so all

429
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,760
Speaker 3: these moments in the back of my mind are like, Okay, well,

430
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:48,720
Speaker 3: this is something that I can kind of do in

431
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Speaker 3: the future.

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Speaker 2: Coming up.

433
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,879
Speaker 4: Serena talks about how she got into investing, how she

434
00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,520
Speaker 4: signed with Nike, and how she met and works with

435
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 4: her husband, Alexi so Henian.

436
00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,919
Speaker 5: I remember a story with Phil Knight. And I was

437
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,200
Speaker 5: with Nike ever since I was seventeen years old, and

438
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:22,000
Speaker 5: we had kN Griffith Junior and our team, and at

439
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 5: the time he was like the Michael Jordan. And I

440
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,400
Speaker 5: was telling Uncle Phil, like, I want my own shoe

441
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,760
Speaker 5: like Griffy. And at that time we had Jordan, we

442
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:31,719
Speaker 5: had Griffy and that was the gold standard.

443
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Speaker 2: And I'll never forget.

444
00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,840
Speaker 5: We went to breakfast on a Saturday morning in Beverly

445
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,600
Speaker 5: Hills and I said, Phil, when am I going to

446
00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:41,960
Speaker 5: get my own shoe? And he says, Alex, if you

447
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,679
Speaker 5: get to a primary market. At the time I was

448
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,960
Speaker 5: in Seattle, I would redo your deal and I rewrite

449
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,080
Speaker 5: your contract. And I said, well, define a big market.

450
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:52,879
Speaker 5: He said, New York, La Chicago. I said, okay. The

451
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 5: day I got where, George Steiermanter called me and traded

452
00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:58,320
Speaker 5: me to New York. I got a call from Phil

453
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,879
Speaker 5: Knight and he said gay on wow and because of

454
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,119
Speaker 5: his loyalty, no contract, just a handshake. I've been with

455
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,439
Speaker 5: Nika since. I've never worn another shoe. But when I

456
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,480
Speaker 5: got to New York, I sends things were different, the impact,

457
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,239
Speaker 5: all the opportunities that came. When did you feel that

458
00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,880
Speaker 5: things were different and that whatever brand you went with

459
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,840
Speaker 5: actually had a riple effect not only domestically but around

460
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:21,240
Speaker 5: the world.

461
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think things got really different. I do remember,

462
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:27,560
Speaker 3: actually now that you mentioned, I actually forgot about the

463
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:29,800
Speaker 3: Seattle Mariners.

464
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, here you go. She's a baseball ye.

465
00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:38,600
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, but I definitely remember you more in New

466
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 3: York and how that that whole world kind of exploded

467
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:46,119
Speaker 3: after that. But for me, I feel like everything changed

468
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,560
Speaker 3: after that cat suit, and not because of the catsuit.

469
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:51,800
Speaker 3: I think it was me winning the French Open, Wimbledon

470
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,240
Speaker 3: and the US opened in the same year. It's been

471
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,200
Speaker 3: years and years and years since anyone had done that,

472
00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:59,679
Speaker 3: and winning those three Grand Slams in a row. And

473
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 3: I have to say, at the time, there was so

474
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 3: many great tennis players. There was Lindsay Davenport, there was

475
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,680
Speaker 3: Martina Hingis, there was Venus Williams, there was Monica sells

476
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:13,239
Speaker 3: and to dominate at that time with everyone that was

477
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,840
Speaker 3: so great was just unheard of. And so I think

478
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,920
Speaker 3: winning that US Open just solidified everything and the outfit

479
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 3: and it.

480
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:24,920
Speaker 2: Was like, well, this, this, this, this kid is amazing.

481
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:26,159
Speaker 2: How do I change that?

482
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,880
Speaker 3: How do I say, Okay, tennis is great, but how

483
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,679
Speaker 3: do I extend that? And how do I expand that

484
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 3: outside of tennis? Just understanding that pop culture and then

485
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,720
Speaker 3: get invited to different things and I would be like,

486
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,600
Speaker 3: oh wow, I'm at the Larius Awards or I'm here

487
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,840
Speaker 3: and I'm actually winning these awards and you know, except

488
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 3: for the one, and I'm still bitter about I'm not

489
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 3: competitive at all, definitely not.

490
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,199
Speaker 2: It doesn't play with me at all. And so how

491
00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 2: do you take advantage of that?

492
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,399
Speaker 4: Like what's the process by which means you've been with

493
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:04,040
Speaker 4: Jill for a long time, Jill Smuller, are the conversations different?

494
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,199
Speaker 2: Are your ambitions growing? Like?

495
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:10,399
Speaker 4: How do you activate that moment where you are blowing

496
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:11,160
Speaker 4: up even more?

497
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:15,200
Speaker 3: Well, Jill has been amazing. I feel like leaning into

498
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:20,800
Speaker 3: having someone a woman in that position, I think, quite frankly,

499
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,119
Speaker 3: maybe things would have been different if I had a

500
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 3: guy like maybe I would have had an extra deal

501
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:30,240
Speaker 3: or two, but it was really about leaning in into

502
00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 3: having a woman on my team. Interesting owning that we

503
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,200
Speaker 3: got ours when the time was due, when the time

504
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,879
Speaker 3: was ready, but it was sometimes where we had to

505
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,200
Speaker 3: fight a little bit extra. It's really just about really

506
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:45,000
Speaker 3: empowering not only yourself but people around you and your

507
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 3: team as well. Jill's works at w ME. Amazing agent there.

