Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: It's a competition. I loved it.
Speaker 3: It gave me energy, It gives me life in telling
Speaker 3: my story. And also, this isn't about me, and it's
Speaker 3: not about me raising capital. We are investing in women.
Speaker 3: We are investing in people of color. Like that two
Speaker 3: percent is women people of color, women of color is
Speaker 3: less than a fraction. Like if I want to start
Speaker 3: a business and my name isn't Serena Williams, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: have to take something out of my house.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to go to the bank, like I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna not be able to get VC money. But
Speaker 2: we're changing that.
Speaker 4: All right, Alex Serena Williams the goat. I mean, it
Speaker 4: doesn't get any better than her when it comes to
Speaker 4: a professional athlete but also a fascinating business person. You
Speaker 4: guys know each other like you've got to know each other,
Speaker 4: especially as retired athletes, right, I.
Speaker 5: Mean, we know each other very well, and the irony
Speaker 5: is very little to do with baseball or tennis. I
Speaker 5: know Serena as an investor. She's been investing since twenty thirteen,
Speaker 5: and she's passionate and she's good and she's as discipline
Speaker 5: and she has big, big plans which you'll hear about.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean what I took away from this, probably more
Speaker 4: than anything, was how early on she was identifying business
Speaker 4: and even this notion her father essentially saying the majority
Speaker 4: of your money you're going to.
Speaker 2: Make off the court.
Speaker 4: She has a great bit that I won't spoil about
Speaker 4: the checks from the tournaments, but you know this notion
Speaker 4: that she identified early on that there were opportunities fashion
Speaker 4: certainly being one of them.
Speaker 2: But then how she became an investor is so interesting,
Speaker 2: it really is. I know her well and I was
Speaker 2: surprised on how much she opened up. Yeah, but there's
Speaker 2: no doubt that she has the same discipline and passion
Speaker 2: for investing yeah, as she did for being to go
Speaker 2: in tennis.
Speaker 4: And let's keep in mind this is a career during
Speaker 4: which she earned almost half a billion dollars. One of
Speaker 4: her earliest deals is with Puma, and one of the
Speaker 4: things that that does for her is it unlocks her
Speaker 4: potential when it comes to fashion, because all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: she's helping design her own outfits and we know the
Speaker 4: cultural impact what she wore had.
Speaker 5: And I felt that in real time, the impact that
Speaker 5: she made. I also thought it was really interesting mister Williams,
Speaker 5: her father and what impact he had not only a
Speaker 5: great inspiration person for her, but a great teacher in
Speaker 5: life for both girls well.
Speaker 4: And also the idea that her father, who really set
Speaker 4: it all up for them, then essentially said, you manage
Speaker 4: your own money, figure it out. And so clearly that
Speaker 4: was something that drove her to make a lot of
Speaker 4: these key decisions. And then as she's going on in
Speaker 4: her career going to Silicon Valley standing investing, and this
Speaker 4: is something you guys get into and swap notes on
Speaker 4: understanding brands. Bloom is one thing, Nike is a whole
Speaker 4: different thing. You both have a relationship with that company.
Speaker 4: And so her awareness of the power of brands and
Speaker 4: the power of her own brand.
Speaker 5: This is truly a business story. I mean, the father
Speaker 5: is like a great founder. Yes, he was a great visionary,
Speaker 5: he was a great marketer.
Speaker 2: It was brilliant.
Speaker 5: On this episode of the Deal, Serena Williams, all right,
Speaker 5: so please introduce yourself.
Speaker 3: All right, Well that's I never really get asked that,
Speaker 3: but I mean you asked me to come here, so
Speaker 3: I know I'm Serena.
Speaker 2: I like to go by Serena and what else?
Speaker 3: So am I gonna say? That's really putting me on
Speaker 3: the spot.
Speaker 2: How do you how do you describe yourself these days?
Speaker 3: How do I describe myself? I describe myself first as
Speaker 3: a mom. I'm a mom, I'm a businesswoman, and I'm
Speaker 3: a free spirit.
Speaker 2: We'll go with that. You know, this notion of reflecting
Speaker 2: on what you did as an athlete as you look back,
Speaker 2: you know, half a billion dollars in earnings over the
Speaker 2: course of your career. How does that feel as you
Speaker 2: embark even further on your business career, that sort of
Speaker 2: financial success in sports.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know when I started tennis, first of all,
Speaker 3: I'm from Compton, California, and I remember playing on these
Speaker 3: courts and you know, my life was great. I never
Speaker 3: felt like I needed anything, you know, and so for me,
Speaker 3: money was never a motivation. I remember when I first started.
Speaker 3: Back in the day, they used to write out checks
Speaker 3: after you won your tournament, and I would always forget
Speaker 3: to get the checks.
Speaker 2: So at the end of the year they.
Speaker 3: Would always have to say, so we have all these
Speaker 3: checks for you.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my god, So it was you would
Speaker 2: literally forget to pick up the checksually, and.
Speaker 3: At the time I had an accountant who would be like, Serena,
Speaker 3: like they've sent me all these checks that you would
Speaker 3: forget to get from the tournaments. And so so with
Speaker 3: that being said, that was never my motivation. To be honest,
Speaker 3: for my motivation and looking at the success that I
Speaker 3: had financially was never my starting point. My starting point
Speaker 3: was always like, I just want to win championships and
Speaker 3: I want to have fun, and I want to be
Speaker 3: a great tennis player, and quite frankly, I just wanted
Speaker 3: to win a Grand Slam, and I honestly, for me,
Speaker 3: everything else was a bonus.
Speaker 2: And obviously it's great.
Speaker 3: Like you know, I really everything that I have, Believe me,
Speaker 3: I worked really hard for nothing really came for free,
Speaker 3: and nothing came easy. Like I think everything was super
Speaker 3: hard working for me. But it is cool to look
Speaker 3: back and see the success that I've had financially, but
Speaker 3: also multiplying that now and trying to expand that and
Speaker 3: then again just considering like what does that mean for
Speaker 3: me going forward?
Speaker 5: So, Serena, when we were thinking about this show, so
Speaker 5: I started thinking about people that I like, respect, admire,
Speaker 5: in the world of sports, in the world of business.
Speaker 5: And we had a business call recently and I said,
Speaker 5: would you come on our show?
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'm.
Speaker 6: Interested to know what motivates you today when you're used
Speaker 6: to being a champion, used to winning, and so that's
Speaker 6: something that I'm always motivated by is success and what
Speaker 6: a success.
Speaker 3: I think success is different for a lot of people,
Speaker 3: and I think that's one thing that I think a
Speaker 3: lot of people get wrong. For me, success right now
Speaker 3: is having great investments. I think a lot of people's
Speaker 3: success is being a mom or which is super successful
Speaker 3: for me because that's something that I've always wanted to
Speaker 3: do in my life. Or maybe it's getting an A
Speaker 3: on your grades or whatever that is. So I think
Speaker 3: for me, the motivation is definitely success.
