Daymond John: African American Entrepreneur?

Many know Daymond John as the star of the hit show “Shark Tank”; what they don’t know is before he was biting future entrepreneurs ideas, he was creating one of the most well known global brands of the 90s, FUBU. Daymond John is an African American Entrepreneur who is one of the most prominent businessmen in the world. He went from living in Queens, working full time at Red Lobster to creating a multi-million dollar corporation. The interesting part about John is not only what he did with FUBU, but also what he did after it, excelling him to the next level of entrepreneurship To Daymond John growing up in Hollis Queens may have been a blessing in disguise; in the 90’s Hollis was the epicenter of hip-hop and rap. With that, in 1992 Daymond

After FUBU, he created other clothing lines but also started branding consultants. He went form being a fashion icon to one of the best branding agents in the world. There was a high appeal for Daymonds opinion and consulting so he created Shark Branding, a consulting and branding company. From the Daymond John website, once joining Shark Branding, “as a consultant, Daymond will examine the needs of the corporation, dissect the problems, and create manageable solutions for brand growth. He will also help improve your business’ profitability by enhancing the marketing structure and strategy” (John). Daymond has many influential clients such as Google+, Jamba Juice, enVgroup, and notorious artist Pitbull. His success from his former entrepreneurial ventures helped him in his future ones. With that, he also was asked to be on one of the best new shows on television, Shark Tank. In an interview he spoke very candidly about what he looks for in an entrepreneur, not only as an investor, but also as a partner. John said first you have the measure the person; you must look at them and see if they are the type of person you could see yourself doing business with. Once you get past that point, you can listen to see if you like what they are selling you. After this, you focus solely on the business; John says he asks himself questions like “What void in the marketplace does this product fill?, What are the

He has been awarded some of the most prestigious business honors including Brandweek Marketer of the Year, the Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Award for Outstanding Ad Campaign, Crain's Business of New York Forty Under .Forty Award, and Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award (John). Through researching John I learned what it takes to start from the bottom and work your way to the top; realizing an industry that its need and taking the opportunity to grow from it, as well as finding the necessary partners to do so. Daymond John took branding to a whole new level, and used his past entrepreneurial experiences to help him excel in the business world to be recognized as one of the best entrepreneurs in the world. Not only is Daymond worth $250 million dollars on his own, but he also has the ability to take his entrepreneur legacy to the highest levels based on what he has learned about the business