Daymond John has come a long way from turning a $40 budget into
FUBU, a $6 billion fashion game-changer. Throughout his career, Daymond has continued to be an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He is not only a pioneer in the fashion industry, but a Shark on Shark Tank that airs on COLORS INFINITY, New York Times best-selling author, branding guru and highly sought after motivational speaker. Most recently, President Barack Obama appointed Daymond a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, a position focused on promoting the power and importance of entrepreneurship on a global scale. He appears as an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank.
BW Disrupt interacts with Daymond John and spoke to him
What are some of the qualities you look for in aspiring entrepreneurs?When I’m negotiating with entrepreneurs, some of the qualities I look for is first of all are they energetic, is it infectious, whatever they’re pitching or talking about, also can I resonate with whatever they’re discussing. Have they failed? Have they failed way more than they’ve succeeded so they know that this journey is going to be more fruitful than before? Do they know their numbers? Are they passionate about what they do? And all of those things I look for and if all of those things work, they have half the chance.
How do we get your attention during a pitch? It’s generally hard for people to get my attention during a pitch but if they’ve done their homework on me, the best way to do it is what’s in it for me? Not necessarily money, some people like maybe a Kevin O’Reilly who want money, some people may want to change the world, maybe I want to acquire more time, maybe I want it to be healthy for me and my everyday life, maybe I want money, so it all has to depend on what aspect of my portfolio whether personal or professional does it fit into.
What are your top 3 pieces of advice for any entrepreneur or startup? I want to say the top three pieces of advice for any entrepreneur or startup is, have you done all your homework on the category and/or the product, the brand and the space. Number two, do you have mentors? People around you that have no investment in the product and/or the company but they can give you the guidance and their advice. And number three do you have really a path and a strategy for success on how you’re going to get to whatever you want to accomplish
What do you think is the most important skill to have, in order to be successful?The most important skill to be equipped to be successful is to have drive and desire. The fact that you are going to fail, way more than you are going to succeed, the fact that you’re going to be knocked down, everybody is going to tell you no until you are the one that figures how to make it a yes.
What is the one message of success that you would want to give to every millennial or entrepreneur?If I had to give a message to millennials and entrepreneurs about success, its you know is it something that you’re going to want to do, no matter what, whether it works out or not. Are you going to have fun doing this, you see I would have dressed people for the rest of my life for free if I could have and every single day when I see somebody wearing something or thinking about something that I want to create for somebody, I still get very excited about it whether I would have profited off of it or not.
