Daymond John: The Entrepreneurial DNA

Were you born with the entrepreneurial DNA?

This is the question that I posed to Daymond John , the Founder and CEO of the American apparel company FUBU and an investor on Shark Tank.?During our wide-ranging conversation on my podcast In Search of Excellence, we talked about Daymond’s many entrepreneurial pursuits and odd jobs during his childhood, the mindset of an entrepreneur, and why entrepreneurship is in everybody’s blood.

Daymond was born with the entrepreneurial spirit.?When he was six years old, he painted pencils with the prettiest girls’ names and tried to sell them to boys in his class in the hopes that they would buy them and give them to the girls.?Although the guys didn’t go for his pencils, the girls did – and they were willing to pay twice as much for the same product.?This was Daymond’s first lesson in business, and he hasn’t stopped flexing his entrepreneurial muscle since.

Daymond continued to take on odd jobs throughout his childhood: when he was 10 years old, he swept the floor of a corner store to get candy.?Later, he worked as an apprentice electrician and used to wire PX cables in abandoned buildings in the Bronx.?He also handed out flyers for $2 each, the equivalent of $15.76 today, and went door-to-door selling chocolate for his Catholic school when he was twelve.?He sold Nerf Super Soakers on the beach; he gathered abandoned bike parts in his neighborhood, assembled them, and resold them; and he shoveled snow in the winter and raked leaves in the fall.

All of Daymond’s entrepreneurial adventures from his childhood highlight his early hunger and drive to succeed, but Daymond said that entrepreneurship is in everybody’s blood.?The only thing that stops us from thriving are the people around us telling us that we can’t do what we’re dreaming about doing.??

“The Daymond Johns of the world need an entrepreneurial way of thinking,” he said.?“Entrepreneurs don’t look at what they don’t have to accomplish their goals.?They don’t say, ‘Obviously I can’t do that because I don’t have money.?Obviously I can’t do that because I don’t have an education in this space.?Obviously I can’t do that because I don’t know anyone.’?Entrepreneurs look at what exactly do I have and use that to cut through the clutter.”

I also believe that entrepreneurship is within all of us – and it starts with the drive to build or create something, along with an incredible desire to succeed.?I started my entrepreneurial journey by selling T-shirts at the University of Michigan and didn’t have much to begin with either.?I spent $400 of my bar mitzvah money and went through a phone book to look for companies that printed 100% cotton shirts, created Michigan-themed logos, and made short-sleeved shirts for $5 each and long-sleeved shirts for $6 each.?I was nervous they wouldn’t sell, but once they arrived I went to door-to-door at every dorm at Michigan and sold my short sleeves for $12 and long sleeves for $18.?I regularly got kicked out of each dorm, but would go back in through another door, and kept knocking on doors.?People loved my designs and the quality of the shirts – and they sold very well.

Every one of us has entrepreneurship in our DNA – we just need to channel our inner drive into what we’re passionate about and go after our goals with whatever resources we have.?If you have an idea, and it’s been burning inside of you, follow your dream and go for it.?If you don’t, you’re never going to know if it would work – and you may regret not trying it!

This article is based on my interview with Daymond John , an American businessman and investor best known as the Founder and CEO of the American apparel company FUBU .?Daymond is also the New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage (2016) and Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life (2018).?Daymond also stars as a “Shark” on ABC’s Emmy-award-winning hit show Shark Tank .?Daymond’s impressive accolades include Brandweek Marketer of the Year , the NAACP Entrepreneurs of the Year Award (which he has won twice), 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 .?Listen to the full episode here .

You may also enjoy other episodes on?In Search of Excellence , which can be found on?Apple Podcasts ,?Spotify ,?Google Podcasts ,?Overcast , and?YouTube .

Randall Kaplan ?is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, philanthropist, and podcaster.?He is the founder and CEO of?JUMP Investors , a venture capital firm that has invested in more than 80 early-to-late-stage technology companies, including Google, Seagate, and Lyft.?Randall is a Co-Founder of?Akamai Technologies , a publicly-traded technology company that has 8,000 employees around the world and earned $3.8 billion in 2022 revenues.?He is also the Founder and CEO of?Sandee , the largest provider of information about beaches in the world with over 100 categories of information for more than 100,000 beaches in 212 countries.

Randall is the host of?In Search of Excellence , a podcast designed to motivate and inspire others to reach their potential and achieve excellence in all aspects of life.?Randall’s guests have included?Mark Cuban ,?Kevin O'Leary ,?David Solomon ,?Bob Pittman ,?Sharon Stone ,?David Rubenstein ,?Steve Case ,?Orlando Bravo ,?Sammy Hagar ,?Sam Zell ,?Rachel Zoe ,?Tim Draper ,?Kliff Kingsbury , and?Eric Garcetti , among many others.?Randall is also a dedicated philanthropist – he is the founder of?The Justice Ball ?which has raised more than $8 million for a non-profit legal clinic that aids more than 12,000 poor, sick, elderly, and homeless residents of Los Angeles each year, and is the Co-Founder of?The Imagine Ball ?which has raised millions of dollars and is dedicated to ending the cycle of poverty and homelessness in Los Angeles.

Read Randall's full bio at?www.randallkaplan.com .