508
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,840
Speaker 3: I don't even like that word, actually, but I don't know.

509
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:53,360
Speaker 3: I haven't been able to find a different word.

510
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 2: Really.

511
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 3: I think your partner exactly like a partner. And how

512
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 3: long have you guys been, Oh, since two thousand, that's

513
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 3: in question. It's been an incredibly long time. But it

514
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 3: really was important to be able to expand and really

515
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,640
Speaker 3: start to think about what other what other things can

516
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 3: you touch, what other things can you do, and how

517
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 3: to go about doing that. So then you have to

518
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 3: work from a plan, and then I would have a list,

519
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:17,359
Speaker 3: like I want to be with At the time, I

520
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 3: wasn't with Gatorade, and I was like, my lifelong.

521
00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 2: Dream was to be with Gatorade. Because I remember.

522
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,879
Speaker 3: Walking around the corner from my tennis court, not my

523
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 3: tennis court, the community court in Compton. We would walk

524
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 3: to the convenience store and my dad would buy one

525
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:33,960
Speaker 3: Gatorade in a can and we would all have to

526
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,400
Speaker 3: share it. And it was like, I've always loved that,

527
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,160
Speaker 3: and I've always loved that story and I've always loved Gatorade.

528
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 2: And I would always.

529
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 3: See the mic I want to be like Mike commercials

530
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,399
Speaker 3: and I was like, I want that, and so I

531
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,359
Speaker 3: would always we would always come together and say, what

532
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 3: are some things that you want to do in corporate?

533
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 2: If it was corporate with corporate companies you want to

534
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 2: be with? And does that resonate with you?

535
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 4: I mean, because I'm sitting between these two very deliberate

536
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,920
Speaker 4: business people who have cott into this from an early

537
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,160
Speaker 4: I mean, do you remember identifying brands that you wanted.

538
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,560
Speaker 2: To be with? Because it sounds like you had a

539
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 2: literal list.

540
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 5: I mean, for me, Gatoray is another one, because I

541
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,440
Speaker 5: believe I was. I won the Gatorade Player of the

542
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 5: Year in high school and I was like, oh my god,

543
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 5: that's so cool. That's the first big award that I

544
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 5: want nationally, and of course I want to be like

545
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 5: my campaign was huge it still is to this day,

546
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 5: but for me, it was Nike. Nike to me was

547
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 5: the ultimate north Star because Michael jordan' woard right and

548
00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 5: we all want to be like those. I looked up

549
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,120
Speaker 5: to Michael and Magic and Bird.

550
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 2: Everyone looked up to Michael, A girl, a guy, whatever.

551
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,120
Speaker 2: Who did you look up to? Who inspired you when

552
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,160
Speaker 2: it came to branding? Michael Michael Jordan.

553
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 3: I think he really was able to do branding in

554
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,159
Speaker 3: a different way, and the plumb that he has walking

555
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 3: around is just second to none tennis wise. I was

556
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:53,680
Speaker 3: actually inspired by Monica Sellis.

557
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 2: I just liked her.

558
00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 3: I thought she was really cool and I liked how

559
00:25:58,240 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 3: she grunts.

560
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:02,439
Speaker 2: I do have a question.

561
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 5: Was there a call where Joe called you and she said, I, Serena,

562
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 5: we got this company, and this is what they're willing

563
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,439
Speaker 5: to pay you, And you said, what they're willing to

564
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 5: pay me that much? I've had moments like that, but

565
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 5: more than if you had a moment.

566
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,399
Speaker 3: I guess yes, I've definitely had that. And I'm like,

567
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 3: let's start at yes, but let's not seem desperate. Let's

568
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 3: let's wait at least at least an hour. Now, let's

569
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 3: wait at least a few days to call him back.

570
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,760
Speaker 4: And so let's talk about Nike for a second, because

571
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,640
Speaker 4: obviously Puma does one thing, as you've alluded to, Nike

572
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,840
Speaker 4: does something altogether. Absolutely, what was that negotiation, Like, what

573
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 4: do you remember about sort of getting into business with them?

574
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,440
Speaker 3: So I just remember I wanted to be with Nike.

575
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 3: I had always wanted to be with Nike from day one,

576
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:55,919
Speaker 3: even before signing with Puma, I was wearing Nike just

577
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 3: because I would buy it and then I would just

578
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,359
Speaker 3: you know, hopefully like sending some messages like I'm your girl,

579
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 3: I'm your girl, like you know, hello. So that was

580
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,959
Speaker 3: always a company that I've wanted to be with. I

581
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 3: think they have an opportunity to market especially at the time.

582
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 3: It's just like, you know, if you want to be

583
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 3: the best, then you have to wear Nike. That was

584
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 3: seared in my mind. I wanted to be the best,

585
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,399
Speaker 3: and I think the best. They had the best stuff,

586
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,720
Speaker 3: they had the best marketing, They had an opportunity to

587
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 3: put you As we talk briefly globally, and because tennis

588
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 3: is not just in the United States, it's Australia, it's England,

589
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,439
Speaker 3: it's Italy, it's China, it's literally everywhere on the globe.