Speaker 5: Both of us played for a couple decades right, very public,
Speaker 5: me more domestically, you more around the world. But what's
Speaker 5: interesting is, Jason, you mentioned half a billion dollars. You know,
Speaker 5: for me it was about the same thing, but ninety
Speaker 5: percent of my money came from playing baseball on the
Speaker 5: field with you is ecxact opposite.
Speaker 2: With YOURSS marketing?
Speaker 5: Yeah, how do you think about the impact that you've
Speaker 5: made not only to all your partners, but how the
Speaker 5: ripple effect around the world of the business of Serena.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so different, right.
Speaker 3: I think it's really interesting how I learned early on
Speaker 3: that your paycheck from tennis maybe that's why I forgot them.
Speaker 3: It should be your small should be your smallest earning.
Speaker 3: Oh that's my dad always told me growing up. So
Speaker 3: I always thought, okay, well, you know, partnering with the
Speaker 3: right people and also deciding who do you really want
Speaker 3: to partner with, because for me, it's also about being
Speaker 3: very authentic with those partnerships, not necessarily partnering with a
Speaker 3: company that either doesn't believe in what you're doing.
Speaker 2: Or you don't really use and utilize.
Speaker 3: So I think throughout my whole career, I wanted to
Speaker 3: make sure that those partnerships are very authentic. They spoke
Speaker 3: to me, and they also you know, gave back in
Speaker 3: some sort.
Speaker 2: Of way, shape or form. So fair to say your
Speaker 2: earliest business advice came from your dad. Most of my.
Speaker 3: Business advice came from my dad early on. He is incredibly,
Speaker 3: incredibly smart. I think he is way before his time.
Speaker 3: Everything that he did, I think even when it came
Speaker 3: to marketing us as tennis players. Tennis is a very
Speaker 3: expensive sport and you can't make it from Compton. But
Speaker 3: I think it was his marketing that got us that attention,
Speaker 3: that garnered those press articles that had reporters coming out
Speaker 3: or else we would have a very difficult time getting
Speaker 3: out of that in order to make it. But because
Speaker 3: of the way he thought about it, and because of
Speaker 3: the way social media wasn't a thing back then, So
Speaker 3: because of the way he was getting that attention, it
Speaker 3: was able to push ups, push us up.
Speaker 2: To the top.
Speaker 3: Obviously, our wins counted as well, which helped keep us
Speaker 3: up there in the early ages, like around the junior stage.
Speaker 3: But he always was way ahead of his time when
Speaker 3: it came to marketing and advice and business advice, and
Speaker 3: early on he was like, you know what, you're going
Speaker 3: to manage your own money. Like literally he my first
Speaker 3: checks from whether it was Puma, Like I got these
Speaker 3: huge checks. He's like, you figure it out.
Speaker 2: And so we had to figure it out.
Speaker 3: And I'm literally living at his house in the bedroom.
Speaker 2: And next time, how old are you at this? I
Speaker 2: was sixteen?
Speaker 3: Wow, And he's like, you know, most parents, you know,
Speaker 3: they take your money and oh they take something, but
Speaker 3: you know, he's like, you figure it out. And so
Speaker 3: I remember having to figure that out and having to
Speaker 3: learn how to manage from a very early age and
Speaker 3: not get crazy with it, and so he he empowered.
Speaker 2: Us to do that. You've said that wasn't as much
Speaker 2: about the money.
Speaker 4: It was about validation and putting you in a position
Speaker 4: to be in control in a way that you weren't before.
Speaker 2: Take us back to that mode. That's a fascinating deal.
Speaker 3: Puma is an incredibly fascinating deal. My dad negotiate everything,
Speaker 3: and I have to say Puma was probably about the
Speaker 3: money a little bit forgetting and I was like, it
Speaker 3: was a lot of money. I remember I was sixteen
Speaker 3: years old. I had an opportunity to be with other
Speaker 3: companies but they passed.
Speaker 2: So there was this deal that Reebok.
Speaker 3: Wanted to do with me and Venus combined, and my
Speaker 3: dad and my team was like, we're not going to
Speaker 3: do this. We're not going to package Serena with Venus
Speaker 3: because she's going to be amazing. Thank god that we
Speaker 3: didn't do that. Yeah, So we went to la Arnan.
Speaker 3: Milshan at the time was one of the biggest shareholders
Speaker 3: in Puma. They were all in Hollywood, like he also
Speaker 3: is like New Regency and owns all these it was
Speaker 3: producing all these films. We're in this Hollywood studio, walking
Speaker 3: in the hallway, all these famous movies like Pretty Woman,
Speaker 3: and all these posters are on the wall, and we
Speaker 3: sit in this conference room and we negotiate, and it's
Speaker 3: like literally midnight. I'm sixteen. My dad's negotiating. They're going
Speaker 3: back and forth, and he wants me there for the
Speaker 3: whole time to make sure I know.
Speaker 2: What to do in the future. You're literally falling asleep
Speaker 2: at the table. I pass out. I'm not following asleep.
Speaker 2: I pass out at some point. Wow, you know.
Speaker 3: I eventually wake up and they're still at it, and
Speaker 3: I'm just so upset.
Speaker 2: But what a learning experience.
Speaker 3: I learned so much from that experience, and ever since then,
Speaker 3: I'm usually behind the scenes. I don't do the negotiating,
Speaker 3: but I actually am behind the scenes, but no one
Speaker 3: really knows that it's actually me. It was my agent
Speaker 3: or whoever. If they get a deal, they come to
Speaker 3: me and they say, what do you want to do?
Speaker 3: And I tell them exactly what to do, but they
Speaker 3: obviously deliver the message, but it's super connected. We have
Speaker 3: such a great relationship when it comes to negotiating. They
Speaker 3: really trust my advice and my vision and where to
Speaker 3: go with it. And all start at such a young age.
Speaker 3: But I also learned from that task for Equity because
Speaker 3: I didn't at that time, which I.
Speaker 2: Probably should have.
Speaker 3: And then I ran into our non year a couple
Speaker 3: of years ago and he's like, yeah, you should have
Speaker 3: did equity. I'm like, thanks, are not you know you
Speaker 3: should have said it. It's like no way, I'm like okay.
Speaker 3: But it was also a really good opportunity to see
Speaker 3: how you can amplify a complete brand and what you know,
Speaker 3: I was able to help amplify that brand a lot.
Speaker 2: Because there was a little bit of risk on both sides.
Speaker 3: It was it was I was the younger sister at
Speaker 3: the time. No one, you know, understood that you could
Speaker 3: have siblings that play sport and they can both be great,
Speaker 3: and at that point it was always just one or
Speaker 3: the other, and so Venus was an amazing athlete, and
Speaker 3: so it was like, you know, they can't be possibly
Speaker 3: be another one. So it was a big chance for Puma.
Speaker 3: But also I was, you know, doing really amazing things
Speaker 3: at winning and I won a Grand Slam less than
Speaker 3: a year later after signing, So not a lot of
Speaker 3: risk for them, not a lot of risks really, but
Speaker 3: and I think they saw that it was a lot
Speaker 3: of potential.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they saw it early on.
