The 70-year-old self-made businesswoman quit her job as a waitress in her 20s to start her New York City real estate brokerage businesses with just a $1,000 loan. She later sold The Corcoran Group for $66 million in 2001.
With 72% of female business owners saying lack of capital is a top challenge, the millionaire investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank” wants to help young female entrepreneurs get the funding they need to grow. She teamed up with iFundWomen, a crowdfunding platform for female entrepreneurs and Systane, an eye drops brand, for its Real Relief for Visionary Women campaign to provide 10 women business owners $5,000 grants and mentorship to help build their companies.
She tells MarketWatch what it takes to run a business from scratch, and the product she invested $50,000 of her money on “Shark Tank” in that made her $30 million in a year and a half.Barbara Corcoran: If they can’t persuade me, I’m not going to be on that deal. What I want to know is, do they have the energy to carry the ball to the finish line? I’ve never seen someone with low energy become successful in life. I’m looking for someone who is very good when things go wrong.
MW: What are three things about money and investing people should know before starting their own business? Corcoran: One, you should know it’s going to cost you a lot more than you think it’s going to cost you. People are always optimistic enough to jump off the cliff of entrepreneurship, but the money they think it’s going to cost is only going to sustain the business. It’s going to take a lot longer to get there. Double the amount of money you think you’re going to need to live on and get the product or service up and running. Two, pick up a partner with opposite skill sets than you.