Serena Williams: From Tennis GOAT to VC Powerhouse

She's one of the most decorated tennis players of all time.

I still miss it. I have to be the best at whatever I do.

Now she's applying lessons learned in sport to a career in business.

You have to be very disciplined. You also have to be determined.

CNBC meets Serena Williams.

Here at the 2025 Can Lions International Festival of Creativity, Serena is appearing on stage to speak about her newly announced role as entrepreneur-in-residence at consumer goods conglomerate Wreck-It's start-up accelerator program, Catalyst.

After the event, I sat down with Serena for this exclusive interview.

Serena, thank you so much for joining me here at Can Lions.

Thank you. Yeah, it's so nice here.

You know, I've come here, but I haven't been able to speak here.

So this is nice.

What did it feel like speaking here, Serena?

Because obviously everyone knows you as the tennis legend that you are.

And here you are talking about your business, your entrepreneurship.

What are the messages that you want to get across?

Well, first of all, it's nice to be here and it's nice to speak here and for people to see the other thing and the other side of Serena.

Things that I've actually been doing for well over a decade and just building that businesses that I've been building and, you know, investing that I've been doing and kind of talking about that.

A lot of people don't actually know that about me.

So it's kind of cool to see that.

And then how did it feel to talk?

It felt good.

You know, it felt good to just talk about investing in women and also what we're doing and we'll talk more about that.

But just like it always feels good to talk about empowering other people, to be honest.

You know, it's not always about us.

It's not always about what you can do.

It's about what you can do to help others.

And so I like that and I like talking about that as well.

And you've also just been announced as Wreck-It Catalyst Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

Yes, and that's super exciting to be there on Wreck-It's Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

And I'm really excited about what Wreck-It wants to do.

You know, we've been actually working on this for almost two years now.

And so to be able to talk about things that started out as an idea and just like how to build on it and how to bring me into this idea and me wanting to do it very authentically and me saying like, listen, I want to do this, but how does this work?

And then also talking to Wreck-It, how they were super authentic.

Like we want to do this, but we want to make sure that it is for women.

It is for entrepreneurs.

It is for innovators.

We don't want it to be about anything else that we do.

We don't want it.

It's not about that at all.

It's really just about building up someone else.

And like I said, like just being here to talk about how you're helping others.

And, you know, it's really cool.

So I'm really excited to be their entrepreneur-in-residence.

And I'm really excited to just kind of, you know, back these new innovators through investing in them and investing in what they're doing.

Well, you just said that you've been investing for a long time.

You have Serena Ventures.

Where did that all come from?

Because...

Curiosity.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love people that are curious and I love being curious.

And I love learning about what's next.

And I feel like we're living in this crazy world right now.

But it's also a digital world.

It's also, you know, this innovation.

And this might sound crazy, but I just go back to the industrial revolution.

Like we're living in a digital revolution.

And I feel like every 10, 20 years, it's a new digital revolution.

And so for me, that's how I started investing was just being curious about how do I get on the cap table of some of these companies that

are effectively changing how we're living our lives.

Like we're not doing, we're not viewing transportation the same.

We're not viewing, you know, healthcare the same.

There's so many things that have changed through technology.

And I just wanted, I was curious about how do I invest in that and be a part of that movement in a different way, like behind the scenes.

We're talking about in front of the scenes.

Yeah.

Your career as a legend, how do you think that's translated to what you do now?

What do you think you learned from the tennis court that you're using now in business?

Yeah, well, I think just being disciplined, I think, is the number one thing.

Tennis is, you know, every day you have to do it every day.

You have to train and business is the same.

It is exactly the same.

You have to be very disciplined.

You also have to be determined, you know, to, through ups and downs, be determined to keep going.

And that's one thing that I'm excited to do is to talk to these mentors about that determination that I've shown so much in my past career and just bring it out to this new career vibe.

Having shown promise from a young age alongside her sister Venus, Serena started her professional tennis career as a teenager and achieved her first Grand Slam win at the age of just 17 at the 1999 U.S. Open.

Since then, the trophies came thick and fast.

And with 23 Grand Slam titles to her name, she's one of the most successful female tennis players of all time.

After almost 30 years in the sport, Serena retired from professional tennis in 2022.

You broke boundaries.

You made history, Serena.

Is there anything that you could highlight when you look back at it now, those moments?

You know, I don't look back that much.

It's filled with so much nostalgia and honestly, like, sadness, because I miss it, you know?

And it's like, oh, so I just try not to, I just do the awful avoidance technique and just avoid it and just don't think about it.

And like, I don't want to talk about it.

I don't, I don't want, don't honor me.

Like, don't, don't think about this.

It becomes really emotional for me because I still, like, I still miss it.

So, yeah, I just try not to, I don't want to think about it.

And I'm like, you know, I'm like, ah.

So, anyway, how was your day?

Can I just take you, though, to that first moment when you're 17 years old?

That's a good moment.

Yeah.

Okay, good.

Tell me about, yeah.

That's different, you know, because it's like, I like reminiscing on that because that seems like a lifetime ago.

And the other stuff seems like it's still in reach, you know?

So, yeah, so that was kind of cool, you know, just, being able to, when I look at pictures and being able to hold up that trophy, you know, that you dream about when you're just a kid and, you know, you're still a kid, which you don't realize at the time until you look back and be like, oh, man, I was so young.

And, like, you think about, you know, being able to hold up that U.S. Open trophy of all Grand Slams to win for the first time.

It was kind of iconic that I was able to win that one for them.

I mean, Wimbledon, obviously, would have been probably arguably better.

Okay, good.

You know, obviously, that's, I don't have that experience, so I can't tell you.

But I can ask my sister, because that was her first Grand Slam was Wimbledon.

So, respect.

