It's pretty safe to say that after three full seasons of the ABC hit show "Shark Tank," Daymond John has seen almost all there is to see when it comes to pitching an idea.
Now into the fourth season, the "sharks" are facing some of the most passionate, intense entrepreneurs yet, but not all of their pitches lead to a deal.
We spoke with John, whose own success with his company FUBU and as a branding expert makes him an ideal candidate for providing advice on how to nail the pitch:
What does an entrepreneur have to do to impress you?
Fail a couple of times, go as far as they can without requesting help from another person until they feel it’s a good enough opportunity to present to somebody. And have a problem-solving attitude. Every problem can be solved as long as they use common sense and apply the right research and techniques.
What kinds of qualities do you look for in the people whose ideas you invest in?
I look for somebody who is never going to stop no matter what, or somebody who doesn’t feel like I’m the be-all-end-all, that regardless they’re going to to be okay. I look for somebody who is a good problem-solver, and I look for somebody with the same beliefs I have, in integrity or in business, or in relationships, or staffing, or something of that nature.
How much time goes by in a pitch before an entrepreneur begins to lose your interest?
It’s hard to gauge because you can discover things as time goes on, discover things about a company later on that maybe the entrepreneur didn’t highlight at first, and often I’ve been surprised at the last minute.
If an entrepreneur bombs a pitch, how can they bounce back?
Always, you have to understand who you’re pitching, why you’re pitching them, and what problems can you solve in their life. So you should do a fairly large amount of research on the person because people generally invest in people they find valuable. Would you be pitching to Kevin O’Leary because you find exit strategy valuable, and royalty valuable? Would you be pitching to Robert Herjavec because if he thinks you have a good idea, that you’re a problem-solver, you can go out there and hold your own, that he’ll give you more money than you asked but won’t hold your hand every single step? So you always have to understand who your target is.
Being in the fashion industry yourself, do you find yourself more drawn to entrepreneurs who are also in the fashion industry?
I know the business extremely well, but one of my main objectives has been health and fitness these days. I already have enough apparel businesses that are either doing well or not really doing anything at all, and I’m looking to broaden my portfolio. But when I do see somebody with an opportunity in the market that is proven, that they’re having sales, that I know I can easily can plug into my network, then I’m going to jump in on it. But I don’t necessarily resonate with another fashion person as much.
How do you broaden your portfolio?
It’s really about, what do I have in my portfolio where I can enhance a company? I do a lot of brand management of up-and-coming businesses so, is their product—can I give them a push there? Or is it my understanding of manufacturing and distributing where I plug a company into my manufacturing? Or is it the fact that I may be dealing with the retailers such as Macy’s? You may have some form of a kitchen product that traditionally, I don’t operate in the kitchen department because my apparel doesn’t lend itself to that department, but now I can garner more real estate in there, working with your company and talking to Macy’s we can make a lot of money together working and offering in one category that I can garner more real estate in.
What are the biggest lessons you learned while growing FUBU, and how do you carry that over to the investments you make on Shark Tank?
The things that I’ve learned is, try to make all the mistakes with your own money and on a small level so that when you are responsible for a partner’s money or assets you’ve learned and you don’t make bigger mistakes. Try to go as far as you can without anybody else’s help first.
Also, there are no shortcuts. There really is no shortcut just because you have a name, or you have some kind of access or some way you can solve all the problems. And I think one of the things I learned with FUBU, you have to understand that there’s really only two ways of operating a business: more sales, or lower overhead. Bottom line, a lot of times we’ll throw a lot of people at a problem, and if it doesn’t create more sales you’re still going to end up jeopardizing your brand and your company, so don’t overshoot it.
What’s the best pitch you’ve seen so far in “Shark Tank”?
There’s so many good ones ... I really loved Al Nelson, from EZ VIP. I loved somebody else coming up named the Scrub Daddy. Who else... see, now I’m drawing a blank because there are so many good ones... oh—the women with the Buggy Beds. I think those were some of the best pitchers.
What was the worst?
The guy who wanted to create gold out of the river, wanted to create deposits of gold. The guy from the first season who wanted to put the electronic Bluetooth in your neck, surgically. Who else... you know, there’s so many of those guys, too.
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