Daymond John
Daymond John
Daymond Garfield John[2] (born February 23, 1969) is an American businessman, investor, television personality, author, and motivational speaker. He is best known as the founder, president, and CEO of FUBU, and appears as an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. Based in New York City, John is the founder of The Shark Group.
As of 2016, John had a net worth of $250 million.
Early life
John was born February 23, 1969[3] in Brooklyn, New York City,[4] but grew up in the Queens neighborhood of Hollis.[5] He began working at the age of 10, when his parents divorced; one early job entailed handing out flyers for $2 an hour.[6][7] In high school, he participated in a program that allowed him to work a full-time job and attend school on an alternating weekly basis, which he credits with instilling an entrepreneurial spirit.[8] After graduating high school, he started a commuter van service and waited tables at Red Lobster.[5][6]
Career
FUBU
Wool ski hats with their tops tied off with fishing line were popular, and John noticed them being sold for $20, which he considered overpriced.[11] He went home and sewed around 90 hats with his next-door neighbor.[12] They sold their homemade hats for $10 each and made $800 in a single day.[13] After the hats, they began selling screen-printed T-shirts. To break into the market, they sold on consignment and at large events around the Northeast.[14] To make ends meet, John held a full-time job at Red Lobster, working on the FUBU business in between shifts.[15]
Sensing potential, John and his mother mortgaged their house for $100,000 to generate start-up capital.[13] In addition to Brown, he recruited longtime friends J. Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin into the business, and began sewing the FUBU logo onto hockey jerseys, sweatshirts, and T-shirts.[13] They loaned about 10 of the hockey jerseys out to rappers for their music videos for 2 years and got product placements in about 30 videos.[16] They were perceived as a large clothing brand, despite being a relatively small company and stores started requesting their brand.[14] In 1993, he convinced LL Cool J, an old neighborhood friend, to wear a FUBU T-shirt for a promotional campaign.[17] Later, while filming a 30-second advertising spot for The Gap, LL Cool J wore a FUBU hat in the commercial and incorporated the line "for us, by us" in his rapping.[15][18]
In 1992,[19] or 1994,[13] John received $300,000 in orders and also an offer for participating in Macy's (M) at a Las Vegas fashion trade show, MAGIC.[19] They had to take out a second mortgage of his mother's house in order to fulfill the orders.[14][20] After being turned down by 27 banks for a loan, his mother used the last of their money to take out an advertisement in the NY Times.[21] As a result of the ad, FUBU made a deal with Samsung Textiles, allowing them to complete their orders.[21]
FUBU has earned over $6 billion in global sales.[22]
FUBU is featured at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture.[23]
Shark Tank
In 2009, John received a call from Mark Burnett asking him to join the cast of ABC's new reality business show Shark Tank, which gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their businesses to investors, or “Sharks” in the hopes of receiving an investment. The show is now in its 10th season. John has invested $8,567,000 of his own money in Shark Tank companies as of May 12, 2017.[24][25][26][27] His favorite investments on record by 2015 were Al "Bubba" Baker's boneless ribs and Bombas socks.[28] In 2016, Shark Tank won an Emmy Award,[29] and won Outstanding Reality Program from 2012-2014.[30]
John invested in Bubba's-Q Boneless Ribs on Season 5 of Shark Tank and has helped grow the company from $154,000 in sales to $16 million in 3 years.[31] In 2017, Bubba's-Q Boneless Ribs partnered up with Carl's Jr. to create the limited-edition Baby Back Rib Burger.[31]
On Season 6 of Shark Tank, John made a unique deal with 15-year-old Moziah “Mo” Bridges, who is the owner of Mo's Bows. John decided not to invest in Mo's Bows but instead to mentor the young entrepreneur.[32][33] Recently, Mo's Bows agreed to a seven-figure licensing partnership with the NBA to create bow ties that use the teams logos.[34]
After investing in Bombas Socks on Season 6 of Shark Tank, total sales for the company increased from $450,000 in the first nine months to $12 million.[35] For every pair of socks sold, Bombas donates a pair to someone in need and, as of August 2017, they have donated over 4 million pairs of socks.[36][37]
The Shark Group
Consulting and speaking
John has been a motivational and business speaker at engagements include California First Lady Maria Shriver's 2010 Women's Conference,[46] AT&T's History Makers Tour,[47] Babson College School of Entrepreneurship,[48] Rutgers University and the Creative LIAisons program at the annual London International Awards.[49]
Next Level Success
In 2015, John co-founded Daymond John's Success Formula, a program designed to teach business owners and entrepreneurs how to start and grow their business from the ground up.[50]
In September 2019, Daymond John's Success Formula rebranded to Next Level Success. [51]
One of the organizations the program works with is the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.[52]
Through the online training program ("Daymond on Demand" [83] ), entrepreneurs have the opportunity to learn more about various aspects of entrepreneurship - such as "Brand Growth, Maximizing Profitability, Innovative Marketing" and more.
Publications
John has released three books throughout his career, including Display of Power, The Brand Within, and The Power of Broke.
Display of Power[54] is written by Daymond John with New York Times best-selling collaborator, Daniel Paisner.[55] Display of Power tells how four ordinary guys from Queens, New York, rose from street corners to corner offices and became the greatest trendsetters of their generation.[55]
The Brand Within: The Power of Branding from Birth to the Boardroom (2010),[56] examines the loyalty relationships companies and celebrities seek to establish with their customers and fans, along with the identifying marks consumers carry when they buy into a brand or lifestyle.[57]
The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage was written by John in 2016.[58] John features various success stories from entrepreneurs such as Kevin Plank, Steve Aoki, Gigi Butler and Mo Bridges.[59] The Power of Broke appeared on the Wall Street Journal[59] and New York Times[60] bestseller lists, and received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Instructional Literary Work.[61]
Awards and recognition
John has received numerous awards, including Brandweek Marketer of the Year, the NAACP Entrepreneurs of the Year Award (which he won twice), the Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Award for Outstanding Ad Campaign, the Essence Award, Crain's New York Business Forty Under Forty Award, Ernst & Young's New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Brandeis University International Business School's Asper Award for Excellence in Global Entrepreneurship, Details 50 Most Influential Men, and the Congressional Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship (which he won twice).[15][24][67][68][69]
In 2015, President Obama appointed John as an ambassador to promote underserved entrepreneurs.[70]