CHICAGO-Perhaps it's fitting the man best known today as a "Shark" began his working life in a Red Lobster. He's crossed oceans since then.
Daymond John, one of the star's of ABC's "Shark Tank", is a multimillionaire who began his business with no assets beyond a single hat and a single shirt. At CO-OP's THINK '13 Conference, John shared five "SHARK" points on his swim from that restaurant job to creating a worldwide brand, FUBU.
"I disrupted business as usual," said John, speaking to the theme of the conference. "I can't give you any more information or analytics on your customers or your business. I can only give you insights on the way entrepreneurs think. What you can be is an 'in-trepreneur.'"
John, who brought a DJ with him to provide musical and audio accompaniment, was born in Hollis, Queens, N.Y. with what he called an "entrepreneur's heart." Now the Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson College, John said he asked how entrepreneurship can possibly be taught. The response: "The theory is if you start to crawl and walk and you fall down, what do people say? Get up. When you learn to speak and can't get the words out, what do people say? Speak up. It's human nature to figure things out. Entrepreneurs are born mentally figuring it out. But what happens often when you say I'm going to be famous or rich or save the seals? People say it can't be done. You'll embarrass yourself; you'll embarrass us. And we start to conform."
John's entrepreneurial path began as hip hop began coming out of the Bronx. It had its own culture, its own way to walk and talk and dress. What it didn't have, he realized was companies catering to it.
Five SHARK-Points To Follow
John divided his advice into five letters spelling SHARK.
S. Set my goal. "I set a goal at that point that no matter what, I was going to prosper in this world of hip hop. I didn't know how I was going to get there, but you cannot hit a target that you cannot see."
Working in that Red Lobster, John said he heard rumors of companies that wouldn't manufacture clothes for the hip hop culture. That led John to create clothing that was "For Us, By Us," or FUBU.
H. Homework. "Sometimes you don't do the homework in how industries outside your industry work."
Where John had done his homework was in recognizing he needed celebrity endorsements, basically hip hop artists wearing his clothes, noting kids were watching "rappers as their CNN." John finally convinced LL Cool J to wear the FUBU gear. As $300,000 in orders flowed in, John realized he needed to manufacture and deliver, but 25 banks turned him down for loans. His mother took out a second mortgage to raise $125,000 to buy commercial sewing machines, hire seamstresses and cover other costs. The factory? His mother's house.
A. Amore. "Do what you love and you must love your customer." John, who got the financing he needed from the Samsung Textile Division after placing an ad in the New York Times, found that love when he sold $30 million in FUBU gear in just three months.
R. Remember, you are the brand. "What I realized is that when people walk up to us on "Shark Tank" it's the first 30 seconds where we judge them or support them or tear them down. We don't invest in companies, we invest in people. You do, too. You have to put your personal brand in two to five words and if you don't you leave it up to us to interpret it. Mine are 'I'm on a quest.'"
K. Keep Swimming. "I realize when people come up to "Shark Tank" there is an art to pitching and you will have to do this to interrupt business as usual. We all pitch hundreds of times per day. The key to pitching is what's in it for the other person."
Fittingly, John said his favorite movie is "Finding Nemo," and especially the advice of the character Dory. "What does Dory always say? You must keep swimming."
