Daymond John: From FUBU Founder to Shark Tank Investor and Beyond
Daymond Garfield John, born on February 23, 1969, is an American businessman, investor, television personality, and author. He is widely recognized as the founder of the global lifestyle brand FUBU and as one of the investors on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. His journey from the streets of Queens to the heights of entrepreneurial success is a testament to his vision, determination, and business acumen.
Early Life and Education: The Seeds of Entrepreneurship
John's early life in Hollis, Queens, a predominantly African-American neighborhood in New York City, shaped his entrepreneurial spirit. After his parents, Garfield and Margot John, divorced when he was ten, his mother's resourcefulness played a crucial role in his development. She taught him how to sew, a skill that would later prove invaluable.
He attended Catholic school for seven years and later enrolled in Bayside High School. There, he joined a co-op program that allowed him to alternate between full-time work and schooling. This practical experience provided him with invaluable insights into the business world, and deeply instilled an entrepreneurial spirit. Before he became the iconic entrepreneur he is today, Daymond John had to realize what his strengths were- as well as his weaknesses. He knew he excelled effortlessly in math and science in school, but couldn’t understand why his hours spent working on spelling never resulted in good English grades. John then decided he would just play his strengths in high school, and enrolled in Bayside High School’s co-op program, which allowed him to switch between working full-time one week and going to school the next. This way he could gain experience in the business field and allow himself extra time between weeks of school to catch up on assignments.
Reflecting on his decision not to pursue higher education, John stated, "I was a normal kid who was too smart for his own good and thought he knew everything. I decided not to go to college because I had to help support the house but I thought I was going to be rich no matter what. I took [what I thought would be] one year off [before starting] college. Then before I knew it, I was 21 years old, working in Red Lobster." This experience instilled in him a sense of urgency and a desire to create his own path.
The Rise of FUBU: From Hats to a Global Brand
Always on the lookout for a way to make a little money, John discovered his opportunity in the culture that was growing around the music that was born in the Bronx and slowly seeped out to the rest of the city and eventually the world. The music was hip-hop. For John and his friends, hip-hop was their way of communicating about their hopes and dreams and the life they saw around them. “This was our only way to talk to people on the other side of the country and the other side of the world,” he explained to the audience as a DJ played the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” in the background. “And this music was a disruptive technology. It addressed everything. He took notice of a young man in his neighborhood who was making a name for himself and a good deal of money by promoting this culture. That man was Russell Simmons, who launched hip-hop recording artists such as Run DMC and LL Cool J. Seeing the fashion that the artists and their fans were adopting, from Timberland boots to Kangol hats, John saw an opening for himself and his friends.
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John's entrepreneurial journey began with a simple observation. He noticed that wool ski hats, popular at the time, were being sold for what he considered an inflated price of $20. Recognizing an opportunity, he went home and sewed about 90 hats with his next-door neighbor. In 1992, they sold their homemade hats for $10 each on the corner of Jamaica Avenue, making $800 in a single day. After the hats, they began selling screen-printed T-shirts. In addition to Brown, he recruited longtime friends J.
Driven by a desire to create clothing that reflected his culture and community, John, along with his partners, founded FUBU ("For Us By Us"). His mother believed in John, and together with a few friends they sewed the first FUBU apparel themselves in their living room. LL Cool J, who lived just down the street, agreed to let John take a photo with a FUBU shirt on, and John used that photo to promote the apparel at a major fashion trade show in Las Vegas. Their timing was perfect. More than $300,000 in orders flowed in from the trade show alone. John’s mother took out a $100,000 loan on their house to help get the company off the ground. “My mother moved out, my friend moved in,” John recalled. “We purchased a whole bunch of industrial sewing machines. We hired a staff. We were sleeping in sleeping bags next to the sewing machines. The rest is history. Soon, FUBU was everywhere.
