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Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Corcoran52 posts

Barbara Corcoran is an American entrepreneur, investor, author and TV personality. She built a $1000 loan into a $70 million real estate brokerage business. She is best know as one of the “sharks” on the TV show, Shark Tank..

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30 Oct, 2014

Bloomberg interview

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Corcoran talks about how she thinks the Fed unwinding is going to affect real estate:

They’ve been low so long that people think it’s their right to have cheap money. The minute those rates go up, we’re going to have another boomlet in the real estate market, because people love a deadline.

Barbara Corcoran: Real Estate Prices Going Up in New York

23 Oct, 2014

Interview about firing

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Corcoran says she had a system at the real estate practice for firing underperforming sales people:

I put a dollar sign on their back, which sounds so cold but, bottom line, each sales person is there to produce money.

She says the people ranked in the bottom 25% would be given three months to improve, or face being fired. Having the system in place helped her get rid of underperforming people before they became a problem for the company:

I call that shooting dogs early. You can’t carry people in a small business.

Entrepreneur interview

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Corcoran shares four lessons she learned building a business with Entrepreneur:

  • Bootstrap: This helps learn to manage finances, and keeps the business in the founder’s control
  • Show selling power: She looks for founders with confidence, high energy, street smarts and business knowledge
  • Achieving work-life balance is difficult: But being really engaged with the people one cares about is something all business owners can strive for by taking small steps, like putting down the phone
  • Recover from hard knocks: The best entrepreneurs are the ones who can take a blow and come back stronger
15 Oct, 2014

LinkedIn interview

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Corcoran talks with LinkedIn executive editor Daniel Roth about seeing the Corcoran Group grow now that she is no longer a part of it, the future of the brokerage business, why Shark Tank is a hit, and how she hires people:

Who did I look for in a partner? Someone who was opposite…And the bigger the business gets, the more it’s gotta look like a giant crayon box with a million different colors. That’s what gives the business its substance. Most people like to hire pals that they get along with that are similar to themselves. Always the wrong call.

29 Aug, 2014

Expand before you’re ready

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Corcoran writes that waiting until you feel ready can hamper business growth:

When I started the Corcoran Group, I grew the company just like my mom did her family. We grew from six to sixty salespeople in our first five years and from sixty to a thousand salespeople over the next twenty because I knew the secret to growing a business fast is to never wait until you’re ready.

She says that although she never had room to hire all the salespeople that she wanted to, this strategy forced her to find creative ways to hire the very best people.

6 Aug, 2014

San Jose Mercury News Q&A

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Corcoran discusses how startups have an advantage over incumbents:

Being a little guy, you have the corner on creativity over the corner on money that the big guy has. I learned that when I was starting the business and in those early years, when I got very intimidated by the fact that the real estate brokerage field was owned by men who inherited the business from their father, and they had access to cash all the time. I felt, how could I compete, how could I beat them at the game? I soon found out that while they were having a new idea, passing it through a committee, vetting it with their attorney, checking out with their accountants to see how much it could cost, I could be out the gate with a new idea, throw it against the wall and try it. That was largely responsible for pushing my company ahead.

And how she mentors her Shark Tank investments:

My worst entrepreneurs listen to everything I say and do it that way. My best entrepreneurs listen to me and do as they please.

11 Jul, 2014

Columbia interview

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Corcoran says the three essential qualities for an entrepreneur are sales skills, the ability to motivate, manipulate and convince people, and being able to take a hit:

If you by nature can take a hit and are stupid enough to pop back up and say ‘Hit me again, hit me again,’ you’re perfect for an entrepreneur

Barbara Corcoran on the Traits of a Successful Entrepreneur

7 May, 2014

How to hire like a shark video

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Corcoran tells Big Think about her hiring strategies:

I am very good at hiring because I’ve made a lot of mistakes

Barbara Corcoran: How to Hire Like a Shark | Big Think

AngelList syndicate

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barbara-corcoran-venture-partnersCorcoran starts Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners to syndicate all of her deals outside the ones made on Shark Tank. The terms of the syndicate show that she will get a total carry of 20% per deal. The company is expected to syndicate 12 deals per year at $50,000 per investment, and the minimum backer investment is $1,000.

11 Apr, 2014

Parade interview

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Corcoran joins a Google+ hangout to talk about the Shark Tank cover issue. Corcoran responds to a female reader’s question about how to become a better negotiator:

Think like a man…You know what a guy does? He just says what he thinks, for the most part. He just puts it right out there.

Parade Magazine Chats with the "Shark Tank" Sharks!

30 Dec, 2013

TEDx Barnard College

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Corcoran gives a talk titled Rethinking Failure. She says failures in school, business, romance, and public speaking all led to her successes.

I can distinctly remember being in the class not being able to read or write until I was in third grade…and being ashamed of myself.

She says during elementary school, she was sent back to the second grade classroom with a recent Italian immigrant and a girl that other students called ‘retarded’.

Sister Stella-Marie told me that if I didn’t learn to concentrate, I would always be stupid. That was the day I discovered I had a label…In a situation where the education system judges a child’s intelligence based on their ability to read or write…I couldn’t wait to get out of that jailhouse.

Rethinking failure: Barbara Corcoran at TEDxBarnardCollege

25 Oct, 2013

Nightline interview

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Corcoran and Greiner sit down and talk about the female sharks are catching up on Shark Tank, and about high stakes, and the tell-tale signs of a solid investment. Corcoran:

We bring a different perspective. Most of the men have trophy wives, they don’t shop, we bring a different view to the product…Our collective IQ is three times more than the men combined.

"Shark Tank" stars Lori Greiner & Barbara Corcoran go two-on-one w/ABC's "Nightline"

6 Sep, 2013

Huffington Post Live interview

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Corcoran talks about advice from her mother that inspired the book title, If You Don’t Have Big Breasts Put Ribbons On Your Pigtails, and says it worked in attracting attention from customers when she was a waitress. The business lesson:

Merchandise yourself.

Barbara Corcoran On Her Mother's Best Advice | HPL

28 Jun, 2013

Public speaking panic attack

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Corcoran reveals that she once had a panic attack while speaking in public. She was building her real estate practice and decided to speak at a home buyers seminar to increase business. In front of 800 people, she started with a joke, but blanked on the punchline, and the moderator had to take over. The next day, she called NYU and pitched a course in real estate sales. She described her qualifications for teaching:

Excellent public speaker

She taught the course for the next five years, and became and excellent public speaker.

13 Feb, 2013

Win over the crowd video

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Corcoran answers a question for Entrepreneur magazine about how to present ideas to get them crowdfunded:

The main ingredient is you have to entirely genuine when you make your pitch. The video is key.

Jan 2013

Growth Conference talk

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Corcoran talks about risk-taking, failure, and how to get back up at the Entrepreneur Magazine event in Dallas. Creativity and flexibility are more of an advantage than big amounts of money:

The times when I moved ahead was when things were bad…When things are bad the universe is open to new things… Unless you’re the top dog, the time to move ahead is when things are bad.

18 Nov, 2012

Unique Perspectives talk

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Corcoran tells the UP Conference what it was that gave her confidence in the business world:

My wholehearted belief that [I] had the right to be there

Business Advice from Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran