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Shark Tank has been responsible for the success of multiple small businesses, backed by the capital of investors such as Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, Barbara Corcoran, and Kevin Harrington. One of the investors on the show was the FUBU clothing brand owner, Daymond John. His story is truly a remarkable one, marked with grim beginnings, seemingly impossible circumstances, persistence, and determination. He now sits with a net worth of $350 million while his streetwear brand is worth a whopping $6 billion. But how does this tenacious investor spend his money? Let's look at seven ways in which John spends his money-making some wise, and some not so wise investments.
Before we begin listing some of his biggest money spending, we need to understand what Shark Tank is and who founded it. Unlike other reality TV shows that focus on mindless personal drama and toxic relationships, Shark Tank is a business reality series that showcases the ideas and inventions of entrepreneurs presenting their work to five investors, or sharks, which were mentioned above. The show is owned by Mark Burnett, a British television producer who also created and produced shows like The Apprentice, Survivor, and The Voice. In addition, he has also produced the Christian media series The Bible, Son of God, Little Boy, and Ben-Hur to name a few.
Bombas
In season six of the Shark Tank reality series, the Fubu fashion designer was pitched a business idea by the founders of Bombas, Dave Heath and Randy Goldberg. The duo's idea for making the most comfortable socks came from their knowledge that it was a highly requested item in homeless shelters, and they actually donate one pair of socks to a shelter for every pair they sell. Being acquainted with poverty and lack growing up in the Brooklyn borough with his mother, Daymond immediately took an interest in their business model and invested $200,000 for a 17% stake in the company. This turned out to work in the favor of Daymond as the company earned $255 million in sales after selling over 42 million products ever since his investment, according to South China Morning Post. That's an investment that even the multi-billionaire himself, Mark Cuban, would be proud of making.
Mission Belt
Every good entrepreneur knows that becoming successful doesn't always refer to focusing solely on becoming rich. As a matter of fact, some of the greatest and most successful ideas and businesses are born from a desire to help others. Taken from Inc.com, on season five of Shark Tank, when the Mission Belt co-founder Nate Holzapfel explained to John that his business, which makes ratchet belts, created a fund that collects $1 from every belt sold to provide loans for small businesses in over 80 developing countries, he invested $50,000 for a 37.5% share of the company. His investment lead to Mission Belt's success both philanthropically and in retail, lending $1.5 million to borrowers and raking in $8.2 million in revenue in 2016. That proves that you don't have to be a billionaire like Bill Gates to be a philanthropist.
Bubba's Q
While on the fifth season of Shark Tank, John saw an opportunity to make some serious bank in the food business with Bubba Q's barbecue business, owned by Al "Bubba" Baker. Prior to John's $300,000 investment which acquired him 15% of the business, Baker revealed that he made $154,000 in annual sales. But after John invested his lumpsum, it skyrocketed to $16 million a year, due largely part to a deal he struck with multiple restaurants and fast-food chains. Another win for the fashion design mogul!
Virtual Pinball Machines (VPcabs)
Why get bored playing the same pinball machine games from decades ago when you can play it virtually and have twice the fun? This was Brad Baker's vision when he appeared on season 7 of Shark Tank with the most expensive retail product to ever be pitched on the show, seeing that Baker's VPcabs cost $9000 for a machine. VPcabs had only made $400,000 in lifetime sales, and John offered $200,000 for a 25% stake in the company, which resulted in the business making a leap to $1 million in sales once the branding and licensing deals were sorted out.
Sun-Staches
While it may not be as elaborate as the facial decorations worn by Johnny Depp's character, Captain Jack Sparrow, in Pirates of the Caribbean, the entrepreneurs behind Sun-Staches knew that combining sunglasses with an attached mustache hanging over the lip of the wearer would be a hit, especially with so many Youtubers pranking people. The founders, David Levich, Eric Liberman, and Dan Gershon were already grossing $2.8 million in annual sales before John invested $300,000 for a 20% equity in their eyewear company. It was barely four months after the episode aired on Shark Tank's sixth season that the company reportedly made $4.1 million in sales. They even revealed that they secured a licensing deal with Marvel to make character-themed sunglasses, which is guaranteed to boost their net sales.
Heatherette Women's Fashion
Even the most business-savvy investors take a major loss at times. And the larger the investment, the more you stand to lose. This is true even for the $1.3 billion music legend and entrepreneur, Jay Z, who lost $50 million in New York City real estate investment deal. So this doesn't make John immune to the occasional hiccup, only this hiccup was enough to make you sick to the stomach. According to CNBC, Daymond made a $6 million investment in a women's fashion label, Heatherette, in the early 2000s and has gone down as the worst investment of his career to date. John can agree that he learned a valuable lesson that every investor must know, and that is to never invest blindly, especially when you haven't done enough homework on the market you're investing in.
Mo's Bows Investment
Some investments aren't centered entirely around money, as asinine as that may sound for a Shark Tank investor. But in the fifth season of the reality television show, Moziah Bridges came with intentions of asking for $50,000 for a 20% stake in his company, Mo's Bows, which makes bow ties. However, John declined the offer and in exchange, sought instead to mentor the young fashion designer for free. Experience and free knowledge from an already established FUBU hat designer like Daymond John are priceless! Bridges yielded and ended up scoring huge on a licensing deal to use NBA team logos in his bow tie designs.
Sources: CNBC, Inc., South China Morning Post,