CiCi Bellis |  Charlie’s Interview

All right, well, welcome back to our pro athlete interview series. This is brought to you by the Family Office Club. Our investor club has over 7,500 registered investors. We’ve hosted over 275 events over the last 17 years and have about 12 million followers. After having pro athletes, doctors, private investors, and billionaires up on stage at our events, we decided to go deep and find out what it takes to become a 0.1% performer. We thought, how better to do that than interviewing a series of pro athletes like CiCi here, on their mindsets, investments, visualization practices, affirmations, discipline, and really just how they got to where they are now and how they made it to where they were then. So today, we’re here with CiCi. CiCi, thanks for being on the show.

Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Why don’t we start with a little bit about your background in professional sports, where you were, what you were doing, and then we can bring everyone up to speed on what you’re doing now.

Yeah, absolutely. So, I’ll start way back. I played really competitive junior tennis growing up, ended up committing to play at Stanford, and then about a year before I was supposed to go, I turned professional. In the year that I turned pro, the WTA partnered with Indiana University, so I completed my degree online while playing full time. Towards the end of that undergrad degree, I’d been injured for quite a while, so I decided it was probably time to move on from professional sports and jump into the real world. I decided to join a sports tech-focused VC firm. I absolutely loved it; it really aligned with my background and my interests and where I wanted to be post-tennis. I stayed there for about four years, starting in the typical analyst role and working my way up. And last summer, I launched my own fund.

Wow, congrats! So, what’s the focus of your fund right now?

Yeah, it’s a $10 million fund. We’re focused on sports, second health tech, and we’re very broad on the sports side given my background. On the health side, we focus on the non-technical side of health, so wellness, fitness, nutrition, and longevity. Those are the areas we typically look at. We mainly invest in Series A companies, and some later-stage C rounds. We’re really excited about the space; we think it’s primed for growth, both in sports and health. I’ve got a rockstar advisory board as well, so we’re excited to be investing in these areas.

Great! It’s good to know where you’re coming from and where you are now. Looking back, and this could be something that you used either as a professional athlete or maybe something you’ve refined and focused on now in this next phase of your career, what kind of visualization or affirmation or goal-setting rituals and strategies did you use to become a top 1% performer? What do you actually put into practice?

Yeah, it’s a great question. Maybe I’ll start with my tennis career. I worked with a sports psychologist at the National Tennis Center, where I trained, and all the players worked with him. He was amazing. We worked on a lot of different techniques, including visualization, deep breathing, other breathing exercises, different on-court routines. A lot of that really transferred over into my professional career in venture. There’s a lot of crossover between sports and investing, and I’ve been able to take a lot of those tactics that I used as a pro athlete and apply them into a slightly different way, but using the baseline techniques.

Can you walk us through what you did when visualizing? Is it just visualizing the moves you’re going to make or how you’re going to react to certain situations? If you could guide us through, what does that actually mean to you?

Totally. Sometimes we’d do visualization when I was playing, like how I wanted to set up a point during a match, or how I’d like to visualize an outcome, things like that. During COVID, we did a lot of visualization when there weren’t many tournaments, and I would visualize playing matches or big tournaments. In practice, we used it to visualize what I wanted to do in a certain drill or point and then complete it right after. That’s kind of how I did it in tennis. And again, I think a lot of things can cross over into business.

Do you use this now in your career, say for negotiations, strategies, and board meetings, where you want the conversation or deal to go? Is that where you’re setting up those positions or strategies? How do you put it into practice now?

Yeah, exactly. You pretty much hit the nail on the head. Right before a meeting, I visualize and plan out how I want it to go, how I’d like to position certain things—whether it’s in a board meeting or potentially on diligence calls for startups, things like that. There’s a lot of crossover in terms of visualizing and preparing beforehand, then working through the outcome using those techniques during the process.

What happens when things don’t go as you visualized? If you’ve planned everything out—this is what I’m going to say, this is what I’m going to do, it’s going to lead us here—what do you do when you need to pivot? Are there any strategies you use when the visualization meets reality?

Yeah, I think trying to visualize multiple scenarios during the preparation stage helps a lot. A lot of times things don’t go exactly to plan, but being able to pivot and be quick on your feet is really important. Like I mentioned, I used deep breathing techniques when playing tennis, and that’s something I can use before a meeting or a big project in business. There’s a way to be quick on your feet, process things using those techniques, and work through the challenge.