590
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,240
Speaker 3: And can think of just a handful of companies that

591
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,119
Speaker 3: can reach that far. And so for me, I wanted

592
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:42,919
Speaker 3: to reach that far, and I wanted to be with

593
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 3: a company that could amplify that. And I'm not necessarily

594
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 3: amplifying them. I wanted them to amplify me.

595
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,320
Speaker 2: You talked about this moment in tennis that I want

596
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:52,920
Speaker 2: to dwell in.

597
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,679
Speaker 4: For a second, because you're right, there are a lot

598
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 4: of great players, but you very quickly just overcome all

599
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 4: of them. You did something market and notable for the

600
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:09,120
Speaker 4: business of tennis, for viewership, for attendance, for branding off

601
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 4: the court. Was that apparent to you at the time

602
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 4: or is it only apparent in retrospect.

603
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,160
Speaker 3: No, it was very apparent, Yeah, because you would see

604
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,200
Speaker 3: matches if I wasn't at a tournament, or Venus wasn't

605
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:25,119
Speaker 3: at a tournament, the attendance was just different. And years

606
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:31,520
Speaker 3: that I was injured, oh God, or years that stay

607
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 3: professionals arena don't say that years that I was injured,

608
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 3: or years that you know, I didn't play. You could

609
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,720
Speaker 3: just see the difference of you know, people that were

610
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:47,480
Speaker 3: attending the matches or viewers.

611
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,160
Speaker 4: The US Open is my favorite tennis tournament. It is

612
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 4: the most electric setting and then it's like the wattage

613
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 4: is turned up when you walk out.

614
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 2: That's just again, that's factual. I have to say.

615
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 3: You feel that I took on a lot of that

616
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 3: pressure as the years continued. After ten years, you know,

617
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 3: I would feel that pressure of like, okay, it's it's

618
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 3: Serena going to be in New York and right it's

619
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 3: it was. It was like not the not the Serena Open,

620
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,600
Speaker 3: but it was still like a lot of attention on

621
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 3: you know, myself, right, and Venus too, But it was

622
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 3: a lot of attention on.

623
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 4: Me because the numbers are one thing, and the numbers

624
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 4: are great, but what's the Serene effect on Serena? You know,

625
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 4: like that pressure then in the in the sense of

626
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 4: you know that if you show up, that's better for tennis,

627
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 4: that's better for the the owner of the tournament.

628
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,959
Speaker 2: I think that I try to always remain humble.

629
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 3: I don't I didn't go in the tournament thinking that

630
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 3: the US Open is still going on and I'm not

631
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 3: playing sadly, but and it's still going to be there

632
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,040
Speaker 3: with or without me. So I always had that view

633
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 3: and I always knew that, but at the same time,

634
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 3: I also did know that for this amount of time, however,

635
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 3: that's going to be, it's going to be super amp

636
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 3: fire and it's not easy, but you do walk in

637
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 3: with your chest a little farther out, in your head

638
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 3: a little higher, because also you are a target. You know,

639
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:15,240
Speaker 3: everyone right at the end of the day isn't really

640
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 3: happy that you're on the front page of all these papers,

641
00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,880
Speaker 3: and you know, they're just like they want that, And

642
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 3: a part of me is like, take it, because it's

643
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:28,280
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure and it's a lot to hold

644
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 3: when you lose. Is losing is way bigger news than winning,

645
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 3: Like if I want to match, it's almost last page.

646
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 3: And yeah, but if it's if I lose, it's like

647
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 3: front center. So you don't want that story. And so

648
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 3: having a lot of that pressure is definitely not fun.

649
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 3: But it's also a privilege, you know, and I think

650
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:52,719
Speaker 3: it's I would definitely prefer that pressure then not, if

651
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 3: that makes sense.

652
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, pressure is a privilege. It's right there right when

653
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 2: you walk out of the cot.

654
00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,480
Speaker 3: Wow, it is your New York is your favorite turn.

655
00:30:59,640 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 2: Wow.

656
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 5: But Jayson, I want to segue to business because I

657
00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 5: wasn't a call with Serena early on, and I was like, wow,

658
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 5: I wasn't expecting that, And not because I had a judgment.

659
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 2: You know, I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why

660
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 2: because the.

661
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 5: Questions you were asking were so thorough, you had done

662
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 5: your due diligence. You were asking things about it has

663
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 5: to fit with my brand, And I knew you would

664
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 5: know all the numbers, but I didn't know how authentic

665
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 5: you were going to be and how sincerely deeply in

666
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 5: the weeds you would be. Where too much? But where

667
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 5: does that come from? Is it from your playing days?

668
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 5: Asenially details?

