Issue 60 April / May 2014

Rising of The Matriarch Mob Wives: Holding Families Together

D-Stocks Belong in Every Portfolio Investors Flocking To Safety

Sell in May and Go Away Wall Streeters Eye Stocks

Pass the Rooster Sauce Can California Stand the Heat

exclusive interview with

barbara corcoran;shark tank investor

THE SUIT MAGAZINE - APRIL / MAY 2014

Confident, Creative – and Candid

In light of a recent vote by Senate Republicans to block a Democratic bill to end gender-based wage discrimination, self-made millionaire, Barbara Corcoran, has advice for women who believe they are being paid less than men do-ing the same job. Rest assured, it does not involve sitting meekly at their desks wait-ing for the government to ride in on a white horse and save them. Corcoran asserts that

women must be comfortable standing up for themselves – and then she

shares her secret formula. “You know how I did that? I thought to myself, ‘What would a man do?’…And then I did it. It

always got me to where I wanted to go, and that was through the door,” she said.

by judy magness

THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.13

Working at 20 jobs before the age of 23, Corcoran said that at times she did make less

money than her male counterparts. What ticked her off was not just the idea of unequal pay—she resented be-ing undervalued. “Who wants to be paid less than what you are worth?” she asked with such incredulousness that you would think it was happening to her even now. Just read any feature story on Corcoran – and they are plen-tiful in print and online – and know that no one, but no one is taking advan-tage of the first female Shark on ABC’s highly rated TV-show, “Shark Tank.” Current reports on her net worth range from $140 million to $200 million.

In spite of the war on wage inequal-ity, many women power hitters are smashing through the glass ceiling in corporate America. Corcoran has seen some women reach the top and then decide they don’t want to be there. “Women realize they want more out of life, they are less one-dimensional than their male counterparts,” she said. “They realize what it took to get there and, most importantly, what they had to give up, and decided – it ain’t worth it.” And Corcoran added, “Now, we’re starting to see men question that de-licious corporate ladder more as they are getting on the top rungs.”

Consequently, Corcoran predicts the trend will be for women to start their own businesses because that is the most forgiving environment for ac-commodating other things in life, like kids, time, vacations and other events. “If you have your own business, you’re in charge,” she said. “Even if you’re in charge of a large corporation, you’re not really in charge. You still have the board you are responsible to. I see women starting more businesses and succeeding, realizing they are going to get a lot farther and faster by doing it on their own.”

When Corcoran makes a prediction, she is far too sharp to be flippant about it. Her company, Barbara Corcoran Inc., publishes a bi-annual report on entrepreneurs and the state of small business in America. Researching those topics thoroughly, Corcoran handpicks her data. Industry jargon, vernacular, facts and statistics can get complicated and boring, and Corcoran prides herself on her ability to put ev-

erything in user-friendly terms.The report’s findings on education

may challenge some mainstream as-sumptions about how to succeed as an entrepreneur: 32 percent of entrepre-neurial businesses were started by col-lege graduates; 28 percent were start-ed by those who have some college education; 34 percent were started by high school graduates; and 52 percent were started by people with less than high school education. “That’s very different than what people think you need to succeed in business,” Corcor-an points out. “You need street smarts and hunger.”

Babson College, the University of Houston and Syracuse University rank in the top five schools for programs

fostering entrepreneurship, accord-ing to The Princeton Review survey published in Entrepreneur magazine. Academic programs teaching peo-ple how to be entrepreneurs are in abundance, but success, many would argue, doesn’t come from how well you can answer the questions at the end of a textbook chapter. Corcoran agrees wholeheartedly. “I don’t think you learn a thing until you’re in the street,” she said. “Eighty percent of all entrepreneurs were not good students. They are good with people, hustling and thinking on their feet. That’s what counts once you get there. The world belongs to the dumb kids in class.”

Corcoran views failure as a charac-ter-building opportunity, and she gets

THE SUIT MAGAZINE - APRIL / MAY 2014

frustrated when she explains that we only teach children about succeeding. “The only thing you can learn anything worthwhile from, if you are building a business, is through your failure. But we protect our kids from failing every inch along the way,” she said emphatically.

Studying entrepreneurs and analyzing the data of who succeeds and who doesn’t is just one of Corcoran’s current projects. She is developing an exclusive profile quick test to identify entrepreneurs. Admitting that a lot of tests exist out there, she has checked them all out. “None of them work,” she said with natural Corcoran confidence. She plans to test her fellow “Shark Tank” cast mates, along with the winning and failing entrepreneurs in whom she has invested on the show. “It will be a self-analysis using ten multiple choice questions. I’m going to nail it down – I’m very excited about it.”

In Corcoran’s national bestselling book, “Shark Tales,” she cleverly tells the story of her start in real estate. In 1973, at twenty-three, she started the Corcoran Group with a $1,000 loan. Corcoran grew the business – that’s putting it mildly – eventually selling it for a cool $66 million in 2001. Currently, in addition to her regular stint on “Shark Tank,” Corcoran is a real estate contributor on NBC’s “TODAY Show” and regularly sought after as a business expert by ca-ble news networks and other media outlets. Her most recent accomplishment is joining Concierge Auctions as a strategic adviser to the luxury real estate auction firm.

Citing current trends in the residential real estate industry such as a slight rise in mortgage rates, decreasing foreclosures and homeowners’ slow return to positive equity, The Suit asked Corcoran for her insights, and her answer com-manded attention.

“Listen,” she said. “I’m good at this stuff. We are just getting started. Sixty percent of all the markets are selling most of their homes through overbidding. When you have more than one buyer bidding on one house at the same time, that’s every buyer’s nightmare. That kind of overbidding means there is tons of room for price growth,” Corcoran explained. “There ar-en’t enough houses to go around. In my opinion, we’re in for a series of years of tremendous price appreciation. Every time it occurs, people pan-ic, wondering when the bubble is going to burst. Guess what? When we have overbidding, it goes on for years because there is an imbalance in the marketplace.”

Taking a breath, she continued: “We are also making up for a lot of lost time. This is just the opening move. Prices are going to be so expen-sive and if we keep getting threats of increasing mortgage rates, that even fuels the market more. The best thing for the real estate market is a dead-line – and higher interest rates are the best dead-line in the world for buyers to get off the fence.”

While Corcoran is a sought-after thought lead-

er in real estate, that’s not what intrinsically motivates her. Most of her day is devoted to the 23 entrepreneurs in whose businesses she invested via “Shark Tank.” If she is not at her office, Corcoran is thinking about them, about ideas, and making notes to them. “I’ve always liked real estate, but what I love is creativity,” she mused. “How newly can you skin the cat? What is a new angle?” Her mind is always churning out something that can move somebody or some-thing forward.

And, then there is spare time spent with family, friends, and her dog. “Who doesn’t like dogs?” Corcoran asks. “I like them better than people sometimes.”