Speaker 5: I remember, I don't know a lot about tennis, you know,
Speaker 5: but what I do good because I.
Speaker 2: Don't know a lot about baseball.
Speaker 5: I know that, I know that, but we already know this.
Speaker 5: This is more for the audience. But one of the
Speaker 5: things I remember when I was like twenty five twenty six,
Speaker 5: I always used to remember you not for your great plays,
Speaker 5: but for your fashion. Oh yeah, And I just thought,
Speaker 5: like I wanted to see what Serena was wearing a
Speaker 5: yet dresser and what pumas And I just thought that,
Speaker 5: and then the winter connection. What is it about fashion
Speaker 5: that motivates you? Because you've always been on point?
Speaker 3: So you know, my mom used to sew our outfits
Speaker 3: when we were younger, and I remember some of our
Speaker 3: earliest tournament outfits my mom used to make. And so
Speaker 3: she would be cutting patterns and at the time, they're
Speaker 3: called these vogue patterns out and she would put them
Speaker 3: together and she would sew our tennis outfits or some
Speaker 3: other school outfits or whatever. That's always been a natural
Speaker 3: attachment to fashion. And eventually I learned how to sew
Speaker 3: and how to make things from old socks, and then
Speaker 3: eventually I would use old clothes when I was literally
Speaker 3: living in Compton and just learned how to do the
Speaker 3: craft right.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of how it started.
Speaker 3: And eventually I went to fashion school, which is a
Speaker 3: whole story in its own.
Speaker 2: I feel like I have a zillion stories.
Speaker 4: We're here for them, but how much times us as
Speaker 4: you are, it.
Speaker 3: Was gonna have to be like a two part session.
Speaker 3: And so then yeah, so eventually I went to fashion school.
Speaker 3: And then one thing I did love and when I
Speaker 3: first came out with Pumas, that gave me like a
Speaker 3: lot of opportunities to design some of the stuff that
Speaker 3: I was wearing, or at least say like this is.
Speaker 2: What I want to wear. And I knew that.
Speaker 3: Listen, I don't look like everyone else out here, I
Speaker 3: don't play like everyone else, and I'm different.
Speaker 2: It's clear that I'm different.
Speaker 3: I am a black girl and I'm playing tennis, and
Speaker 3: so I need to stand out. I don't want to
Speaker 3: wear the same kind of outfits that everyone else was wearing,
Speaker 3: and so Puma understood that, and then that kind of
Speaker 3: started the craze. And obviously Nike came on right after
Speaker 3: and just amplified at times a zillion, which made it
Speaker 3: even more cool. Which made me wear like a jean
Speaker 3: skirt in New York, which was kind of one of
Speaker 3: my favorite oullis. I was insane. I still can't believe
Speaker 3: when I did that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I should have won that year. But anyway, but.
Speaker 4: Let's talk about some of those specific fashion choices. The
Speaker 4: one that I think so many people remember is the catsuit.
Speaker 2: The catsue was legendary, So.
Speaker 4: Like, take us back to that moment, like that choice,
Speaker 4: Like what does that feel like when.
Speaker 2: You put that on?
Speaker 4: Because you have said I love this quote from you.
Speaker 4: It says when there was an edge to how I look,
Speaker 4: there was an edge to my game.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, So that choice was definitely a Puma designer and
Speaker 3: she was like, we want you to do this cat
Speaker 3: suit and I was like, whoa, this is crazy, this
Speaker 3: is so cool. So the US Open came and I
Speaker 3: put it on. I was like, I'm not doing this
Speaker 3: and I took it off. I was like I can't
Speaker 3: do this. I can't do this, and so I had
Speaker 3: a second outfit in case I didn't want to wear
Speaker 3: the cat suit, which if you look at the Open
Speaker 3: in that year, I think it was two thousand and two.
Speaker 3: I actually wore the second outfit in the second round,
Speaker 3: but I was like, no, I can't do that anymore.
Speaker 3: I need to wear that. I need to own this catsuit.
Speaker 3: I need to own it. So yeah, it was just
Speaker 3: a really wild experience. But anyway, I took it off
Speaker 3: and I was like, I can't do this, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: I need to focus on my game, not on my outfit.
Speaker 3: As I'm walking out on the court, and I asked
Speaker 3: a few girls in the locker room what they think,
Speaker 3: and they're like, oh.
Speaker 2: That's crazy. You can't wear that. You can't wear that.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh, I know, I know. And for
Speaker 3: whatever reason, right before walk off, I just changed really fast.
Speaker 3: I threw the cat suit on, I zipped it up,
Speaker 3: and I just walked out.
Speaker 2: It was just like, oh my god. And then it
Speaker 2: was just it was no looking back after that.
Speaker 4: Really, So did it feel as no important in the moment?
Speaker 4: It didn't know Okay, you didn't know because that changed
Speaker 4: me everything.
Speaker 3: I always say, that's how that's when I got famous.
Speaker 3: Wasn't the six Grand slams I won before that?
Speaker 2: It was a cat suit? Yeah, I mean I was
Speaker 2: pretty young.
Speaker 3: And again, there was not a lot of stuff around
Speaker 3: body positivity at that time. For a body, they looked
Speaker 3: like mine in sport, because every woman at that time,
Speaker 3: not every woman, but a lot of women at that
Speaker 3: time had a different type.
Speaker 2: Of figure than I did. And so I was really different.
Speaker 3: I was basically a lone soldier and it was just
Speaker 3: me and even my sister looked like the typical athlete
Speaker 3: that was just amazing and long and lean, and I
Speaker 3: was just totally different.
Speaker 2: And so it was.
Speaker 3: Without knowing, it was really leaning into that. And and
Speaker 3: again I didn't know, I was just doing it. And
Speaker 3: then it was a lot of memes, even before memes
Speaker 3: were memes, right right.
Speaker 5: You looked amazing, Okay, I remember, I mean at that
Speaker 5: time it was no Instagram, but you broke the internet.
Speaker 2: It was Google everywhere.
Speaker 5: And I remember a lot of my teammates and buddies
Speaker 5: from back home sending me the picture saying, look how
Speaker 5: fly she looks?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 5: But in baseball, Jason it sounds like it's the same
Speaker 5: thing in tennis, where you look good.
Speaker 2: You feel good, absolutely good.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I love that because that's exactly how I
Speaker 5: felt as a player.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, But I think we shouldn't underestimate the cultural power
Speaker 4: that that moment had.
Speaker 3: And it crossed so many people that weren't watching tennis, right,
Speaker 3: people outside that were okay, maybe incompetent because we were
Speaker 3: from there, but like every neighborhood at that point was
Speaker 3: watching it. But it just crossed all borders and many
Speaker 3: people from all walks of life want and just kind
Speaker 3: of watched tennis. And it was just like being that
Speaker 3: cultural person to bring in people that don't normally watch
Speaker 3: the sport. Again, I didn't understand at the time, but
Speaker 3: seeing later on and even the people that started playing
Speaker 3: tennis after that, and the people that are currently playing
Speaker 3: because of myself and my sister, It all start at
Speaker 3: these moments. It's crazy to think about I've never even
Speaker 3: voiced this stuff, like, oh my god.