669
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 3: I feel like, yeah, I'm super tending to detail. I

670
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 3: feel like I've always excelled at education and I love learning,

671
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,560
Speaker 3: and so yeah, so for me when it comes to

672
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:56,360
Speaker 3: my business, And like I said, I think we decided

673
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,680
Speaker 3: I was too much in the weeds and like, literally,

674
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,400
Speaker 3: what are you talking about? Like being on calls with

675
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,479
Speaker 3: founders and actually helping founders understand like why their business

676
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:08,920
Speaker 3: isn't working and why it's not successful or you know,

677
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 3: like literally on every call if we have calls every

678
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 3: six weeks, I own that company. So not own the company,

679
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,280
Speaker 3: but I'm the representative for the company from my firms

680
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 3: as sv CER and Adventures, and so I'm like literally

681
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,600
Speaker 3: on the calls. I'm literally helping them understand how their fundraise.

682
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 3: I'm looking at their decks and so it's a lot.

683
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 2: So I decide, Okay, that's too much. I can't go

684
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 2: on like this.

685
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 3: But I truly love investing yea, And that's one thing

686
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 3: that I kind of fell in love with from tennis.

687
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 3: I would see these sponsors because tennis is all sponsor based,

688
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,480
Speaker 3: and I would see like some of these sponsors come up.

689
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 3: But I'm like, well, I have some little cash, Like

690
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 3: how did I not invest in Facebook?

691
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 2: How I invest in airbnber? How did I miss.

692
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 3: Google or like you know, all these companies. I don't

693
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 3: know if you ever thought of that, but I'm.

694
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 2: Like, I missed a bunch, how like why?

695
00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,440
Speaker 3: And I started to ask these questions, like why am

696
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 3: I out here breaking my neck and sweating when I

697
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 3: could have invested in these companies and I could still

698
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 3: be doing the same thing, but I wouldn't have to

699
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 3: be such dire.

700
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,960
Speaker 2: I've got to win us this year. I've got a

701
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 2: padies bills.

702
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,120
Speaker 3: So I literally would be on the court looking at

703
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 3: these sponsors, thinking how did I miss this? And so

704
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 3: I started asking questions and I went to at the

705
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 3: time San Francisco Silicon area. Back then it was a

706
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 3: super Boys club.

707
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I would ask questions.

708
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 3: I remember even just sitting in Pinterest at the time

709
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 3: one day and just learning from the founder there and

710
00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 3: just just just being a sponge and just trying to

711
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:44,760
Speaker 3: understand the business, understand stand investing, understand all this stuff

712
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 3: a little bit more.

713
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 2: And that's kind of how it all started.

714
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:51,720
Speaker 4: Unfortunately, to your point about the Bay Area and underrepresentation

715
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,959
Speaker 4: still there. Oh is it two percent of VC funding

716
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,720
Speaker 4: less goes to women, you know, even fewer when you

717
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,680
Speaker 4: when you start to go to other categoryories of underrepresentation?

718
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:06,040
Speaker 4: Was that part of the DNA of Serena Ventures from

719
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 4: the beginning?

720
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:07,760
Speaker 2: How did that all?

721
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 3: Another story? If you guys want to hear it.

722
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 2: So I started, We're literally here for your stories.

723
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,439
Speaker 3: So I started investing, and then I somehow got into

724
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 3: early stage investing.

725
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that it was called early stage.

726
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,799
Speaker 3: I just liked companies that were starting, and then I

727
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 3: liked growing them. One of them was Masterclass. I remember

728
00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 3: meeting the guys. David is, one of the founders and

729
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,680
Speaker 3: it was a room about this size, but this is

730
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 3: all they had and they didn't have anything else, and

731
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,080
Speaker 3: this is where Masterclass was. And I fell in love

732
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 3: with the concept. I felt loved what they were doing

733
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:44,439
Speaker 3: and I was like, I want to be a pier

734
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,440
Speaker 3: of this. And so it was just finding several different

735
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,400
Speaker 3: companies like that in Masterclass obviously became Masterclass.

736
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 2: Ye.

737
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 3: And one day I was at a conference at JP

738
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 3: Morgan and Jamie Diamond was on stage and he was

739
00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:00,840
Speaker 3: talking to this woman named Karen Sideman Becker. But she's

740
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 3: on stage and she's talking about women and VC and

741
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 3: how women get less than two percent of all VC money.

742
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:13,239
Speaker 3: But I'm thinking, she misspoke. That's so embarrassing, Like I'm embarrassed.

743
00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:14,719
Speaker 2: For her, right right, right.

744
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,239
Speaker 3: But that's how people should think about it. But this

745
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,799
Speaker 3: is genuine, My genuine thoughts is that she misspoke. So

746
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 3: me being me, after she was done, I go up

747
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:24,920
Speaker 3: to her and I'm like, hi, yeah, I'm Serena. And

748
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 3: then I'm like, well, you've said something on stage and

749
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,719
Speaker 3: I don't know if you meant to say this or

750
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,600
Speaker 3: if you can said the number wrong, but something about

751
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 3: two percent less than two percent, And she was like,

752
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 3: you know, Karen, so she's like the woman I dream

753
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:42,840
Speaker 3: of being, and she's just like she just tells me everything,

754
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 3: and she just gives me all this amazing information the

755
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 3: span of ten minutes, and I'm like, I didn't know.

