Tennis player talks about her passion as an investor in startups during Inbound 2024, an event promoted by HubSpot
The second day of conferences at Inbound 2024, an event held by HubSpot in Boston (USA), revolved around female entrepreneurship and how technology is changing people’s lives. One of the first panels, ‘Recoding the future’, featured American journalist Kara Swisher, who has covered the technology market for decades. Co-host of the Pivot podcast for New York Media, she advocated for companies in the sector to be more transparent about the development of their products, which impact the lives of billions of people.
“They have to tell us how they do it. We need more transparency with AI, for example, where it comes from, who develops it, to have more information about the products,” said Kara. For the journalist, one of the problems is that digital is so attractive that it becomes addictive and she questioned why. “What is the nature of this product that becomes so addictive? And it is not just addictive, it is necessary. You have to use it for your work, to communicate and operate in the modern world, but it is addictive. We have never seen a product like this. And this is even more worrying for young people.”
She also pointed out that parents today are very protective of their children offline, wanting to know where they are, who they are with, what they are doing, but little so online. “Adults can easily access children online. This does not happen in the physical world. Anything that people do not do offline, they should not do online either,” said Kara. She added that some leaders of large technology companies live in a dystopia and think they will save society.
“I love young entrepreneurs. They are much smarter, much better than the older ones who want to go to Mars. Good luck, get off this planet! They shouldn’t have so much control over our society, over our destinies. Elon Musk and even Tim Cook shouldn’t be making decisions about our future. We have to (make decisions) and not them. I think about this a lot,” concluded the American journalist.
The most anticipated panel this Thursday (19) at Inbound 2024 was, without a doubt, the one featuring Serena Williams, who had a packed audience. The best tennis player of all time, she spoke about how she decided to become an investor and found Serena Ventures, a US$ 111 million fund that invests in startups led by women and black people. “I love seeing things grow in society, shaping the future. I started investing in companies that I liked. I had the desire to be part of these companies in some way. When you see that photo of the Google founders in the garage and what they have become today, it is incredible”.
Serena told, according to her, the true story of how her connection with the world of technology began. “I was tired, my knees were hurting, and I thought there had to be another way to participate in something transformative. So, I went to Silicon Valley. When I started investing in technology companies, in 2009, it was a club made up of only white men, much more so than it is now. And this passion began to grow inside me.”
According to the former tennis player, the goal has always been to invest in companies with diversity. “For me, it’s really about changing people’s lives. We invest in startups from different segments. What I feel is that every day I learn something new,” she said. Currently, the fund’s portfolio has around 24 companies being accelerated.
When asked how she came up with the idea of having a plan B alongside her tennis career, Serena said it was because of her father, who always said that an athlete’s career can end at any moment. “I love fashion, for a while my plan B was the fashion world, which I still love,” she revealed.
According to Serena, when she played tennis, it was like an addiction to have to win every match and revealed how she currently feels as head of Serena Ventures. “When you are a champion, you always have to win, it is very addictive. It was funny because when I won, I didn’t have that good feeling, of excitement, because it was something expected. I love winning, being number 1, that’s why my investment fund is worth US$ 111 million, because it reminds me of my career as a tennis player.”
Serena concluded her speech by saying that, for her, everyone is a champion. “You don’t have to win Wimbledon to be a champion. At the same time, you’re not going to be a champion every day, you’re not going to win every day. But in everything you do, put your best effort in,” she concluded.
