When megastar Serena Williams recently said that she plans to retire from tennis after the upcoming U.S. Open, she added an intriguing tidbit about her future: She will turn her focus to a venture capital firm she quietly formed eight years ago.
The announcement last week by Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles in a career that has spanned more than a quarter century, reignited talk of just how few women and minorities inhabit the elite world of high-stakes venture capital, where often risky investments are made in startup companies in hopes that the investors will reap a significant return.