756
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:52,440
Speaker 3: And so that's how Stain Adventures happened from that moment before,

757
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,600
Speaker 3: and I was like, I need to start an investment

758
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 3: company and I'm not going to be able to change it,

759
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 3: but the platform can help other people talk about it

760
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,240
Speaker 3: and change it. And so that's when from that point

761
00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 3: three years before, I actually raised a fund. So I

762
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,840
Speaker 3: worked on doing more deals, ended up getting about sixteen

763
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,800
Speaker 3: unicorns and my portfolio so that way I would have

764
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:14,880
Speaker 3: a good track record because I knew it wouldn't be

765
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:16,480
Speaker 3: probably easy for us to raise a.

766
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:17,520
Speaker 2: Fund first go around.

767
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, until you get to know me and you get

768
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 3: to know the story, and you need to know all

769
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 3: the investments that I had done.

770
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:24,240
Speaker 2: And that's what happened.

771
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,239
Speaker 5: So, Serena, as I hear you speaking, I can't help

772
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:30,840
Speaker 5: but think about like when I transitioned from baseball to business,

773
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:33,319
Speaker 5: and it's quite daunting, and I know for me there

774
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 5: was some imposter syndrome.

775
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 2: But we're both former athletes.

776
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:39,320
Speaker 5: I'm a man of color, you're a woman of color

777
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,640
Speaker 5: as you enter the world of capital raising, which is

778
00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:46,400
Speaker 5: very difficult, especially when you haven't had the track record

779
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:46,880
Speaker 5: early on.

780
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:48,440
Speaker 2: Yep, how did that make.

781
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,560
Speaker 5: You feel when you went to LP's potential piece to

782
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:52,240
Speaker 5: raise capital.

783
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,080
Speaker 2: It's a competition. I loved it.

784
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 3: It's what I It gave me energy. It gives me

785
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:02,239
Speaker 3: life in telling me n story. And also this isn't

786
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,360
Speaker 3: about me, and it's not about me raising capital. We

787
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,120
Speaker 3: are investing in women. We are investing in people of color.

788
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 3: Like that two percent is women people of color. Women

789
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,239
Speaker 3: of color is less than a fraction, right, Like, if

790
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 3: I want to start a business and my name isn't

791
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,360
Speaker 3: Serena Williams, I'm gonna have to take something out of

792
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 3: my house.

793
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:20,720
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to go to the bank.

794
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 3: Like it's not I'm not gonna be I'm just gonna

795
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:24,560
Speaker 3: not be able to get VC money.

796
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 2: But we're changing that.

797
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,279
Speaker 3: And we don't only invest in women, we don't only

798
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 3: invest in people of color. But we're putting that on

799
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 3: a platform. Our portfolio right now as it stands as

800
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,680
Speaker 3: sixty eight percent women are person of color, and that

801
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:39,200
Speaker 3: is unheard of in the VC world, and so for me,

802
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 3: it's all about diversity and bringing everyone together. We invest

803
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 3: in literally everyone. We don't care what you look like,

804
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,799
Speaker 3: but we hear your story. If you're a woman, we

805
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:48,759
Speaker 3: hear your story if you're a personal color. And a

806
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 3: lot of people that look like me don't even get

807
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,279
Speaker 3: their story heard. And so when you do go to

808
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:56,080
Speaker 3: these LPs and you genuinely tell them a story, if

809
00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 3: they pass, they pass, but at least you get them

810
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:01,480
Speaker 3: thinking to get them here, and maybe they'll invest in

811
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 3: another fund that is doing the same thing, maybe that

812
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 3: has been around a little bit longer, with the track

813
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,479
Speaker 3: record a little bit longer, but they'll come.

814
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 2: Around to us at some point. And that's kind of

815
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 2: how I feel.

816
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,000
Speaker 3: But I love talking to LPs and just getting that

817
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:14,280
Speaker 3: story told on a platform that a lot of people

818
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:18,319
Speaker 3: don't have, And so that is it's super amazing for us.

819
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:21,759
Speaker 4: The barriers you and your sister and your dad broke

820
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 4: down when it came to tennis. Does it feel like

821
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 4: there's a parallel to what you're trying to do in business?

822
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:30,759
Speaker 2: It does, and I don't want it to be.

823
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,200
Speaker 3: You know, my daughter wants to do a sport, and

824
00:38:35,239 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 3: I'm like, you have to do a sport that's you're

825
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 3: not breaking down barriers because mom has already done that

826
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 3: and you don't need to do that. And so somehow

827
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,719
Speaker 3: I find myself in a similar story without trying. I

828
00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 3: think eventually you're just drawn to, you know, whatever you're

829
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 3: drawn to, and without me realizing it, I was always

830
00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 3: drawn to this space and it put me here and

831
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,560
Speaker 3: I'm not going to change. I am get a step

832
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,560
Speaker 3: back up taking your advice, like, oh my goodness, already done.

833
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,280
Speaker 3: But the impact will always be there and the impact

834
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 3: will continue to be there, and I look forward to that.

835
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 4: Your dad was a partner, your sister was a partner,

836
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:17,480
Speaker 4: and now Alexis is clearly a life partner. But also

837
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:22,839
Speaker 4: I'm fascinated and I think alex Is too about you know,

838
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 4: these two entities, these two business entities sort of coming together.

