Kevin O'Leary
Kevin O'Leary
Terence Thomas Kevin O'Learyis a Canadian businessman, investor, journalist, writer, financial commentator and television personality. He is co-founder and Chairman of O'Leary Funds and the co-founder of SoftKey. He previously served as a commentator on Canada's CBC Television and CBC News Network, on the programme The Lang and O'Leary Exchange and hosted Redemption Inc. He is an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank and was a venture capitalist "Dragon" on CBC Television's Dragons' Den...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth9 July 1954
CityMontreal, Canada
CountryCanada
If I were the president of the United States, I would make unions illegal. They no longer serve a functional purpose in democracy, in my view.
I'd rather invest in an entrepreneur who has failed before than one who assumes success from day one.
Money has no grey areas. You either make it or you lose it.
I keep anywhere between 5-10 percent of my net worth in venture ideas.
(On soft launches) It allows you to test your assumptions and see which ones you got right, and more, importantly, which ones you got wrong. A big hard launch is expensive. Getting even one thing wrong can force you to go out of business.
I'm proud to be on the CBC and to see the management here represents both sides of every story. This is what's unique about the new CBC: you get a Kevin O'Leary on it when five years ago you wouldn't.
Know everything about the companies and people you are going to be negotiating with. Insist on getting the names of everyone participating in the negotiations. Leave no stone unturned; find out as much as you can.
Protecting Americans from harm goes beyond police and national defense. It's imperative that we not destroy the commons, the physical environment on which we rely.
Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas
The biggest mistake entrepreneurs can make is trying to do everything themselves. They usually blow up when they try. I did an inventory of every deal I've ever done and it turned out that every single deal I made money on was a partnership, and every colossal failure, where I lost millions, was something I tried to do by myself.
You either make it illegal, in which case you support a huge underground economy or you tax it within the limits people can afford.
So much of life is a negotiation - so even if you're not in business, you have opportunities to practice all around you.
We knew they were a good skating team. We came out trying to force their hand with some hitting and our guys got caught up in that a little bit too much. We lost sight of the puck and they're a very good team. They find their open players very well.
When you're an investor, you can look at the quantitative and qualitative elements of an investment, but there's a third aspect: What you feel in your gut.