Serena Williams took center stage at Black Tech Week in Cincinnati Thursday to a near capacity crowd at Music Hall. The tennis pro and managing partner at San Francisco-based Serena Ventures delved into her entry into investing, as well as startup trends she’s most interested in, including one seemingly being followed by just about everyone these days.
Williams, regarded as one of the top tennis players — and athletes — in the world with 23 Grand Slam titles, was the keynote speaker at the tech conference, founded in 2015 in Miami but making its Queen City debut after Lightship Capital acquired it in March.
Williams answered questions from Lightship Foundation founder and CEO Candice Matthews Brackeen for a little more than a half hour. Williams said her entry into the startup world largely came by way of angel investing. This May, her firm, Serena Ventures, raised a $111 million fund to power early-stage startups.
“I would be literally playing a match and thinking to myself at the coin toss, ‘I wish I had invested in Google,’” she said.
That same draw to the venture world was also evident at S by Serena, her independent clothing collection.
“I went to fashion school…That was my passion, but even when I was doing that, I was thinking about other things. I started investing,” she said.
The fuel that seemed to push Serena Ventures to its inaugural fund was based on stats like this one, which Williams recently reposted on Twitter: White males receive 98.7% of $69 trillion in private business funding. The remaining 1.3% is reserved for white women and "everyone else."
“That’s the reason Serena Ventures exists,” she said. “My mind literally couldn’t compute everything goes to the same person. I think the only way to actually change that is people who look like me writing the big checks.”
Williams said she’s passionate about investing in health care and companies in spaces considered “less sexy,” like B2B. She’s also taking a deep dive into web3 and cryptocurrency.
The biggest trend now is one she’s been looking at for years, she said: the menopause space.
Menopause is a $600 billion opportunity for companies, according to a new report by venture capital firm Female Founders Fund.
“It’s becoming a trend, and how do we pick the best (deals?)” she said. “People are (finally) thinking, 'There’s a lot of women in the world who are going to go through menopause. Oh, this is something we should do.’ And people are believing in these founders who have been (doing) this for so long but couldn’t get the capital.”
Other highlights:
- On her passion for entrepreneurship: “My dad was always an entrepreneur...My dad was a dreamer. I think I became a big dreamer like him. Sometimes when you live in Compton you have to be an entrepreneur, because you may not have opportunity. It’s important to have that dream.”
- On early-stage investing: “Naturally I started investing in early stage, which was interesting to me. I really like helping shape companies, guiding them, how they think, how they hire. It’s the first hire, the first 10-20 hires that make a difference.”
- On what her tennis career has taught her and how that applies to venture capital: “You have to be able to get back up. Raising money is very difficult. Hearing ‘no,’… or losing a match. You can’t be upset too long. You have to keep going, because there’s another call, another investor (to pitch). I don’t think I would have this work ethic if I didn’t have tennis.”
- Her advice for founders: “Send (your pitch deck) three times, if you think you have something really amazing. You’ll at least get a ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’"
Black Tech Week, which kicked off Monday and aims to bring together founders of color, tech professionals, enthusiasts, funders, allies and all members of the global Black tech community from over the world, continues Thursday. Programming wraps Friday.