839
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 4: And I wonder, because it's apparent to us as we

840
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,919
Speaker 4: look at it, the influence you've had on each other

841
00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 4: in terms of investments, What do you think your influence

842
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:37,440
Speaker 4: has been on him?

843
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:41,799
Speaker 3: Well, I think my influence on him is just he

844
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:50,000
Speaker 3: really wants that success. He really wants to be seen

845
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:54,560
Speaker 3: as that best investor, and he is. He's such a

846
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 3: great investor, and I'm like, you already have that, but

847
00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 3: he wants it to be even more amplified.

848
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:00,799
Speaker 2: And also just.

849
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:05,280
Speaker 3: Explaining to him and just giving him my insights of,

850
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 3: you know, how to play the game, because you have

851
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:11,800
Speaker 3: to be able to play the game, whether you're investing

852
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,920
Speaker 3: or whether you are in sport. It's it's who plays

853
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:17,239
Speaker 3: the game the best. And some of the greatest businessmen

854
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,160
Speaker 3: and investors play the game better than someone who actually

855
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:22,799
Speaker 3: might be better and smarter. And with him, we met

856
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 3: because we were talking about investments all these years ago.

857
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,359
Speaker 2: That's how you met, That's how we met. Yeah, we

858
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:29,880
Speaker 2: just got to tell us that story.

859
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 3: Okay, you asked, you know, I told you I have

860
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 3: a lot of stories. So I was in Italy at

861
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 3: a tournament, and I'd been in Europe for a few

862
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:41,799
Speaker 3: weeks at that point. And then when you hear an

863
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:44,359
Speaker 3: American accent, when you haven't heard it for a few weeks,

864
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 3: it's like refreshing. And so all week at this particular

865
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 3: hotel where you were staying at, there is these American

866
00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:53,400
Speaker 3: people that were here for a tech conference. And so anyway,

867
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,279
Speaker 3: so fast forward to a couple days later, I have

868
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:58,640
Speaker 3: a match that day, and I'm so focused when I play

869
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:00,879
Speaker 3: a match, like I literally would never leave the room.

870
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,239
Speaker 3: I would watch film all day and I would be

871
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:04,759
Speaker 3: in my room. And it was a night match, and

872
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:08,200
Speaker 3: night matches are extremely stressful for me mentally because I'm

873
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 3: having to be in the room from like until six

874
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 3: pm or five pm. So I'm like, I don't want

875
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:15,759
Speaker 3: to be in the room till five pm today for

876
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 3: by chance.

877
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 2: So I was like, I just can't do this today.

878
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:18,640
Speaker 2: I just can't.

879
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 3: So I left to go downstairs at breakfast. Now this

880
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:23,719
Speaker 3: is crazy, like come on, I mean I literally would

881
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:24,799
Speaker 3: even eat breakfast in my room.

882
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:26,320
Speaker 2: I would never be seen. I was a ghost.

883
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:31,359
Speaker 3: So I went to have breakfast. Who wow, that's such

884
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 3: a big thing what it was in my world. So

885
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:35,480
Speaker 3: I went downstairs and that was late for breakfast. I

886
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,480
Speaker 3: didn't go downstairs to eleven because I was just fighting

887
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:39,279
Speaker 3: with myself if I was like I should be I

888
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:41,600
Speaker 3: should be studying. That's how hard I was on myself.

889
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:46,000
Speaker 3: So I went down late, breakfast was closed, and they

890
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,120
Speaker 3: sent me to a different restaurant across the way, which

891
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:50,520
Speaker 3: had like a pool, and so I went to this

892
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 3: other restaurant with this massive pool. There's all these chairs

893
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:55,239
Speaker 3: and there's all these tables, and there's this pool and

894
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,080
Speaker 3: there's an other side of the pool there's chairs.

895
00:41:57,719 --> 00:41:59,160
Speaker 2: And so we're the only people.

896
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 3: It's me, Jill and my assistant at the time, and

897
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 3: he was Australian that's going.

898
00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:04,239
Speaker 2: To come back to.

899
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:08,279
Speaker 3: So we sit down the only people there, and we

900
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:10,480
Speaker 3: order our breakfast and we're just talking and laughing and

901
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,440
Speaker 3: this guy walks in with the computer and he sits

902
00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:15,319
Speaker 3: down right next to us, at the table, right next

903
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:19,000
Speaker 3: to us, and I'm like so upset. I'm like, do

904
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:24,160
Speaker 3: you see how big this area is? B like, do

905
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,680
Speaker 3: I look? Does it look like we want people next

906
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:27,120
Speaker 3: to us?

907
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:28,360
Speaker 2: Like? It's huge?

908
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:31,520
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh my goodness. So my assistant at

909
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 3: the time his name was Zane. He's like, and it

910
00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:39,280
Speaker 3: there's a allfl accent. I'll see, access is the worst.

911
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 3: And there's a rat over there, and he's saying that

912
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,000
Speaker 3: there's a rat. There's a rat, because we're trying to

913
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:45,960
Speaker 3: get him to go away.

914
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:47,360
Speaker 2: Oh my god.

915
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 3: And then he looks up and he's like, is there

916
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:51,760
Speaker 3: really a rat?

917
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:56,640
Speaker 2: And he's is it really a rat?

