It’s never been about money. – Daymond John, CEO of FUBU
Entrepreneur and fashion mogul Daymond John joined “Shark Tank,” a reality TV show for start-up companies, as an investor in 2009, but he was making millions of dollars long before that.
John made his money selling urban apparel. According to his website, it all started when he wanted a tie-top hat and couldn’t afford one, so he made one for himself and started selling them in Queens. He and his friends started the clothing brand FUBU — “For Us By Us” — in 1989, which was incorporated a few years later.
When asked last year by Business Jet Traveler about his regrets, John said that although he doesn’t regret anything, the lack of attention he gave his family in the early days was a mistake. “I had a divorce and lost my family due to traveling and getting sucked up in the life of business.”
As his career progressed, however, John realized the value of family. He told BJT that although he’d been around the world multiple times, he’d treated it like an airport and, according to an interview with GQ, his family like employees. “Now I communicate,” John told GQ, “I just listen.”
“It’s never been about money,” John said in another interview with GQ. “Money will come when you love each other. Money will come when you’re having fun. But it’s never been about money.”