Speaker 2: But that, I mean, it changes the business of tennis. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: also changes the business of Serena, right, I mean, it
Speaker 2: elevates you because again, I feel like we need to
Speaker 2: keep stating it's a given what you were doing on
Speaker 2: the court, that the impact you were having off the.
Speaker 4: Court just becomes magnified. To your point, what does it
Speaker 4: feel like as that is starting to take root.
Speaker 3: It definitely feels different as that starts to take place.
Speaker 3: There were more contracts and more deals coming in and
Speaker 3: more time.
Speaker 2: But that's what it is about.
Speaker 3: Right Again, I'm thinking I was when I was really young,
Speaker 3: that you make your money off the court ten it
Speaker 3: should be your smallest check in our sport at that time,
Speaker 3: and so I'm thinking, okay, this is again, this is
Speaker 3: what my dad was talking about, like how did he
Speaker 3: know so? And then it was also leaning into these
Speaker 3: designs even more after the cat suit, it was even
Speaker 3: more about leaning into that and how I want to
Speaker 3: make my impact. I think that's about the time I
Speaker 3: started going to fashion school and trying to understand how
Speaker 3: did I want to make my.
Speaker 2: Impact off the court?
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it was always about having a plan B,
Speaker 3: even though I didn't necessarily need it, but it was
Speaker 3: just something etched in my head my dad. You could fall,
Speaker 3: anything could happen, you could break your ankle. You have
Speaker 3: to have something to fall back on. And so all
Speaker 3: these moments in the back of my mind are like, Okay, well,
Speaker 3: this is something that I can kind of do in
Speaker 3: the future.
Speaker 2: Coming up.
Speaker 4: Serena talks about how she got into investing, how she
Speaker 4: signed with Nike, and how she met and works with
Speaker 4: her husband, Alexi so Henian.
Speaker 5: I remember a story with Phil Knight. And I was
Speaker 5: with Nike ever since I was seventeen years old, and
Speaker 5: we had kN Griffith Junior and our team, and at
Speaker 5: the time he was like the Michael Jordan. And I
Speaker 5: was telling Uncle Phil, like, I want my own shoe
Speaker 5: like Griffy. And at that time we had Jordan, we
Speaker 5: had Griffy and that was the gold standard.
Speaker 2: And I'll never forget.
Speaker 5: We went to breakfast on a Saturday morning in Beverly
Speaker 5: Hills and I said, Phil, when am I going to
Speaker 5: get my own shoe? And he says, Alex, if you
Speaker 5: get to a primary market. At the time I was
Speaker 5: in Seattle, I would redo your deal and I rewrite
Speaker 5: your contract. And I said, well, define a big market.
Speaker 5: He said, New York, La Chicago. I said, okay. The
Speaker 5: day I got where, George Steiermanter called me and traded
Speaker 5: me to New York. I got a call from Phil
Speaker 5: Knight and he said gay on wow and because of
Speaker 5: his loyalty, no contract, just a handshake. I've been with
Speaker 5: Nika since. I've never worn another shoe. But when I
Speaker 5: got to New York, I sends things were different, the impact,
Speaker 5: all the opportunities that came. When did you feel that
Speaker 5: things were different and that whatever brand you went with
Speaker 5: actually had a riple effect not only domestically but around
Speaker 5: the world.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think things got really different. I do remember,
Speaker 3: actually now that you mentioned, I actually forgot about the
Speaker 3: Seattle Mariners.
Speaker 2: Yeah, here you go. She's a baseball ye.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, but I definitely remember you more in New
Speaker 3: York and how that that whole world kind of exploded
Speaker 3: after that. But for me, I feel like everything changed
Speaker 3: after that cat suit, and not because of the catsuit.
Speaker 3: I think it was me winning the French Open, Wimbledon
Speaker 3: and the US opened in the same year. It's been
Speaker 3: years and years and years since anyone had done that,
Speaker 3: and winning those three Grand Slams in a row. And
Speaker 3: I have to say, at the time, there was so
Speaker 3: many great tennis players. There was Lindsay Davenport, there was
Speaker 3: Martina Hingis, there was Venus Williams, there was Monica sells
Speaker 3: and to dominate at that time with everyone that was
Speaker 3: so great was just unheard of. And so I think
Speaker 3: winning that US Open just solidified everything and the outfit
Speaker 3: and it.
Speaker 2: Was like, well, this, this, this, this kid is amazing.
Speaker 2: How do I change that?
Speaker 3: How do I say, Okay, tennis is great, but how
Speaker 3: do I extend that? And how do I expand that
Speaker 3: outside of tennis? Just understanding that pop culture and then
Speaker 3: get invited to different things and I would be like,
Speaker 3: oh wow, I'm at the Larius Awards or I'm here
Speaker 3: and I'm actually winning these awards and you know, except
Speaker 3: for the one, and I'm still bitter about I'm not
Speaker 3: competitive at all, definitely not.
Speaker 2: It doesn't play with me at all. And so how
Speaker 2: do you take advantage of that?
Speaker 4: Like what's the process by which means you've been with
Speaker 4: Jill for a long time, Jill Smuller, are the conversations different?
Speaker 2: Are your ambitions growing? Like?
Speaker 4: How do you activate that moment where you are blowing
Speaker 4: up even more?
Speaker 3: Well, Jill has been amazing. I feel like leaning into
Speaker 3: having someone a woman in that position, I think, quite frankly,
Speaker 3: maybe things would have been different if I had a
Speaker 3: guy like maybe I would have had an extra deal
Speaker 3: or two, but it was really about leaning in into
Speaker 3: having a woman on my team. Interesting owning that we
Speaker 3: got ours when the time was due, when the time
Speaker 3: was ready, but it was sometimes where we had to
Speaker 3: fight a little bit extra. It's really just about really
Speaker 3: empowering not only yourself but people around you and your
Speaker 3: team as well. Jill's works at w ME. Amazing agent there.
Speaker 3: I don't even like that word, actually, but I don't know.
Speaker 3: I haven't been able to find a different word.
Speaker 2: Really.
Speaker 3: I think your partner exactly like a partner. And how
Speaker 3: long have you guys been, Oh, since two thousand, that's
Speaker 3: in question. It's been an incredibly long time. But it
Speaker 3: really was important to be able to expand and really
Speaker 3: start to think about what other what other things can
Speaker 3: you touch, what other things can you do, and how
Speaker 3: to go about doing that. So then you have to
Speaker 3: work from a plan, and then I would have a list,
Speaker 3: like I want to be with At the time, I
Speaker 3: wasn't with Gatorade, and I was like, my lifelong.