918
00:42:56,719 --> 00:42:59,279
Speaker 3: Because I'm from Brooklyn and I'm not afraid of rats.

919
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:01,799
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, you're for Brooklyn. So that's

920
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 3: how we started talking. And then so he said, I

921
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:05,759
Speaker 3: was like, what are you here for? And he's like, oh,

922
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:07,839
Speaker 3: I'm here for the conference. It's like, oh, cool, who

923
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 3: are you here to see? And he's like, oh, I'm

924
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:12,400
Speaker 3: not seeing anybody. I'm speaking. I mean, I'm like, okay,

925
00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:17,640
Speaker 3: this guy has excuse me. And anyway, he started talking

926
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:19,320
Speaker 3: about he did read it, and he started read it

927
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:21,360
Speaker 3: and then of course I hadn't heard of it.

928
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:23,200
Speaker 2: But you know, now you get to know me. I'm like,

929
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:24,040
Speaker 2: I don't hear of anything.

930
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,919
Speaker 5: It's right, right, right, But what's interesting about this? Like Jace,

931
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:28,839
Speaker 5: I've been in a lot of calls in zooms with

932
00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 5: Serena and a lot of calls with Alexis. And by

933
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,719
Speaker 5: the way, they're both so different, but they compliment each

934
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,960
Speaker 5: other so well, and they'll never mention they're each other's partners.

935
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:40,400
Speaker 5: They keep it so professional in their lane, but then

936
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:41,480
Speaker 5: when they come together.

937
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:42,719
Speaker 2: They keep it a very church and state.

938
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, so what if you've learned from him as

939
00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 4: an investor, we keep it very church and state.

940
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:51,240
Speaker 3: But I do go to him for advice. I'm like, okay,

941
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:53,440
Speaker 3: so what do you think about this and how do

942
00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:56,920
Speaker 3: you build these deals? I always pick his brain when

943
00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:58,920
Speaker 3: it comes on building a team. I think he builds

944
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:02,239
Speaker 3: incredible teams. And also I always pick his brain on

945
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 3: when it comes to early stage investments in terms of sectors,

946
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:08,279
Speaker 3: like what's going to be another sector that's going to

947
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:11,720
Speaker 3: be exciting, whether it's AI or He's probably already invested

948
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,480
Speaker 3: in companies way before that sector is even popular, which

949
00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:15,799
Speaker 3: is honestly incredible.

950
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 4: I will say one of my favorite stories, because you

951
00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:22,880
Speaker 4: know we followed sports very closely, was your influence on

952
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,239
Speaker 4: me angel City investment, which, as at least as it's

953
00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:29,799
Speaker 4: been told her as he's told it, Olympia was, you know,

954
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 4: getting into playing soccer.

955
00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:34,520
Speaker 3: So this is a false story. Yeah, but let's correct.

956
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:35,319
Speaker 2: Yes, let's correct it.

957
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:39,120
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, I'm not a pro, so I'm like pro tennis.

958
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:41,319
Speaker 3: So the fact that Olympia was playing soccer, I was

959
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,440
Speaker 3: already salty about that. I think he kind of did

960
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:47,600
Speaker 3: that deal to make me mad because I'm like, let's

961
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:52,239
Speaker 3: do something in tennis. Yeah, because obviously let's amplify tennis, right,

962
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 3: But that's that's the real.

963
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,439
Speaker 4: But the part of the story that I love is that,

964
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:57,880
Speaker 4: and you tell us whether this is true or not,

965
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 4: is that the east line should.

966
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:03,120
Speaker 2: Be you need to do something for equal pay in sports.

967
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:03,799
Speaker 2: Is that right?

968
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,400
Speaker 3: Remember earlier I said that I don't want Olympia to

969
00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:09,239
Speaker 3: do what I had to fight for for equal pay

970
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 3: because I already did that through tennis, and for years

971
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,960
Speaker 3: I missed out on equal pay because I'm fighting for

972
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,959
Speaker 3: equal pay and I think it's I think what they're

973
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:21,520
Speaker 3: doing in soccer is amazing, but I think it's disgusting

974
00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,359
Speaker 3: that they get paid so little money. It's just it's

975
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:27,160
Speaker 3: not even a conversation to me, it's not even close.

976
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,400
Speaker 3: I actually watched soccer, and I love women's soccer. I

977
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:34,000
Speaker 3: watched women's soccer and the fact that so many people

978
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:36,680
Speaker 3: watch women's soccer and then they're getting paid, it's like

979
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 3: what they're getting paid is upsetting. So I love that

980
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 3: Alexis did that deal, and I think what he did

981
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:45,280
Speaker 3: was really amazing there, but I was pushing for tennis.

982
00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:49,080
Speaker 2: I was like, no, but I did win.

983
00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:51,200
Speaker 3: Because Olympia does not like soccer anymore.

984
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:51,879
Speaker 2: Oh is that right?

985
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:53,960
Speaker 3: Well, for now she changes their mind a lot. She

986
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 3: does like tennis a little bit more now, So I'm like.

987
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,160
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, listen, I think you can have influence.

988
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 5: There were a few years into retirement. How do you

989
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:04,320
Speaker 5: measure winning today?

