Daymond John, CEO of FUBU and star of ABC’s hit show Shark Tank joined forces with Capital One’s Spark Business to visit small business owners in Denver this week. The television star hit the streets of Denver in what appeared to be a comically bad, yet incredibly sexy car for this week’s snowy conditions. John soldiered through the snow, however, and spent several days offering tailored entrepreneurial advice to companies like Altitude Digital, Live Urban Real Estate and about a dozen others.
Before John's rise to television stardom and attaining status as a business tycoon, he led the sort of entrepreneurial life that movies are made of. Apparently, he hand sewed the first FUBU products with fishing line and sold them in front of the New York Coliseum. He then mortgaged his family's home for startup capital. Suffice it to say, his business origins are a far cry from today's Kickstarter generation.
At any rate, John was nice enough to answer a couple of our questions:
What are you doing in Denver this week? This week, I’ve been going around Denver with Capital One Spark Business – visiting local businesses, discussing what their challenges are, where they see themselves growing in the future, and bringing them the confidence and resources they need to succeed.
Is there any advice that you would like to give to Colorado 
entrepreneurs? I think that whether they know it or not, Colorado entrepreneurs are in a hub of entrepreneurship with a lot of amazing people who utilize networking and their communities. That being said, I think Colorado entrepreneurs could leverage these resources even further. They don’t need to look beyond their backyard – several of them asked me about networking in other cities and states, but they have everything they need right here.
Did you meet with any companies that really stuck out in your mind? Every one of the companies stuck out in my mind for one reason or another. When I look at Four Friends Kitchen I’m inspired. These two moms just opened up a restaurant only nine and a half months ago and are already seeing growth. Then I look at Altitude Digital, a business already experiencing great growth but isn’t settling – in fact, the business is determined to double their growth. And of course there’s Dave at BWBacon. He’s all about entrepreneurship, and his heart is on fire when it comes to helping others.
What were the themes that really stood out — both opportunities and challenges in the Denver market? Every entrepreneur I spoke to wanted to discuss their next growth steps. They’re wondering if they should grow internally, externally and how they go about finding strategic partners. The pains I heard this week were about cash flow, maximizing social media, and effective marketing.
Your family mortgaged their home to help get FUBU off the ground. Do you think the landscape for small businesses accessing capital has changed since then? I think accessing capital through traditional ways is harder today because a lot of people pull back on small businesses. But I also think that accessing capital overall today, whether it's consumer based or through crowd funding, has become easier.
When you started out, there wasn’t all the startup infrastructure we have now. Things like Kickstarter didn’t exist. Is being an entrepreneur today anything like it was when you were selling hats outside of the Coliseum? No, it’s very different. Being an entrepreneur today is much easier in the sense that you have a lot of access to capital, advice, and information. Technology has made it easy to talk to people from around the world where they can share their insights broadly and quickly on social media. You can get anything out there. But being an entrepreneur is also harder at the same time. I would wake up in the morning and go sell a shirt and then find the next person tomorrow to sell a shirt to. Today, you have another 10 million people waking up in the morning trying to sell the same shirt that you’re selling. You have to work harder, but take advantage of the technology available today.
And, I have to ask, what’s your favorite thing about Colorado? My favorite thing about Colorado is the relaxed way of living. The landscape is beautiful, and of course the people here are very hard workers. They also have this level of community that I have a huge amount of respect for. I’m grateful that Capital One Spark Business brought me here, and I really enjoyed meeting all of these inspiring small business owners.
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