Speaker 2: Dream was to be with Gatorade. Because I remember.
Speaker 3: Walking around the corner from my tennis court, not my
Speaker 3: tennis court, the community court in Compton. We would walk
Speaker 3: to the convenience store and my dad would buy one
Speaker 3: Gatorade in a can and we would all have to
Speaker 3: share it. And it was like, I've always loved that,
Speaker 3: and I've always loved that story and I've always loved Gatorade.
Speaker 2: And I would always.
Speaker 3: See the mic I want to be like Mike commercials
Speaker 3: and I was like, I want that, and so I
Speaker 3: would always we would always come together and say, what
Speaker 3: are some things that you want to do in corporate?
Speaker 2: If it was corporate with corporate companies you want to
Speaker 2: be with? And does that resonate with you?
Speaker 4: I mean, because I'm sitting between these two very deliberate
Speaker 4: business people who have cott into this from an early
Speaker 4: I mean, do you remember identifying brands that you wanted.
Speaker 2: To be with? Because it sounds like you had a
Speaker 2: literal list.
Speaker 5: I mean, for me, Gatoray is another one, because I
Speaker 5: believe I was. I won the Gatorade Player of the
Speaker 5: Year in high school and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 5: that's so cool. That's the first big award that I
Speaker 5: want nationally, and of course I want to be like
Speaker 5: my campaign was huge it still is to this day,
Speaker 5: but for me, it was Nike. Nike to me was
Speaker 5: the ultimate north Star because Michael jordan' woard right and
Speaker 5: we all want to be like those. I looked up
Speaker 5: to Michael and Magic and Bird.
Speaker 2: Everyone looked up to Michael, A girl, a guy, whatever.
Speaker 2: Who did you look up to? Who inspired you when
Speaker 2: it came to branding? Michael Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3: I think he really was able to do branding in
Speaker 3: a different way, and the plumb that he has walking
Speaker 3: around is just second to none tennis wise. I was
Speaker 3: actually inspired by Monica Sellis.
Speaker 2: I just liked her.
Speaker 3: I thought she was really cool and I liked how
Speaker 3: she grunts.
Speaker 2: I do have a question.
Speaker 5: Was there a call where Joe called you and she said, I, Serena,
Speaker 5: we got this company, and this is what they're willing
Speaker 5: to pay you, And you said, what they're willing to
Speaker 5: pay me that much? I've had moments like that, but
Speaker 5: more than if you had a moment.
Speaker 3: I guess yes, I've definitely had that. And I'm like,
Speaker 3: let's start at yes, but let's not seem desperate. Let's
Speaker 3: let's wait at least at least an hour. Now, let's
Speaker 3: wait at least a few days to call him back.
Speaker 4: And so let's talk about Nike for a second, because
Speaker 4: obviously Puma does one thing, as you've alluded to, Nike
Speaker 4: does something altogether. Absolutely, what was that negotiation, Like, what
Speaker 4: do you remember about sort of getting into business with them?
Speaker 3: So I just remember I wanted to be with Nike.
Speaker 3: I had always wanted to be with Nike from day one,
Speaker 3: even before signing with Puma, I was wearing Nike just
Speaker 3: because I would buy it and then I would just
Speaker 3: you know, hopefully like sending some messages like I'm your girl,
Speaker 3: I'm your girl, like you know, hello. So that was
Speaker 3: always a company that I've wanted to be with. I
Speaker 3: think they have an opportunity to market especially at the time.
Speaker 3: It's just like, you know, if you want to be
Speaker 3: the best, then you have to wear Nike. That was
Speaker 3: seared in my mind. I wanted to be the best,
Speaker 3: and I think the best. They had the best stuff,
Speaker 3: they had the best marketing, They had an opportunity to
Speaker 3: put you As we talk briefly globally, and because tennis
Speaker 3: is not just in the United States, it's Australia, it's England,
Speaker 3: it's Italy, it's China, it's literally everywhere on the globe.
Speaker 3: And can think of just a handful of companies that
Speaker 3: can reach that far. And so for me, I wanted
Speaker 3: to reach that far, and I wanted to be with
Speaker 3: a company that could amplify that. And I'm not necessarily
Speaker 3: amplifying them. I wanted them to amplify me.
Speaker 2: You talked about this moment in tennis that I want
Speaker 2: to dwell in.
Speaker 4: For a second, because you're right, there are a lot
Speaker 4: of great players, but you very quickly just overcome all
Speaker 4: of them. You did something market and notable for the
Speaker 4: business of tennis, for viewership, for attendance, for branding off
Speaker 4: the court. Was that apparent to you at the time
Speaker 4: or is it only apparent in retrospect.
Speaker 3: No, it was very apparent, Yeah, because you would see
Speaker 3: matches if I wasn't at a tournament, or Venus wasn't
Speaker 3: at a tournament, the attendance was just different. And years
Speaker 3: that I was injured, oh God, or years that stay
Speaker 3: professionals arena don't say that years that I was injured,
Speaker 3: or years that you know, I didn't play. You could
Speaker 3: just see the difference of you know, people that were
Speaker 3: attending the matches or viewers.
Speaker 4: The US Open is my favorite tennis tournament. It is
Speaker 4: the most electric setting and then it's like the wattage
Speaker 4: is turned up when you walk out.
Speaker 2: That's just again, that's factual. I have to say.
Speaker 3: You feel that I took on a lot of that
Speaker 3: pressure as the years continued. After ten years, you know,
Speaker 3: I would feel that pressure of like, okay, it's it's
Speaker 3: Serena going to be in New York and right it's
Speaker 3: it was. It was like not the not the Serena Open,
Speaker 3: but it was still like a lot of attention on
Speaker 3: you know, myself, right, and Venus too, But it was
Speaker 3: a lot of attention on.
Speaker 4: Me because the numbers are one thing, and the numbers
Speaker 4: are great, but what's the Serene effect on Serena? You know,
Speaker 4: like that pressure then in the in the sense of
Speaker 4: you know that if you show up, that's better for tennis,
Speaker 4: that's better for the the owner of the tournament.
Speaker 2: I think that I try to always remain humble.
Speaker 3: I don't I didn't go in the tournament thinking that
Speaker 3: the US Open is still going on and I'm not
Speaker 3: playing sadly, but and it's still going to be there
Speaker 3: with or without me. So I always had that view
Speaker 3: and I always knew that, but at the same time,
Speaker 3: I also did know that for this amount of time, however,
Speaker 3: that's going to be, it's going to be super amp
Speaker 3: fire and it's not easy, but you do walk in
Speaker 3: with your chest a little farther out, in your head
Speaker 3: a little higher, because also you are a target. You know,
Speaker 3: everyone right at the end of the day isn't really
Speaker 3: happy that you're on the front page of all these papers,
Speaker 3: and you know, they're just like they want that, And
Speaker 3: a part of me is like, take it, because it's
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure and it's a lot to hold
Speaker 3: when you lose. Is losing is way bigger news than winning,
Speaker 3: Like if I want to match, it's almost last page.