But it's also just, it was just a good moment.

Another moment which seems iconic, which you talked about recently, was when you won the Australian Open, and you were already nine weeks pregnant, but nobody knew.

That was crazy.

That was nuts.

I don't know how I did that.

I, um, I must, it must have been an outer body experience.

And looking back, I remember thinking, like, how am I even winning matches?

Like, wait, I'm still in the tournament?

Like, this is nuts.

Like, okay, I'm going to definitely lose in the next round, and it'll be okay.

This will be the first time if I lose, I'm happy with it.

You know, like, I have a good excuse, you know.

And I kept winning.

How do you think motherhood has changed you with your two daughters?

Well, I think it's enhanced my intensity.

You know, I put my passion that I have for tennis into motherhood now.

You know, just that, you know, intense passion that you saw me on the court with or that I have in VC and at Serena Ventures.

Or, you know, I put that all into my girls.

And so it's just like, okay, next goal, next thing.

You know, I'm very like, mm, mm, mm.

You know, and I love it.

My girls love it.

I, you know, I have to be the best at whatever I do, so.

How do they look at their mom?

My personal best, you know.

It's your personal best.

Yeah, whatever that is.

Yeah.

How do they look at their mom?

Do they realize what you've achieved, do you think?

No, no, no.

The older one does a little bit.

She's like, mom, someone did a report about you at school.

And I'm just like, oh, okay.

Mom, I just saw you in my book.

And I'm just like, come here, look at this.

So, I don't think she understands, though.

And it's fine.

I don't want her to understand.

That was, that was yesterday.

But that last moment, when you chose to evolve away from tennis to do what you're doing now, was that a hard decision in 2022?

Yeah, it was hard.

It was hard.

Because I ultimately did that to expand my family, you know.

And that was, you know, as a woman, you have to make those decisions, you know.

And so, decisions that other people don't necessarily have to make.

And particularly in tennis, because it's a grueling sport.

We don't have an off-season, so it's like, it's difficult.

So, yeah.

And of course, now with your second career, what do you think of the key factors of your success as Serena Williams has been, even looking back to early days?

Yeah, I think just my intensity and my drive and everything that I want to show the entrepreneurs of, you know, because I think a lot of things are nature, but a lot of things can be nurtured.

And I know that from experience, that a lot of things can be nurtured.

And I look forward to nurturing them and getting them to a place of, you know, being very successful at whatever, whatever they define success.

Because the success is defined in many different ways.

And I think it's super important for people to understand how you define success as okay.

And just to get to them, to their definition of success.

You talk about nature versus nurture.

Can I ask you the values your parents instilled in you?

So many great values.

Too many to obviously name.

How much time do we have, you know?

So, but I think the main value that they instilled in me is just humility.

And I think that goes way better than any championship or any, anything.

Because it keeps you grounded as an individual.

It keeps you respectful.

And it keeps you just like everybody else.

Because at the end of the day, we're all the same, right?

It's just some of us might be a little bit better, but we're all really the same.

So that's kind of how I look at it.

And how do you feel the sport changed you when you changed the sport?

Do you feel that it's better today because of you?

I mean, I would never say that, you know.

I think that I just had, it was an opportunity to play a great sport.

And, you know, I did the best I could.

And is it better because of me?

I don't know.

I think that it was great before me.

And it's going to be great after me.

And I just had a fleeting moment that I will always relish and cherish.

You're a global role model for millions of girls and women around the world with the work that you do.

What do you want them to know from you?

What is your message to them?

I think that's such a heavy question.

I think my message has always just been be yourself.

Love what you do.

And have passion for it.

And be kind to someone today.

You never know.

And so that's kind of how I try to live my life.

And with your life now, your passion for business and for helping other entrepreneurs, where would you like it to go?

Serena Ventures.

Well, you know, I started my VC company, I don't know, six years ago now.

So we've been in business a very long time.

And, you know, where would I like it to go?

I would like to be great.

I'm used to being great.

And Serena Ventures is already poised for being something great.

And, you know, just continuing to build, invest in great companies, invest in people of color, invest in women, invest in men.

Like, we just want to be a great company that really stands out and is a little bit different and really owns who we are and owns our portfolio companies and owns our founders in terms of helping them.

And that's kind of just how we look at it.

Were you surprised and shocked, Serena, when you found out that only 2% of investment goes to women?

Yeah, yeah, less than 2%.

Less than 2%.

So, and then even less than that to women of color or people of color.

So, me, that means if I'm not who I am, possibly even if who I am, it's going to be impossible to start a company and go get a loan or go take something out of my mortgage if I have that, you know.

So, the opportunities are definitely not the same.

And I'm not trying to change that needle at all because I don't think one person can change anything.

But I just think using my platform, you know, having Serena Ventures be, you know, one of the bigger venture companies that do really invest in diversity and, you know, encouraging other people to do the same.

And just finally, Serena, how excited are you for the future of this business, of what you're doing now and some of the companies that you're seeing?

I'm excited for the future of Wreck-It right now.

Obviously, what we're doing together, I'm super excited about what they want to invest in strictly women, strictly health care and hygiene.

Health care can also be mental health as well, obviously.

And that is super exciting because these women are going into their communities, whether it's in Pakistan or Nigeria or Kenya, wherever those areas are, understanding what their community needs, is it water, is it something different?

And these women are building companies that are supporting their communities.

And these ideas can obviously grow, you know, and I'm really excited about that, just really getting on the ground level.

So, I love to roll up my sleeve and get dirty, figuratively, because I am neurotic for cleanliness.

But I'm really excited to figuratively and literally roll up my sleeve and get very dirty with these founders and with these innovators.

So, yeah, thank you.

Serena, thank you so much.

Such a pleasure to talk to you today.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.