Daymond John From Basement To Shark Tank
His first business was in elementary school, he worked at Red Lobster to pay bills. He has come a long way since then, turning a basement clothing manufacturing plant into a $6 billion brand, while having difficulty reading and writing. known by many as the Shark on poplar Shark Tank, the founder and CEO of FUBU, has humble beginnings.
Daymond spent his childhood in Hollis, a neighborhood in Queensland. He would scrape the paint off pencils and print names on them, this was not easy for Daymond as it would take him 4 times longer to fully grasp the name. Sadly when he was 10, his parents got divorced, he was raised by his mother then onwards. To support his mother he would sell flyers on the streets, once in a while, he would return home with torn-up shirt, his mother would sew it back up. She would encourage Daymond to think big:
“My mother always said, It takes the same energy to think small as it does to think big, So dream big and think bigger”- Daymond
Daymond was young, as much as he respected his mother, he would rarely listen to her, but as it turns out, he ended up doing what she did. His mother was a hard worker, she had a cab service, worked part-time, she also worked for American Airlines. She wanted to broaden her view on life, and also Daymond’s. To help him think big she bought a can opener, every time John would use the opener he would see the imprint “THINK BIG”
And he did, he started to look for bike parts in his neighborhood, after finding parts he would assemble bikes and sell them. The money was coming in but Daymond was miserable, as he did not like doing manual labor. Looking for more opportunities, he noticed that the buses did not cover the entire neighborhood, people would get off a bus stop and walk to their homes. he decided to buy a van and provide a bus service. He was working 18 hour days, making $300–400 a day, but after paying insurance and other expenses he would net $30,000 a year.
After graduating from high school, Daymond worked at Red Lobster. One day as he was watching TV he saw a hat commercial. Remembering his mother’s sewing technique he decided to sew one himself. Daymond purchased material and started the sewing machine, after making one, he figured he may as well make more and sell them. He took the hats to the Coliseum mall, and stood in front of the mall entrance, selling $800 worth of hats. He rushed home and a friend, Martin told him to expand his inventory and include other items such as shirts and jackets. Martin became his partner, he would buy material and Daymond would sew. They decided to name their band, FUBU- FOR US BY US. The name was chosen out of frustration, as back then other major brands would not market products for African Americans. FUBU today represents a disregarded community, not necessarily the African Americans but communities that are ignored. Daymond would work at Red Lobster during the day and on FUBU at night. Because of financial issues, FUBU had to shut down three times, from 1989 to 1992.
To get more sales, Daymond decided to use the van he had purchased. The back gates of the van were opened to display their items. The business model was simple, buy cheap and sell for more, he would buy a $4 t-shirt and sell it for $8. Sadly this was the time when an African American was brutally attacked by Police, Rodney Glen King. The incident was covered by media and caused a public furor, many came out on the streets protesting against police brutality. Daymond printed King’s saying on plain shirts and sold them.
Daymond and his partners would visit expos and sell out. Their business started to grow and in 1992 he mortgaged his house for $100,000, turning half into a factory and the other half into living space for team FUBU. To market their brands, they would visit old stores and ask owners if they could print FUBU’s logo on their rolling gate. Team FUBU painted 300 gates advertising FUBU to passerbys. They started to get orders but did not have enough manpower to fulfill them, so in 1996 they put an ad in the paper that said “$1 million in sales. Need financing”, 33 investors called them. Out of the 33, 3 were real, and one was Samsung’s textiles division. Samsung told Daymond that they were ready to finalize a deal as long as FUBU can do $5 million in the coming three years. Knowing his customer, Daymond agreed and finalized the deal, FUBU sold a whopping $30 million in three months. And then FUBU hit new heights when Hype Williams said that he would include FUBU’s lineup in one of his upcoming videos. After being featured in music videos of other celebrities including LL Cool J, FUBU became one of the leading brands, setting fashion trends for young African Americans.
Daymond was still having trouble reading and writing, a friend pointed out that whenever a sign told them to go left, Daymond would go right. After thinking long and hard and visiting doctors he was told that he had Dyslexia. His hustle helped him turn a small operation from the basement into a $350 million revenue company. Today, FUBU has earned over $6 billion in global sales.
“Set a goal and all of a sudden you’re going to get this magic-carpet ride.”- Daymond
In early 2000, Daymond gets a call from Mark Burnett, with an invitation to be on “Shark Tank” since then he has been known as the shark
