Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran Says This is a Sure Sign a Business Will Fail
After decades of helping entrepreneurs get their start, real estate tycoon and venture capitalist Barbara Corcoran says she has learned a signal for when a business – and business owner–is heading for failure.
“The minute that I find out that someone is casting blame or feeling sorry for themselves—I already write off my money. I know that I will never see it again because I have seen that repeat itself as a pattern again and again,” Corcoran, a judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” tells FOX Business.
The self-described Republican-turned-Democratic also says being a businessman in politics today is becoming very fashionable. Her “Shark Tank” co-star Kevin O’Leary seems to be making a leap for the Donald-Trump bandwagon, as he recently announced plans to run for Canada’s Conservative Party, with hopes of eventually being elected the country’s new Prime Minister.
“When I saw the publicity when [O’Leary] said he was going to run, I didn’t believe him because he is a great storyteller, you know. But when I saw the publicity [after he] actually announced that he was going to run, I laughed myself silly for a straight ten minutes, ending with the thought, I’m sure he will win,” she says.
Corcoran, who is also a spokesperson for OnDeck (NYSE:ONDK), an online small business lender, says it’s a lot easier to be an entrepreneur today than when she first started out in the early 1970s.
“It’s easier to start a business today because of the shine on the word entrepreneur,” she says. “More people today are believers.”
As for political office—it’s a job Corcoran says she couldn’t do.
“I was asked to run for Mayor [of NYC] 15 years ago. But … it’s not for me,” she says. I pictured myself swaying a council member, like ‘This is what I want to do -- Come on, let’s do it!’ After I ran a business and I was the boss for all those years, I like to be the boss. I don’t think you really get to be the boss when you’re in politics.”