Speaker 3: And yeah, but if it's if I lose, it's like
Speaker 3: front center. So you don't want that story. And so
Speaker 3: having a lot of that pressure is definitely not fun.
Speaker 3: But it's also a privilege, you know, and I think
Speaker 3: it's I would definitely prefer that pressure then not, if
Speaker 3: that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pressure is a privilege. It's right there right when
Speaker 2: you walk out of the cot.
Speaker 3: Wow, it is your New York is your favorite turn.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 5: But Jayson, I want to segue to business because I
Speaker 5: wasn't a call with Serena early on, and I was like, wow,
Speaker 5: I wasn't expecting that, And not because I had a judgment.
Speaker 2: You know, I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why
Speaker 2: because the.
Speaker 5: Questions you were asking were so thorough, you had done
Speaker 5: your due diligence. You were asking things about it has
Speaker 5: to fit with my brand, And I knew you would
Speaker 5: know all the numbers, but I didn't know how authentic
Speaker 5: you were going to be and how sincerely deeply in
Speaker 5: the weeds you would be. Where too much? But where
Speaker 5: does that come from? Is it from your playing days?
Speaker 5: Asenially details?
Speaker 3: I feel like, yeah, I'm super tending to detail. I
Speaker 3: feel like I've always excelled at education and I love learning,
Speaker 3: and so yeah, so for me when it comes to
Speaker 3: my business, And like I said, I think we decided
Speaker 3: I was too much in the weeds and like, literally,
Speaker 3: what are you talking about? Like being on calls with
Speaker 3: founders and actually helping founders understand like why their business
Speaker 3: isn't working and why it's not successful or you know,
Speaker 3: like literally on every call if we have calls every
Speaker 3: six weeks, I own that company. So not own the company,
Speaker 3: but I'm the representative for the company from my firms
Speaker 3: as sv CER and Adventures, and so I'm like literally
Speaker 3: on the calls. I'm literally helping them understand how their fundraise.
Speaker 3: I'm looking at their decks and so it's a lot.
Speaker 2: So I decide, Okay, that's too much. I can't go
Speaker 2: on like this.
Speaker 3: But I truly love investing yea, And that's one thing
Speaker 3: that I kind of fell in love with from tennis.
Speaker 3: I would see these sponsors because tennis is all sponsor based,
Speaker 3: and I would see like some of these sponsors come up.
Speaker 3: But I'm like, well, I have some little cash, Like
Speaker 3: how did I not invest in Facebook?
Speaker 2: How I invest in airbnber? How did I miss.
Speaker 3: Google or like you know, all these companies. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you ever thought of that, but I'm.
Speaker 2: Like, I missed a bunch, how like why?
Speaker 3: And I started to ask these questions, like why am
Speaker 3: I out here breaking my neck and sweating when I
Speaker 3: could have invested in these companies and I could still
Speaker 3: be doing the same thing, but I wouldn't have to
Speaker 3: be such dire.
Speaker 2: I've got to win us this year. I've got a
Speaker 2: padies bills.
Speaker 3: So I literally would be on the court looking at
Speaker 3: these sponsors, thinking how did I miss this? And so
Speaker 3: I started asking questions and I went to at the
Speaker 3: time San Francisco Silicon area. Back then it was a
Speaker 3: super Boys club.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I would ask questions.
Speaker 3: I remember even just sitting in Pinterest at the time
Speaker 3: one day and just learning from the founder there and
Speaker 3: just just just being a sponge and just trying to
Speaker 3: understand the business, understand stand investing, understand all this stuff
Speaker 3: a little bit more.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of how it all started.
Speaker 4: Unfortunately, to your point about the Bay Area and underrepresentation
Speaker 4: still there. Oh is it two percent of VC funding
Speaker 4: less goes to women, you know, even fewer when you
Speaker 4: when you start to go to other categoryories of underrepresentation?
Speaker 4: Was that part of the DNA of Serena Ventures from
Speaker 4: the beginning?
Speaker 2: How did that all?
Speaker 3: Another story? If you guys want to hear it.
Speaker 2: So I started, We're literally here for your stories.
Speaker 3: So I started investing, and then I somehow got into
Speaker 3: early stage investing.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that it was called early stage.
Speaker 3: I just liked companies that were starting, and then I
Speaker 3: liked growing them. One of them was Masterclass. I remember
Speaker 3: meeting the guys. David is, one of the founders and
Speaker 3: it was a room about this size, but this is
Speaker 3: all they had and they didn't have anything else, and
Speaker 3: this is where Masterclass was. And I fell in love
Speaker 3: with the concept. I felt loved what they were doing
Speaker 3: and I was like, I want to be a pier
Speaker 3: of this. And so it was just finding several different
Speaker 3: companies like that in Masterclass obviously became Masterclass.
Speaker 2: Ye.
Speaker 3: And one day I was at a conference at JP
Speaker 3: Morgan and Jamie Diamond was on stage and he was
Speaker 3: talking to this woman named Karen Sideman Becker. But she's
Speaker 3: on stage and she's talking about women and VC and
Speaker 3: how women get less than two percent of all VC money.
Speaker 3: But I'm thinking, she misspoke. That's so embarrassing, Like I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 2: For her, right right, right.
Speaker 3: But that's how people should think about it. But this
Speaker 3: is genuine, My genuine thoughts is that she misspoke. So
Speaker 3: me being me, after she was done, I go up
Speaker 3: to her and I'm like, hi, yeah, I'm Serena. And
Speaker 3: then I'm like, well, you've said something on stage and
Speaker 3: I don't know if you meant to say this or
Speaker 3: if you can said the number wrong, but something about
Speaker 3: two percent less than two percent, And she was like,
Speaker 3: you know, Karen, so she's like the woman I dream
Speaker 3: of being, and she's just like she just tells me everything,
Speaker 3: and she just gives me all this amazing information the
Speaker 3: span of ten minutes, and I'm like, I didn't know.
Speaker 3: And so that's how Stain Adventures happened from that moment before,
Speaker 3: and I was like, I need to start an investment
Speaker 3: company and I'm not going to be able to change it,
Speaker 3: but the platform can help other people talk about it
Speaker 3: and change it. And so that's when from that point
Speaker 3: three years before, I actually raised a fund. So I
Speaker 3: worked on doing more deals, ended up getting about sixteen
Speaker 3: unicorns and my portfolio so that way I would have
Speaker 3: a good track record because I knew it wouldn't be
Speaker 3: probably easy for us to raise a.
Speaker 2: Fund first go around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, until you get to know me and you get
Speaker 3: to know the story, and you need to know all
Speaker 3: the investments that I had done.
Speaker 2: And that's what happened.
Speaker 5: So, Serena, as I hear you speaking, I can't help
Speaker 5: but think about like when I transitioned from baseball to business,
Speaker 5: and it's quite daunting, and I know for me there
Speaker 5: was some imposter syndrome.
Speaker 2: But we're both former athletes.
