Cold Hard Truth: Learning From Dragons Den’s Kevin O’Leary On Business, Money And Life Part 5

September 21, 2011

I had clearly hurt his feelings.  But my only thought was, “Oh well”.  Unless there’s money to be earned, I don’t take meetings with people I don’t know or need to see.  That hour of lunch went into a precious “time bank” I guard as fiercely as I would bars of gold.  You might say this man could have become a valuable contact, someone I could eventually do business with.  Maybe.  But instead of spending my time on more remote possibilities, I prefer to spend it on current ventures I know will yield results.  That’s why I said no.  It’s not personal.”

You probably know people who spend their time as if they were time billionaires.  They often have meetings in the most casual, offhand manner that are more akin to shmooze fests or cocktail parties.  These meetings have no clear objectives, they’re done with people they barely know and with no set amount of time for these meetings.  You’ll also probably notice that such people are seldom very productive at all.

So the moral is keeping focused.  Let me repeat that!  The moral is keeping focused.

“I can pinpoint the moment Dragon’s Den was transformed from a specialty (TV) program into a ratings juggernaut.  It was the moment Robert Herjavec ripped up a check, a real check, for $200,000 on national television” – from Cold Hard Truth by Kevin O’Leary

One of the businesses pitching the Dragons in the first season was JobLoft.  They were 4 students from Ryerson University in Toronto whose business plan was creating an employment site specifically for the hospitality industry and people seeking these types of jobs.  The other goal was getting companies who employ these types of workers interested in the site.  The pitch went over great and all 5 Dragon’s shook on a deal for $200,000 with each of the 5 dragons committing $40,000 each.  It’s very rare on the Dragons Den for all 5 Dragons to invest in one pitched business.

Filed under: Inspiration

Tags: angel, capital, den, Dragon, investor, shark, startup, tank, venture