What’s a $1 million lesson you learned as a pro athlete that you plan to implement outside of sports to get into beast mode? And this could be either a $1 million mistake you see other athletes making, or one that you personally made, if you’d like to share. Also, what’s a $1 million mistake you’re seeing companies make with the fund?

Great question. Number one, maybe when I was an athlete, I mentioned going through a couple of injuries. I don’t know how to exactly quantify the mistake, but I think I was so eager to get back on the court and play as soon as possible. Sometimes, that eagerness would actually set my timeline back further. I could probably consider that a mistake in terms of being patient. That lesson definitely crosses over into business, too. You’ve got to be patient, make sure you complete the full process, and ensure everything is in place—whether it’s rehab for tennis or due diligence with a startup in business.

The second part of your question: A $1 million mistake in the startup world could be rushing to market too quickly. Going to market quickly is great for startups to get initial data and feedback from customers, but you also need to ensure you have a product that represents your brand well and shows your vision. I’ve seen startups go to market with just an MVP, no conviction from the team, just to get it out there. Sometimes, taking the time to build out the product a little more before hitting the market helps, and getting that initial traction and feedback from customers is crucial. Another mistake I’ve seen is not making sure your tech is defensible, whether that’s through competitive mode or intellectual property. That’s a huge mistake that can really set a company back.

I agree. If you go out too early, you might lose some of your IP defense, especially if you don’t have those things set in place already. So when you’re putting this into practice and trying to get it into the market, I know that startups are excited, or they feel pressure to show revenue or customer excitement. Is there a threshold you usually recommend, like 100 customers, a certain number of subscriptions, or a percentage of a normal production run?

I don’t know if there’s a set baseline for anything, because every startup is so different in terms of their business model. But in terms of building out your MVP and preparing to go to market, you just need something that you can really back, something you’re proud to put out there—not just something rushed to get initial feedback. That’s the most important part: ensuring you have a product that shows your vision and is something that represents your brand well, even though it doesn’t have to be perfect.

What’s one of the most costly financial mistakes you see athletes make, either while they’re playing or when preparing for life after their professional career?

Like you said, this definitely ties into what I mentioned. I think financial literacy is such an important piece of being an athlete. Understanding when you’re signing large contracts and managing the money you’re receiving is key. I’ve seen the million-dollar mistakes time and again, and athletes really need to focus on that.

It’s about having the right team around you—maybe an agent or a manager—but also understanding the deals you’re getting into. A lot of athletes don’t go back and get their undergrad before entering the professional sports world. So, do you have any recommendations on what athletes should learn, like spreadsheets, balance sheets, income statements, or any baseline financial knowledge?

Yeah, as I mentioned, having a trusted team is important. Athletes are often so focused on their sport that they don’t have the time to gain knowledge in other areas. Having that team during your career is crucial. Athletes will learn over time as they go through multiple contracts and see how the process works, but relying on that team—having people with different backgrounds to help you—is key.

From an investing standpoint, what are some ways you’ve seen athletes out-compete everyone around them? Was it about discipline, extra hours, something else?

When I was playing tennis, I was one of the hardest workers on tour. I definitely put in the hours more than most people, and that carried over into my work in venture capital. Even when I started, I didn’t have that office work experience, so I had to work 10 times as hard to make up for that. I took that same mentality and really applied it once I joined the venture space. It’s the same work ethic—it’s about working hard and outworking the competition.

Do you have any systems for goal setting, like quarterly or yearly goals, or even 2-5 year goals?

Yes! In my athletic career, I used both short- and long-term goals. I’d focus on quarterly or annual goals while keeping an eye on the bigger picture—whether it was two or five years ahead. So I take the same approach now in business, too. I’ll set the quarterly goals to ensure I’m moving forward, but I also try to keep the long-term vision in place.

Well, CiCi, anything else you want to add before we wrap up?

I think we hit a lot of great points today. I really enjoyed the conversation, and I hope that more athletes start focusing on improving their financial literacy. It’s crucial for their long-term success.

Thanks again, CiCi, for being on the show. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!

Thanks so much. Talk soon!