Speaker 5: I'm a man of color, you're a woman of color
Speaker 5: as you enter the world of capital raising, which is
Speaker 5: very difficult, especially when you haven't had the track record
Speaker 5: early on.
Speaker 2: Yep, how did that make.
Speaker 5: You feel when you went to LP's potential piece to
Speaker 5: raise capital.
Speaker 2: It's a competition. I loved it.
Speaker 3: It's what I It gave me energy. It gives me
Speaker 3: life in telling me n story. And also this isn't
Speaker 3: about me, and it's not about me raising capital. We
Speaker 3: are investing in women. We are investing in people of color.
Speaker 3: Like that two percent is women people of color. Women
Speaker 3: of color is less than a fraction, right, Like, if
Speaker 3: I want to start a business and my name isn't
Speaker 3: Serena Williams, I'm gonna have to take something out of
Speaker 3: my house.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to go to the bank.
Speaker 3: Like it's not I'm not gonna be I'm just gonna
Speaker 3: not be able to get VC money.
Speaker 2: But we're changing that.
Speaker 3: And we don't only invest in women, we don't only
Speaker 3: invest in people of color. But we're putting that on
Speaker 3: a platform. Our portfolio right now as it stands as
Speaker 3: sixty eight percent women are person of color, and that
Speaker 3: is unheard of in the VC world, and so for me,
Speaker 3: it's all about diversity and bringing everyone together. We invest
Speaker 3: in literally everyone. We don't care what you look like,
Speaker 3: but we hear your story. If you're a woman, we
Speaker 3: hear your story if you're a personal color. And a
Speaker 3: lot of people that look like me don't even get
Speaker 3: their story heard. And so when you do go to
Speaker 3: these LPs and you genuinely tell them a story, if
Speaker 3: they pass, they pass, but at least you get them
Speaker 3: thinking to get them here, and maybe they'll invest in
Speaker 3: another fund that is doing the same thing, maybe that
Speaker 3: has been around a little bit longer, with the track
Speaker 3: record a little bit longer, but they'll come.
Speaker 2: Around to us at some point. And that's kind of
Speaker 2: how I feel.
Speaker 3: But I love talking to LPs and just getting that
Speaker 3: story told on a platform that a lot of people
Speaker 3: don't have, And so that is it's super amazing for us.
Speaker 4: The barriers you and your sister and your dad broke
Speaker 4: down when it came to tennis. Does it feel like
Speaker 4: there's a parallel to what you're trying to do in business?
Speaker 2: It does, and I don't want it to be.
Speaker 3: You know, my daughter wants to do a sport, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, you have to do a sport that's you're
Speaker 3: not breaking down barriers because mom has already done that
Speaker 3: and you don't need to do that. And so somehow
Speaker 3: I find myself in a similar story without trying. I
Speaker 3: think eventually you're just drawn to, you know, whatever you're
Speaker 3: drawn to, and without me realizing it, I was always
Speaker 3: drawn to this space and it put me here and
Speaker 3: I'm not going to change. I am get a step
Speaker 3: back up taking your advice, like, oh my goodness, already done.
Speaker 3: But the impact will always be there and the impact
Speaker 3: will continue to be there, and I look forward to that.
Speaker 4: Your dad was a partner, your sister was a partner,
Speaker 4: and now Alexis is clearly a life partner. But also
Speaker 4: I'm fascinated and I think alex Is too about you know,
Speaker 4: these two entities, these two business entities sort of coming together.
Speaker 4: And I wonder, because it's apparent to us as we
Speaker 4: look at it, the influence you've had on each other
Speaker 4: in terms of investments, What do you think your influence
Speaker 4: has been on him?
Speaker 3: Well, I think my influence on him is just he
Speaker 3: really wants that success. He really wants to be seen
Speaker 3: as that best investor, and he is. He's such a
Speaker 3: great investor, and I'm like, you already have that, but
Speaker 3: he wants it to be even more amplified.
Speaker 2: And also just.
Speaker 3: Explaining to him and just giving him my insights of,
Speaker 3: you know, how to play the game, because you have
Speaker 3: to be able to play the game, whether you're investing
Speaker 3: or whether you are in sport. It's it's who plays
Speaker 3: the game the best. And some of the greatest businessmen
Speaker 3: and investors play the game better than someone who actually
Speaker 3: might be better and smarter. And with him, we met
Speaker 3: because we were talking about investments all these years ago.
Speaker 2: That's how you met, That's how we met. Yeah, we
Speaker 2: just got to tell us that story.
Speaker 3: Okay, you asked, you know, I told you I have
Speaker 3: a lot of stories. So I was in Italy at
Speaker 3: a tournament, and I'd been in Europe for a few
Speaker 3: weeks at that point. And then when you hear an
Speaker 3: American accent, when you haven't heard it for a few weeks,
Speaker 3: it's like refreshing. And so all week at this particular
Speaker 3: hotel where you were staying at, there is these American
Speaker 3: people that were here for a tech conference. And so anyway,
Speaker 3: so fast forward to a couple days later, I have
Speaker 3: a match that day, and I'm so focused when I play
Speaker 3: a match, like I literally would never leave the room.
Speaker 3: I would watch film all day and I would be
Speaker 3: in my room. And it was a night match, and
Speaker 3: night matches are extremely stressful for me mentally because I'm
Speaker 3: having to be in the room from like until six
Speaker 3: pm or five pm. So I'm like, I don't want
Speaker 3: to be in the room till five pm today for
Speaker 3: by chance.
Speaker 2: So I was like, I just can't do this today.
Speaker 2: I just can't.
Speaker 3: So I left to go downstairs at breakfast. Now this
Speaker 3: is crazy, like come on, I mean I literally would
Speaker 3: even eat breakfast in my room.
Speaker 2: I would never be seen. I was a ghost.
Speaker 3: So I went to have breakfast. Who wow, that's such
Speaker 3: a big thing what it was in my world. So
Speaker 3: I went downstairs and that was late for breakfast. I
Speaker 3: didn't go downstairs to eleven because I was just fighting
Speaker 3: with myself if I was like I should be I
Speaker 3: should be studying. That's how hard I was on myself.
Speaker 3: So I went down late, breakfast was closed, and they
Speaker 3: sent me to a different restaurant across the way, which
Speaker 3: had like a pool, and so I went to this
Speaker 3: other restaurant with this massive pool. There's all these chairs
Speaker 3: and there's all these tables, and there's this pool and
Speaker 3: there's an other side of the pool there's chairs.
Speaker 2: And so we're the only people.
Speaker 3: It's me, Jill and my assistant at the time, and
Speaker 3: he was Australian that's going.
Speaker 2: To come back to.
Speaker 3: So we sit down the only people there, and we
Speaker 3: order our breakfast and we're just talking and laughing and
Speaker 3: this guy walks in with the computer and he sits
Speaker 3: down right next to us, at the table, right next
Speaker 3: to us, and I'm like so upset. I'm like, do
Speaker 3: you see how big this area is? B like, do
Speaker 3: I look? Does it look like we want people next
Speaker 3: to us?
