🏆 From Professional Tennis to Backing Founders

CiCi Bellis is the Founder and General Partner of Cartan Capital, a venture firm backing founders building the future of human performance across sports, health, and wellness. Before launching the firm, she spent four years on the investment team at a sports tech venture fund while completing her MBA. Bellis previously competed professionally on the WTA Tour and earned her undergraduate degree remotely through Indiana University while traveling on tour. Today, she also serves on the Board of the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

From the Tennis Court to Venture Capital

CiCi grew up in Silicon Valley, where venture capital and innovation were part of the environment around her. Even while training and competing at a high level in tennis, she found herself curious about how companies were built. “Innovation and venture capital were part of the backdrop of my childhood,” she says. “Even while I was training and competing in tennis, I was curious about how companies were built and how ideas turned into industries.”

After rising through the junior tennis ranks and committing to Stanford, CiCi chose to turn professional. Around that time, the WTA partnered with Indiana University, allowing athletes to complete undergraduate degrees remotely while competing on tour. “Balancing academics and elite sport required discipline and long term planning,” she says. “Those were skills that later translated directly into investing.”

Finding the Next Chapter

Toward the end of her undergraduate studies, CiCi began dealing with significant wrist and elbow injuries that kept her out of competition for extended stretches. That period forced her to step back and think about what she wanted long term. “I knew I wanted to remain close to sports and performance,” she says, “but in a different capacity.”

She soon joined the investment team at an early-stage sports tech venture firm near where she was training, spending four years there while completing her MBA. “I absolutely loved it,” she says. “Analyzing markets, meeting founders, and understanding how technology could reshape sports were right up my alley.” Eventually, she began to feel the pull to build something herself. “I wanted to expand the thesis and lean further into sports adjacent markets like health and wellness,” she says. That idea ultimately led her to launch Cartan Capital.

The Athlete’s Lens on Founders

CiCi believes her experience competing at the highest levels of tennis directly shapes how she evaluates founders and companies. “Competing at the highest level of tennis trained me to evaluate edge,” she says. “At the elite level, talent is assumed. What differentiates outcomes are marginal gains, preparation, work ethic, and mental resilience.” She evaluates founders through a similar lens. “I pay close attention to how they respond to setbacks, whether they have a long term orientation, and whether they are internally driven versus externally motivated,” she explains.

“In sports, pressure is constant. In startups, it’s the same. Capital constraints, product pivots, and competition test founders the same way competition tests athletes.” Her perspective as an athlete also shapes how she thinks about building companies. “Small inputs compound,” she says. “Culture, hiring standards, and product discipline are some decisions that shape long term outcomes.”

Redefining Success

In professional tennis, success was easy to measure. “In professional tennis, success was measurable with rankings, wins, and titles. It was externally validated. Today, success feels more long term and impact oriented,” she says. “It’s about helping build durable companies, supporting founders through difficult moments, and contributing to an ecosystem that improves health and performance outcomes.”

For CiCi, success now comes down to alignment. “Personally, I’ve redefined success as alignment,” she says. “Building something that reflects who you are, not just what you achieve.”

Building Cartan Capital

“Building a firm requires conviction before there is momentum,” she says. “Those early, invisible seasons of fundraising, refining the thesis, and building an ecosystem were incredibly formative.” Her investments today often focus on companies improving musculoskeletal health, proactive diagnostics, and athlete development. “These are areas that directly impacted my life as an athlete,” she says, “so supporting innovation there feels both personal and purposeful.”

Beyond investing, serving on the Board of the USTA has also been meaningful. “Tennis shaped my life,” she says. “Being able to contribute to the governance and long term growth of the sport at a national level feels full circle.”

What Elite Athletes and Founders Share

Through her work in venture, CiCi has noticed clear similarities between elite athletes and successful founders. Across both worlds, the same traits consistently show up:

• High agency and ownership

• Emotional stability under pressure

• Coachability paired with strong conviction

• Process orientation over ego

• Long term thinking

“The best competitors and founders obsess over inputs, not just outcomes.”

Advice to Her Younger Self

Looking back, CiCi would offer her younger self a simple reminder. “Your identity is bigger than any one chapter.” Competing at an elite level can make it feel like everything revolves around a single pursuit. “I would remind myself that skills transfer. Transitions are not failures, they are expansions.”

Today, CiCi’s motivation centers around performance and possibility. “My ‘why’ is rooted in performance and possibility. Whether that’s athletes extending their careers or individuals improving long term health outcomes. I spent my early life chasing excellence in sport,” she says. “Now, I’m committed to backing and building excellence in innovation.”