The brand gained traction by tapping into the burgeoning hip-hop scene. Recognizing the power of celebrity endorsements, John strategically leveraged his connections to get FUBU apparel featured in music videos and worn by influential artists. He ended up sitting on about 50 video sets and maybe about 20 times it worked. The label was great-kind of cartoonish. Also, prior to FUBU, when you would buy urban or Afro-centric clothes, they normally came in the colors of kinte cloth-yellow, green, red, or all three together. What I would wear would just be black with a navy blue or yellow [label]. Yeah, and we found out the culture was way bigger than what we thought it was. It didn’t have a color to it but we ended up finding out the culture [included] Japanese kids. Yeah. It was the skateboarders, the grunge movement, the rockers.
FUBU's success was not immediate. During its first couple of years, John made every hat himself, sewed on his label, and shipped out the merchandise, all between shifts at Red Lobster. Business improved a bit after he teamed up with three partners, but it took nine years, three near-collapses, and a $100,000 mortgage loan on John’s mother’s house before FUBU hit its stride. In the end, he obtained merchandising contracts with J.C. Penney, Macy’s, and the National Basketball Association and a distribution deal with Samsung.
FUBU became a global phenomenon, exceeding $6 billion in global retail sales. The brand's appeal transcended cultural boundaries, resonating with diverse audiences worldwide.
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Shark Tank and Beyond: Investing in the Future
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. He has appeared in over 180 episodes and invested in more than 30 brands. The show provided him with a platform to share his expertise and invest in promising ventures.
John has invested in a wide array of businesses on Shark Tank, showcasing his diverse interests and investment strategies. On Season 5 of Shark Tank, John invested in Bubba's-Q Boneless Ribs on and helped grow the company from $154,000 in sales to $16 million in 3 years. In 2017, Bubba's-Q Boneless Ribs partnered up with Carl's Jr. to create the limited-edition Baby Back Rib Burger. John also made a unique deal with 15-year-old Moziah "Mo" Bridges, owner of Mo's Bows. On Season 6 of the show, John invested in Bombas socks.
Beyond Shark Tank, John has continued to diversify his business interests. These days, in addition to overseeing his clothing line, he owns and invests in a wide variety of other businesses, including some in the health/fitness and technology fields. He is the CEO of the brand consultancy, The Shark Group, which specializes in brand strategy and product development, artist relations and talent development. Under Daymond’s leadership, The Shark Group has re-written the script on how companies, brands and products can seamlessly work together to yield a sum greater than its parts.
Author and Speaker: Sharing Knowledge and Inspiring Others
John is also a best-selling author, having penned five books, including Display of Power: How FUBU Changed a World of Fashion, Branding, and Lifestyle, The Brand Within: The Power of Branding from Birth to the Boardroom, The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage, Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life, and Little Daymond Learns to Earn. These books offer insights into his entrepreneurial journey, branding strategies, and success principles.
As a dynamic speaker with more than twenty-five years of proven business experience, Daymond has become one of the most highly sought after speakers in the country. He regularly speaks at Fortune 100 companies, conferences, universities, and independent businesses alike. Whether he’s speaking about entrepreneurship, marketing & branding, financial literacy or goal-setting strategies, Daymond’s high energy presentations give audiences relatable advice and practical takeaways.
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Personal Life and Philanthropy: Giving Back and Overcoming Challenges
In 2018, John married Heather Taras, his second wife, with whom he has a daughter. John shares three daughters: Destiny and Yasmeen from his first marriage, and Minka Jagger John with Heather Taras. He often emphasizes the importance of family in his life.
John is also an advocate for dyslexia awareness, having been diagnosed with the learning disability himself. He has worked with the Yale Center for Dyslexia and he currently sits on the advisory board of Understood.org.
In 2020, he launched Black Entrepreneurs Day, an initiative dedicated to supporting Black-owned businesses.
Awards and Recognition
A recipient of more than thirty-five awards, including the Brandweek Marketer of the Year and Ernst & Young’s Master Entrepreneur of the Year, Daymond serves as CEO of the brand consultancy, The Shark Group, which specializes in brand strategy and product development, artist relations and talent development. In 2015, he was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship and was part of an exclusive group who joined President Obama at the Global Entrepreneur Summit in Kenya.
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