Serena Williams on winning in business

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**Serena Williams** (1:33)
The main thing that it takes to succeed over time is just the fact that you can't underestimate the power of hard work. A lot of people think, oh, this company, boom, they're now billions and billions of dollars and it happened overnight.
That may have been the case in very few stories, but there's so many other stories where it didn't happen overnight. You have to work hard and you have to put in the time every single day. Tough days, easy days, you still have to show up.

**Bob Safian** (2:03)
That's Serena Williams, global icon, tennis champion and a rising force in the world of venture investing. I sat down with Serena at the Reckitt Catalyst event in Palm Beach, Florida to talk about what it takes to win as an entrepreneur in today's competitive marketplace and how she's trying to make a difference off the court. We talked about her work with Nike and Ro, the rebranding of her business as StarFire Ventures, and how she balances work and family, plus what's motivating what she calls her sporadic return to tennis. It's an engaging back and forth with a few firm volleys and some unexpected slices along the way. So let's get to it. I'm Bob Safian, and this is Rapid Response.
I'm Bob Safian, and I'm here with Serena Williams. Serena, great to be able to chat with you today.

**Serena Williams** (2:57)
It's so good to chat with you, Bob.

**Bob Safian** (2:59)
We first met long ago when I was the editor of Fast Company. You spoke at an event alongside then Nike CEO, Mark Parker. I remember walking backstage with you, and you had these incredible heels on.
You are already plenty taller than me without the heels, but you had the incredible heels. I kept thinking, that's got to be risky. That's got to be dangerous. I'm not a professional athlete.

**Serena Williams** (3:23)
I like to take the risk.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:24)
That's why I got into BC.

**Serena Williams** (3:26)
You just owned it.

**Bob Safian** (3:28)
You're known for your sense of culture and fashion, and also, of course, as a tremendous athlete. Fewer people know about Serena Ventures, your business and investing arm.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:39)
We're now StarFire Ventures.

**Serena Williams** (3:42)
We've just rebranded ourselves, and now, you know what? I felt like Serena Ventures is great, but I wanted it to be bigger than me, and there's so many amazing people on the team, and there's so much that we do, and I felt like when you have a name to something, it can limit what you do, and I wanted to live on. I want this to be something that people look at years and years from now and just say that is they've done.

**Bob Safian** (4:08)
You don't think the name Serena is going to live on?

**SPEAKER_4** (4:10)
Surely, in a different way.

**Serena Williams** (4:12)
You know what? It's going to live on in a different way. I think it just gives us some freedom to do so much more, and we kept the SV, so it's still SV because we also internally always say SV.

**Bob Safian** (4:23)
So StarFire has, and you've backed something like 16 unicorns. So do you have an overarching philosophy as an investor, or is it more intuitive, instinctive?

**Serena Williams** (4:38)
It's a little bit of both, but it's absolutely, I would say, 90 percent of philosophy, and then we do need some instinct. I do a lot on instinct, but I think my partner is definitely more, let's follow things to the tee, which is great. So we make a really good team in that way.