Speaker 2: Like? It's huge?
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh my goodness. So my assistant at
Speaker 3: the time his name was Zane. He's like, and it
Speaker 3: there's a allfl accent. I'll see, access is the worst.
Speaker 3: And there's a rat over there, and he's saying that
Speaker 3: there's a rat. There's a rat, because we're trying to
Speaker 3: get him to go away.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: And then he looks up and he's like, is there
Speaker 3: really a rat?
Speaker 2: And he's is it really a rat?
Speaker 3: Because I'm from Brooklyn and I'm not afraid of rats.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, you're for Brooklyn. So that's
Speaker 3: how we started talking. And then so he said, I
Speaker 3: was like, what are you here for? And he's like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm here for the conference. It's like, oh, cool, who
Speaker 3: are you here to see? And he's like, oh, I'm
Speaker 3: not seeing anybody. I'm speaking. I mean, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 3: this guy has excuse me. And anyway, he started talking
Speaker 3: about he did read it, and he started read it
Speaker 3: and then of course I hadn't heard of it.
Speaker 2: But you know, now you get to know me. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I don't hear of anything.
Speaker 5: It's right, right, right, But what's interesting about this? Like Jace,
Speaker 5: I've been in a lot of calls in zooms with
Speaker 5: Serena and a lot of calls with Alexis. And by
Speaker 5: the way, they're both so different, but they compliment each
Speaker 5: other so well, and they'll never mention they're each other's partners.
Speaker 5: They keep it so professional in their lane, but then
Speaker 5: when they come together.
Speaker 2: They keep it a very church and state.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, so what if you've learned from him as
Speaker 4: an investor, we keep it very church and state.
Speaker 3: But I do go to him for advice. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 3: so what do you think about this and how do
Speaker 3: you build these deals? I always pick his brain when
Speaker 3: it comes on building a team. I think he builds
Speaker 3: incredible teams. And also I always pick his brain on
Speaker 3: when it comes to early stage investments in terms of sectors,
Speaker 3: like what's going to be another sector that's going to
Speaker 3: be exciting, whether it's AI or He's probably already invested
Speaker 3: in companies way before that sector is even popular, which
Speaker 3: is honestly incredible.
Speaker 4: I will say one of my favorite stories, because you
Speaker 4: know we followed sports very closely, was your influence on
Speaker 4: me angel City investment, which, as at least as it's
Speaker 4: been told her as he's told it, Olympia was, you know,
Speaker 4: getting into playing soccer.
Speaker 3: So this is a false story. Yeah, but let's correct.
Speaker 2: Yes, let's correct it.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, I'm not a pro, so I'm like pro tennis.
Speaker 3: So the fact that Olympia was playing soccer, I was
Speaker 3: already salty about that. I think he kind of did
Speaker 3: that deal to make me mad because I'm like, let's
Speaker 3: do something in tennis. Yeah, because obviously let's amplify tennis, right,
Speaker 3: But that's that's the real.
Speaker 4: But the part of the story that I love is that,
Speaker 4: and you tell us whether this is true or not,
Speaker 4: is that the east line should.
Speaker 2: Be you need to do something for equal pay in sports.
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 3: Remember earlier I said that I don't want Olympia to
Speaker 3: do what I had to fight for for equal pay
Speaker 3: because I already did that through tennis, and for years
Speaker 3: I missed out on equal pay because I'm fighting for
Speaker 3: equal pay and I think it's I think what they're
Speaker 3: doing in soccer is amazing, but I think it's disgusting
Speaker 3: that they get paid so little money. It's just it's
Speaker 3: not even a conversation to me, it's not even close.
Speaker 3: I actually watched soccer, and I love women's soccer. I
Speaker 3: watched women's soccer and the fact that so many people
Speaker 3: watch women's soccer and then they're getting paid, it's like
Speaker 3: what they're getting paid is upsetting. So I love that
Speaker 3: Alexis did that deal, and I think what he did
Speaker 3: was really amazing there, but I was pushing for tennis.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, but I did win.
Speaker 3: Because Olympia does not like soccer anymore.
Speaker 2: Oh is that right?
Speaker 3: Well, for now she changes their mind a lot. She
Speaker 3: does like tennis a little bit more now, So I'm like.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, listen, I think you can have influence.
Speaker 5: There were a few years into retirement. How do you
Speaker 5: measure winning today?
Speaker 3: So for me, winning today is getting a deal. Right now,
Speaker 3: we have a deal on our table and we're trying
Speaker 3: to win it and there's a lot of other VC
Speaker 3: big VC companies that want to be in it, and
Speaker 3: so that's that's a win for me. It's like, how
Speaker 3: do I figure out a way to win this deal?
Speaker 3: And so that's what we're working on, and I'm super excited.
Speaker 3: I feel like we're getting close and I've heard rumors
Speaker 3: that we might get it.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, yes, we got to win into so Jay.
Speaker 5: So many times I get calls from founders and they're
Speaker 5: seeing serenadventures in and I call Serena's like, we're not
Speaker 5: quite in.
Speaker 2: Yet, guessing people like to wave that out exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 5: We usually have millions of people wanting to be like you,
Speaker 5: but in this case, I'll say billions of young people
Speaker 5: that want to be like you. If someone is watching
Speaker 5: or listening and they want to be the next Serena Williams,
Speaker 5: what advice would you give them?
Speaker 2: Oh easy.
Speaker 3: It goes back to the very simple advice of work
Speaker 3: hard nothing and you know, nothing takes place of hard work.
Speaker 3: Like I was telling the story about me in Rome
Speaker 3: and how like going to breakfast was a thing because
Speaker 3: that's how hard I worked. It doesn't come easy. And
Speaker 3: I work for everything, whether it was winning championships or
Speaker 3: whether it's being an investor. I went to San Francisco
Speaker 3: and I worked hard there. I had to fight my
Speaker 3: way to even figure out a way to get the
Speaker 3: idea of what these investments are like. So it's really
Speaker 3: just about hard work. It's nowhere around it. You can't
Speaker 3: go around, you can't go you have to go right
Speaker 3: through it, and then everything have fall into place.
Speaker 2: Love that this has been great fun and have fun.
Speaker 2: Are you having fun? I am yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think it's important to have fun. But I think
Speaker 3: it's important also to take a moment and just look
Speaker 3: up at the sky and give grace, or look at
Speaker 3: a tree and say I'm here, I'm alive today.
Speaker 2: And I've been doing that lately and that has made.
Speaker 3: Me just appreciate just being around and that makes my
Speaker 3: day even better.
Speaker 2: So it's something new. I'm trying. Sorry, I'm just tired
Speaker 2: to tell you.
Speaker 5: Gratitude is very powerful, right it is? Thank you, this
Speaker 5: has been awesome, awesome, thank you, thanks for having me that.
Speaker 1: The Deal is a production from Blueberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
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