990
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:07,759
Speaker 3: So for me, winning today is getting a deal. Right now,

991
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:10,240
Speaker 3: we have a deal on our table and we're trying

992
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:12,399
Speaker 3: to win it and there's a lot of other VC

993
00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:14,800
Speaker 3: big VC companies that want to be in it, and

994
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:16,920
Speaker 3: so that's that's a win for me. It's like, how

995
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,959
Speaker 3: do I figure out a way to win this deal?

996
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 3: And so that's what we're working on, and I'm super excited.

997
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:24,840
Speaker 3: I feel like we're getting close and I've heard rumors

998
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:25,880
Speaker 3: that we might get it.

999
00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 2: So I'm like, yes, we got to win into so Jay.

1000
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,399
Speaker 5: So many times I get calls from founders and they're

1001
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,440
Speaker 5: seeing serenadventures in and I call Serena's like, we're not

1002
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:33,879
Speaker 5: quite in.

1003
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:39,080
Speaker 2: Yet, guessing people like to wave that out exactly. Yeah.

1004
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 5: We usually have millions of people wanting to be like you,

1005
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:43,920
Speaker 5: but in this case, I'll say billions of young people

1006
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:47,240
Speaker 5: that want to be like you. If someone is watching

1007
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:49,920
Speaker 5: or listening and they want to be the next Serena Williams,

1008
00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 5: what advice would you give them?

1009
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:53,040
Speaker 2: Oh easy.

1010
00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 3: It goes back to the very simple advice of work

1011
00:46:55,800 --> 00:47:00,439
Speaker 3: hard nothing and you know, nothing takes place of hard work.

1012
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:03,160
Speaker 3: Like I was telling the story about me in Rome

1013
00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:06,280
Speaker 3: and how like going to breakfast was a thing because

1014
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:09,160
Speaker 3: that's how hard I worked. It doesn't come easy. And

1015
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:11,880
Speaker 3: I work for everything, whether it was winning championships or

1016
00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:14,520
Speaker 3: whether it's being an investor. I went to San Francisco

1017
00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:17,120
Speaker 3: and I worked hard there. I had to fight my

1018
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:20,080
Speaker 3: way to even figure out a way to get the

1019
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:23,480
Speaker 3: idea of what these investments are like. So it's really

1020
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:25,960
Speaker 3: just about hard work. It's nowhere around it. You can't

1021
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:27,560
Speaker 3: go around, you can't go you have to go right

1022
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,120
Speaker 3: through it, and then everything have fall into place.

1023
00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:35,759
Speaker 2: Love that this has been great fun and have fun.

1024
00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 2: Are you having fun? I am yeah. Yeah.

1025
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:43,080
Speaker 3: I think it's important to have fun. But I think

1026
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:45,399
Speaker 3: it's important also to take a moment and just look

1027
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:47,719
Speaker 3: up at the sky and give grace, or look at

1028
00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,319
Speaker 3: a tree and say I'm here, I'm alive today.

1029
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,880
Speaker 2: And I've been doing that lately and that has made.

1030
00:47:52,719 --> 00:47:57,040
Speaker 3: Me just appreciate just being around and that makes my

1031
00:47:57,120 --> 00:47:57,920
Speaker 3: day even better.

1032
00:47:58,120 --> 00:48:00,799
Speaker 2: So it's something new. I'm trying. Sorry, I'm just tired

1033
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:01,080
Speaker 2: to tell you.

1034
00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:04,799
Speaker 5: Gratitude is very powerful, right it is? Thank you, this

1035
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:07,600
Speaker 5: has been awesome, awesome, thank you, thanks for having me that.

1036
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:19,640
Speaker 1: The Deal is a production from Blueberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.

1037
00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:24,239
Speaker 1: The Deals hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. Our

1038
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:28,280
Speaker 1: producers are Victor Veyaz and Lizzie Phillip. Our story editor

1039
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:33,480
Speaker 1: is Sidartha Mahonta. Our assistant producer is Stacy Wong. Blake

1040
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 1: Maples is our sound engineer. Rubob Shakir is our creative director.

1041
00:48:38,680 --> 00:48:43,960
Speaker 1: Our direction is from Jacqueline Kessler. Original music by Blake Maples,

1042
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:48,800
Speaker 1: casting by Dave Warren. Our managing editor is David Ravella.

1043
00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:54,080
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Sage Bauman, Jason Kelly, Adam Kamiski,

1044
00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:59,720
Speaker 1: Brendan Newnam, Kelly Laferrier, Ashley Hoenig, Trey Shallowhorn, Kyle Kramer,

1045
00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:05,960
Speaker 1: and Andrew Bardon. Additional support from Rachel Scarmazino, Elena Los Angeles,

1046
00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:11,040
Speaker 1: Vanessa Perdomo and Anna Masarakis. David Dominguez is our director

1047
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:15,240
Speaker 1: of photography. Our camera operators are Sage Passetti and Angela

1048
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:19,240
Speaker 1: Reyes Latta Our gaffer is Viper Higgins, and our grip

1049
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:24,200
Speaker 1: is Courtney Poyser. Katia Vanoy is our video editor. You

1050
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:27,120
Speaker 1: can also watch the deal on Bloomberg Originals YouTube and

1051
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:30,040
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Television. Thanks for listening.